Is Gardening Worth It?

You might not love to hear it, but the answer is: it depends.

Whether or not gardening is worthwhile for you is a matter of what your goals and intentions are.

There are many different reasons why people get into gardening - and some may be more worthwhile than others. All are situation-dependent.

Let's look at a few of the common ones:

Gardening for Food Production

Food production is one of the primary focuses for many vegetable gardeners, as well as folks who grom herbs and fruit trees or vines.

Whether or not garden food prduction is worth it for you may depend on a number of factors, including but not limited to:

• Space available
• Growing for calories, protein, flavor, or nutrition
• Skill and experience
• available time to dedicate
• physical capability
• time horizon

The common trope is that gardeners spend hundreds of dollars, tons of time and effort, wait months, and then only get a handful of tomatoes which they could have bought at a grocery store.

And the thing about this illustration is that it's true! the first year. it's true when you are a beginner. it's true before you've dialed in your grow skills. it's true before you've built up your soil quality. it's true before your Garden ecosystem has time to balance.

...But it's not true forever. only in the short term. for someone with a long time horizon intent on learning, more focused on improvement then on results now. someone willing to wait until they gain skills, knowledge, understanding - for someone like that eventually the garden will yield more tomatoes, of a higher quality, with better flavor, and more nutritional value, at a lower price point than any grocery store could.

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Remember that the day you plant the seed is not the day you eat the fruit. and the year you begin gardening is not the year that your yields pay you back much for your investment.

Gardening to Connect With Nature

If your goal for getting into gardening is to connect more with nature, then gardening is absolutely worthwhile.

Your garden intersects the local ecosystem in such a way where you get to observe nature, ground yourself in it, flow with it, connect to it, give to it, receive from it, and feel at home in it.

Cultivating plants is an incredible way to cultivate your connection to the land.

Wildlife Gardening

Wildlife gardening is the practice of growing plants in such a way that they benefit your local ecosystem.

Native wildflowers feed native beneficials. fruits and veggies can feed critters. decomposing plant matter provides nutrition for decomposers.

Gardens provide cover, habitat, food, rest, nutrition for a diverse array of local creatures.

If your goal is to connect with native fauna, your garden is a wonderful way to nurture and provide for that connection.

Gardening for Ecosystem Restoration

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