you can be a gardener. The key limiting factor is direct sunlight, or sufficient artificial light. Most vegetables, herbs, and flowers, need 6+ hours of direct sunlight every day. Many plants only need 4 to 5 hours of direct sunlight each day. A host of decorative plants prefer a shaded area with no more than 1 hour of direct sunlight per day. For indoor gardening using artificial lighting, you need to double those times for "full" and "partial" sunlight.

Save Money: With prices continuously rising most families need to save money however they can. Gardening is an often overlooked activity when people think of saving money. However, with a little effort, it can save on your budget. I have heard some people claim that gardening is expensive, and doesn't save money. If you buy all your transplants, fertilizers, and pesticides at garden centers it can get expensive. In future articles I will explain how to make many of those products at home naturally and cheaply. Those articles may be a bit longer, as some DIY products need more explanation.

Better quality food: Most foods found in supermarkets are grown by large agri-businesses. For lower costs and bigger profits they use synthetic fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides. Plants absorb all those materials and they become part of your diet. They sell their crops to large processors who often add chemicals to enhance flavor and color, plus preservatives. These also become part of your diet. Home gardeners do not need artificial soil additives or plant protection. When you grow plants using natural products the results are perfectly healthy produce. You can feel more secure about what you are feeding your family.

Self-satisfaction: Can you remember the good feeling you got from making a gift that someone really appreciated? That feeling comes from a release of serotonin and dopamine. Similarly, having your family enjoy the healthy vegetables you grew or a bouquet of flowers from your flower beds is always uplifting.

Stress Relief: Stress locks up your body's immune systems, opening the door for illnesses to enter. It's caused by the release of cortisol and catecholamines, which include adrenaline and norepinephrine. Multiple studies have been conducted that indicate a good diet, proper sleep, and light exercise all enhance your immune systems by countering cortisol and catecholamines through the release of the hormones serotonin, dopamine and endorphins. Important for our current discussion is that serotonin, dopamine and endorphins are also released through gardening activities. Therefore, gardening not only gets you out into the fresh air and provides healthier food, but also helps reduce the stress of a hard day at work, be it on the job site, in the office, or around the house if you're a homemaker.

Improve Your Property: A well decorated and maintained vegetable or flower garden not only makes your home more attractive, it actually raises the value of your property by what you invest in it. Well-designed and cared for beds of intermixed flowers, herbs and shrubs can turn a basic house into a neighborhood showpiece. Keep in mind the advice of Tom Christopher in The 20-Minute Gardener, “Your garden should reflect your lifestyle, not that of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.”

Meet Great People: Whether joining a garden club or just visiting the garden centers, you meet a lot of like-minded people. By learning from others, or sharing your knowledge, you make new friends and build good relationships.

Next month, I'll discuss what to do for your garden in these winter months. For now just make some notes about last year's garden. What worked or failed? What do you want to add or change in this year's garden?

Historical Note:  Early American gardens changed with the seasons primarily through their practical utility, providing different food, medicine, and household necessities year-round. Activities and plant availability were dictated by the weather, with intense planting and harvesting in warmer months and preservation and preparation dominating the colder ones.

~ by Gary Reneker, Garden Master