Nothing blooms all year long. No season lasts forever.
Having a garden will really make you so acutely aware of the seasons. It’ll teach you to savor and appreciate things when they are in season - knowing that they won’t be at their peak forever. It’s always sad to harvest the last of something for the year - pulling the last cucumber off the vine or watching the last petals from your sunflowers fall - the knowing that you’ll have to wait an entire year before you can grow and harvest those again. But when that time comes around again? It’s that much sweeter - and it’s something to look forward to. If you have a bad growing season (or season in life) - it’s okay - it’ll come to an end eventually and you can try again (or grow something else entirely) next season.
Sometimes things don’t go as planned. Not everything is in your control.
From relentless pests (slugs, horn worms, vine borers, groundhogs, squirrels, etc.) to extreme weather (heavy rain, heatwaves, late/early frost) - even the most experienced gardener gets slapped in the face sometimes by nature’s unexpected woes. And while it is completely frustrating and sometimes heartbreaking to lose a crop - there is also some solace in knowing to some extent that there’s nothing you can do in certain situations. You can try to control as many factors as you can, but at the end of the day - you can’t control everything.
There is always something new to learn.
Gardening is like one giant ongoing “trial and error” project. Always trying new things - from growing new/different varieties of flowers and vegetables (there are so many). Always trying to figure out what grows well in your zone, how things could be growing better, when to plant certain things, how to maximize your space, etc. I’ve discovered it can be quite a creative endeavor too - planning out what you want to plant and where (especially flowers).
Some things require a cold/dormant season before they are able to flourish. You don’t harvest the fruit the day that you plant the seed.
Daffodils and tulips get planted in the fall and sit in the ground all winter before they can pop up in the spring. I used to think living somewhere that was warm year round would be ideal because then I could always be growing something - that the seasons wouldn’t matter. But there is beauty in growing a garden in a place that experiences a true winter - a dormant time of rest. As mornings become more crisp - and the sun sets earlier - I find myself thinking about that regenerative time of year for myself. I feel like I become my most creatively alive during winter - and it’s kinda cool to think that there are things in nature that require that period of rest too in order to come to life in the spring of the next year.
It is one of the most rewarding hobbies and joys to grow your own food and flowers, and your body will thank you.
Over the last few years, I have leaned into gardening more than ever. I think I first dove deeper into it during COVID - and have been growing a garden every year since then. Not every year is the same - some years I’m able to dedicate more time and energy into it. This year was probably my best year yet - expanding to add another raised bed and just planning and planting smarter to maximize my space. I’ve found that days I had spent a good deal of time gardening, I slept better at night. There is nothing like going “grocery shopping” just out the back door or building a bouquet from flowers you grew from seeds yourself. At the start of the growing season (spring), I find myself with a renewed sense of energy to play in the kitchen that carries into (summer) with all the abundance of so many things being in season - and I really savor that creative culinary jolt. It also feels really good to be so close to my food - eating food that I know was grown without chemicals and didn’t have to travel a long ways wrapped in plastic to get to me. If you’re able to grow any of your own food (or flowers) - I can’t recommend it enough. Even if it is just a couple potted plants - I think it really is one of life’s great simple joys.
