If you don’t have a green thumb, you might find yourself wondering why so many people enjoy gardening so much. A lot of the time, they’re not growing plants for anything other than the aesthetic appeal—many people maintain gardens without a single edible plant or vegetable. It seems like an awful lot of work just to have a pretty back yard!
The thing about gardening is that there’s a certain zen appeal to it. Gardening, even if you’ve just planted a simple row of flowers, requires you to step outside of yourself. You have to think about the needs of this very particular living thing, how you can best take care of it, and how much time you’ll have to spend maintaining it (i.e. watering).
While gardening can require a lot of physical work, depending on the size of your garden and the kinds of things you’ve planted, most of the work is generally easy and repetitive. As you know, repetition is a major component of meditation. Gardening allows you to create something and watch it grow in a meditative state.
Of course, you could also consider growing things that you could actually eat. Small herb gardens are easy to maintain and make a unique addition to the spice rack in your kitchen. There’s something about eating food that you’ve grown yourself, even if it’s just used for seasoning.
You don’t need a ton of space to start gardening at home—you can even garden in an apartment if you wanted to!
Your garden doesn’t have to be very big in order to enjoy the relaxing and meditative benefits of gardening. Let’s take a look at some popular “small” gardens:
Indoor Herb Garden
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Indoor herb gardens are an especially good choice if you enjoy cooking. These small and easy-to-maintain gardens will compliment your kitchen—everyone will know you take your seasonings seriously. There’s also a big difference in taste between fresh herbs and the dried ones you buy in the grocery store (which can be surprisingly old). The price of herbs is also significantly lessened if you grow them yourself.
Indoor Vertical Gardening
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Vertical gardening is a very cool technique in which you grow plants sideways instead of straight up! It saves you a ton of space and it’s also a very unique look. Plants are surprisingly versatile—they don’t care what direction they’ve been planted in, as long as they’re getting nutrients from the soil and enough light.
Wall Mounted Garden
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Wall mounted gardens are similar to indoor vertical gardens in the sense that they’re on the wall, but instead of growing vertically, you mount small containers to the wall and grow your plants regularly. It’s a lot easier (and likely cheaper) to start a wall mounted garden than a vertical garden, which makes it as an appealing starting point for indoor gardening beginners. Most of the containers used for wall mounted gardens can be removed—so you can take your plants outside if you want, too.
Nothing I like better than early morning, with cup of coffee, stroll outside to the garden, do a little watering, contemplate the plants and flowers (what should be cut back, what should be moved or divided). It is Zen for me.
It really is a wonderful feeling, watering all my indoor plants today. :)