Embrace the Joy of Gardening
Gardening is often viewed as a realm for the perfectionist or traditional farmer: rows of flawless vegetables and not a weed in sight. Here at Grow Your Own Vegetables, we invite you to shift your perspective with a simple yet profound philosophy: fun is better than perfect.
Rebel Against Perfection
“Fun is Better than Perfect,” is an invitation to step into the garden as a space of exploration and wonder. Abandon the idealism of your garden needing to become a showcase of expertise. Grow Your Own Vegetables garden trainer Crystal Meserole further illustrates the importance of making your garden journey a source of joy:
“It’s better to harvest a pound of tomatoes in joy, than a bushel in stress.”
Dream Big But Start Small
The great news for beginners is that you don’t need a wealth of knowledge to start. Find a spot with 6-8 hours of full sun, amend your soil, and plant some seeds and transplants.
It’s about taking that first step, even if it means your garden won’t be the iconic images you see featured in magazines. The real reward comes from watching your efforts sprout and grow.
The Heart of Learning is Experimentation
Gardening is a hands-on activity that teaches through trial and error. Each season is a new set of experiments. Maybe you’ll learn that your tomatoes prefer one side of the garden over the other, or that your soil needs a bit more compost to support your vigorous plant growth. Each observation is a nugget of wisdom, and each misstep is a lesson. In gardening, there is no such thing as a failure as long as you’re learning from your observations and experiments.
The Stress-Free Garden
Aiming for perfection will make gardening an overwhelming chore. Striving for a pest-free, weed-less utopia will suck the joy out of even the sunniest afternoons. That stress can negatively impact your health. Adopting a more laid-back approach is the key to having a good garden experience.
So what if there are some weeds among your strawberries? Nature is unpredictable, surprising us throughout the seasons. If you’re trying to create this picture perfect reality you’re going to end up experiencing unneccessary stress. Embracing the chaos of nature can transform your garden experience from a curveball of stress to a curveball of joy.
And if pests nibble some of your greens, remember that sharing is caring—even with nature’s tiny critters. Without some pests, you won’t have beneficials. It’s not about pest-free; it about ecosystem balance. You want some pests so you have beneficials.
Harvest Happiness
Harvesting fresh food is rewarding. Harvesting happiness is priceless. You can’t buy happiness, but you can grow happiness. It is up to you to choose to cultivate it. It starts within you. It starts with a choice. When you choose to approach gardening with the mindset that the goal is health—physical, mental and emotional, you will be able to approach your garden with a sense of amazement, always experiencing, releasing the ideal you have to control the outcome.
Gardens can be spaces of delight and discovery. Whether you’re nurturing a few potted herbs or tending to a sprawling vegetable plot, remember that perfection is not the goal—enjoyment is. Approach your garden as a playground for your curiosity and a testament to the beauty of imperfection. Embrace the approach of ‘fun is better than perfect’ so you can harvest nature’s abundance of fresh food, joy, and happiness.
Join in the Joy!
Part of enjoying gardening is connecting with others and learning new ways to improve your garden! Join us for the 8th Annual Superfood Garden Summit!
