Gardening for Joy

For some of us, the Safer at Home order has brought on feelings of boredom and even sluggishness as we try to cope with physical inactivity. Studies have shown that gardening can boost people’s moods as much as many other types of exercise, such as cycling and walking. Planting and maintaining a garden, big or small, can help to break up the monotony, reduce your screen time, relax your mind, and help you gain a sense of peace. 

Gardening can also work to draw your family closer together as you learn about plant life, watch how things grow, and bond while tending the garden. With the shift to remote learning for school age children, hands-on activities like gardening can be incorporated into lessons and enrichment activities. Younger children can use gardening tasks to learn skills such as measurements, addition, subtraction, sorting into categories and colors, learning the names of plants, and understanding the plant life cycle. Older students can use home gardening to explore the principles of plant biology and experiment with different types of plants.

Whether you have a large outdoor space or none at all, experienced gardeners agree that starting out small is the best way to dig into gardening. Urban dwellers that live in apartments or condos with no outside space, or limited space on a balcony or patio, can still enjoy growing flowers, vegetables, succulents, and a wide variety of houseplants.

Glendale Library, Arts & Culture has a wealth of resources to help you get started! For windowsill gardening, check out The Complete Guide to Growing Windowsill Plants and Room and Window Gardening. To learn how to grow plants using containers, start with The Complete Guide to Growing Vegetables, Flowers, Fruits, and Herbs from Containers and Container Gardening for Beginners. If you are feeling confident  and love a challenge, take a look at Vertical Gardening and Vertical Vegetables and Fruit. For those with more space, time, and energy, try out The Beginner's Illustrated Guide To Gardening and the Joy of Gardening. Work as a family and get your kids interested and excited with titles such as Kids' Container Gardening, Green Thumbs, and Gardening Lab for Kids.

Safer at home doesn't have to mean being stuck at home, and taking up gardening is one way to beat the boredom and learn something new!