Gardening with your family is a chance to make exciting memories while being active in creating healthy foods as well as beautiful spaces.
No matter how big or small a garden is, it is an exciting way for a family to learn more about plants and growing food together.
In this article, we are going to enlighten you on the numerous benefits of family gardening as well as what you should grow and how best to start up a family garden.
Let’s get started!
What Are The Benefits Of Family Gardening?
When a family works together to plant and care for a garden, they can all enjoy these benefits but before we dive into that, let’s take a quick look at what family gardening entails.
When you hear family gardening, just know that it is an educational experience that is designed to help all family members properly understand the importance of good nutrition.
Having said that, let’s look at the benefits of family gardening:
1. It Promotes Closeness
The first benefit of family gardening is that it is an activity that brings about closeness among family members bearing in mind that gardening requires a lot of work and preparation.
So when you begin this process as a family, you will have enough time to spend quality and authentic time together.
As you work in the garden, you will foster closeness between the parents and the kids including other family members.
It is more like saying that as the seed which you have planted grows together so will the relationship wax strongly as well.
This is quite a fantastic experience if you have kids because it will help to strengthen the bonds between children and their parents.
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2. It Brings About Outdoor Time
Research has shown that the time spent on nurturing nature has a mental health benefit in the lives of family members most especially kids.
So, by planting and growing the various crops in the garden makes room for outdoor experiences and activities for the family.
3. Physical Activity
Gardening and yard work are moderate-intensity exercises, which we all need every day.
For instance, kids within the age bracket of 3 to 5, you need to get three hours of physical activity each day while older family members need a minimum of an hour daily.
This can be easily achieved when tending to your family garden.
It also promotes more activities for your child by asking them to bring you various tools, such as a bucket, shovel, or hose.
In addition, your child will tend to engage in more active play when not actively gardening.
4. It Helps In Reducing Stress
Gardening is an excellent stress reliever.
This can be achieved through getting exposed to fresh air and sunlight, performing relaxing and repetitive tasks, or even coming in contact with harmless bacteria in the soil that helps to release serotonin in the brain.
5. Better Sleep
Through engaging in physical activities can help an individual to crave for more better sleep.
Getting enough sleep can improve the behavior, health, performance of the family member and also a general well-being.
6. Healthier Eating
Family members who grow vegetables in their garden tend to eat more vegetables and balance their diet.
They also tend to understand the importance of eating healthy meals.
They may be more willing to taste unfamiliar veggies, which might be the first time to incorporate a new diet such as eating more fruits than non-gardeners.
7. Family Gardening Brings About Mood Boosting.
Gardening helps to improve your mood and increases your self-esteem.
So, when family members spend time in the garden such as planting and growing different crops, it will lead to the relief of anxiety levels, dropping making them feel less depressed.
Step-By-Step Processes For Starting A Family Garden
Having known the benefits of having a family garden, let’s look at processes of starting a family garden.
Step 1: Soil
The first step you should take when starting a family garden is to get the best soil for the particular plants or crops that you are intending to plant.
Afterwards, you need to prepare the soil for your seeds or seedlings.
This part is the most important since it is what determines how successful your garden will be.
Starting with poor soil will reduce the amount of your harvest.
So it is important that you source good and fertile soil.
If the soil is not fertile enough, you can look for an organic compost to mix it with where you wish to start your garden.
You can also apply manure to the soil to boost its potency.
At the early stages of starting a garden, it is advisable that you should avoid any chemical fertilizer because they might damage your crops which in return will affect your health.
So, test the PH level of the side of the land that you want to use for your family garden.
If the pH level is 6.5, then it means that the land will be good for a vegetable garden.
If you are interested in indoor family gardening, you must ensure that you use sterile soil since it is the most effective.
Also, when growing new plants, it is essential that you figure out the most suitable soil for the crop.
By knowing your soil’s composition, it will bring about an optimum plant development.
Always remember that phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium are three most essential nutrients that plants require to grow well.
Step 2: Prepare Your Gardening Tools
If you want to start a family gardening, it is important that you get all the necessary tools and equipment that you will need to carry out all your tasks.
By doing, it will help you to avoid using the wrong tools thereby wasting a lot of time and effort.
I will advise that you should get your tools for the summer since all businesses will want to clear all their sales.
Among the essential tools that you should get, you should make sure to get rubber or plastic gloves to avoid scratching your hand while working on the garden.
Step 3: The Source Of Illumination
When growing organic plants, do well to relocate your containers to a much lighter location as soon as they sprout.
This is because seedlings require at least 12 hours of light per day to be able to grow healthy.
This is mostly recommended if you are tending an indoor home gardening.
You should source out for more light such as grow light.
Connect your grow light to the electric timer that will turn it on when there is not enough sunlight.
Step 4: Consider The Temperature
It is important that you have set up your family gardening.
You should keep a close watch on the temperature of where your garden is located.
Not all temperatures are good for some plants.
So if you aren’t mindful, it might lead to a great loss of plants due to cold or hot temperature depending on what doesn’t suit the plant.
Step 5: Be Mindful Of Pests, Weeds And Diseases
When starting a garden, you need to be mindful of pests, dangerous weeds as well as harmful diseases that can damage your crops thereby causing you a great loss.
Inoder to prevent your plants from disease, it is highly recommended that you should try and always move your garden to another location every year.
This is to avoid the soil from building up hazardous organisms.
If your family garden is infested with aphids, you should consider using ladybugs other than using pesticides.
Ladybugs are natural aphid predators which help to keep the population of the aphids under control.
You can find this online or in any garden center near you.
If you are faced with weeds, you should try Mulch rather than using herbicides.
While doing so, be cautious to avoid spreading the weeds.
What Should You Grow In Your Family Garden?
There are many plants that you can grow in your garden instead of picking just your favorite crops.
Try and allocate space for the numerous crops depending on your location.
For instance, if growing tomatoes thrive much better in your climate. Then, it will be good to give more space for the planting of tomatoes in your garden.
To be able to know what grows better in your area, you can ask your neighbors or you can consult an agriculturist.
Other crops that you can plant are Garlic, Ginger, vegetables such as carrots, cabbage and many more.
In your family garden, you should also plant self-seeding flowers. It will help to make it more attractive.
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FAQs
1. Is Gardening Good For The Whole Family?
Gardening is good for the whole family.
Gardening can be a solo activity or an opportunity for bonding with your family and friends.
The happiness and stress relief that gardening provides is a great thing to share with loved ones.
Also, gardening has special benefits for kids.
2. What Are The Benefits Of Gardening For Kids?
Gardening has special benefits for kids.
Early exposure to dirt has been linked to numerous health benefits, from reducing allergies to autoimmune diseases.
Gardening can give you a boost of vitamin D. A healthy dose of vitamin D increases your calcium levels, which benefits your bones and immune system.
3. Is Gardening Good For Your Heart?
Gardening is good for your heart.
All that digging, planting, and weeding burns calories and strengthens your heart.
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Conclusion
Gardening as a family offers a host of benefits which we have listed above.
So if you live in an urban area or a yard with enough space, you should consider having a garden.
It will be fun if you do so.
If this article was helpful, do well to recommend us to your friends.
