Benfits of Gardening

This month will be ordering gardening seeds as a part of our preparedness program. Our ward specialist Mike Walker was kind enough to share the following information.

One place you can buy heirloom seeds, is Diane's flower seeds.You can find her at dianeseeds.com. another is lifesprouts.com.

Mike Walker’s dozen benefits of gardening

1. Organic produce, free of pesticides web site for author-

http://www.jerrybaker.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=10

2. Your own fresh vegetables and fruits with maximum vitamins

3. Cost effective- your own personal stimulus package

4. Own effort/reward, satisfaction appeal

5. Healthy exercise- burns calories

100-120 calories per 30 minutes

Turning a compost pile or turning soil can burn 250-300 calories per each 30 minutes

Benefit of stretching out muscles because of frequent bending over and movement

How many calories you can burn (180 pound man for each 30 minutes- smaller people burn fewer calories)

Sitting quietly-40
Water a lawn or garden -61
Riding mower-101
Trimming shrubs-142
Raking-162
Bagging leaves-162
Planting seedlings-162 Mowing with gas mower-182
Weeding-182
Gardening with heavy power tools-243
Mowing lawn with a push mower-243

Listen to your body and don’t over do it.

http://www.diabeticlifestyle.com/articles/apr03_burni_1.htm

6. Therapeutic release- wind down/release from rigors of work

7. Emotional/psychological benefits- stress relief

http://mental-health.families.com/blog/garden-your-way-to-peace

http://healthfieldmedicare.suite101.com/article.cfm/planting_a_garden_lead_a_healthy_lifestyle

8. Looking for a hobby? This one is very productive

9. Develops skill and talent- and I am still learning

10. Create and enjoy something wonderful and beautiful

11. Follow counsel of leaders

12. God is the best gardener I know that we can emulate

With any one of these benefits, why would anyone able not grow their own garden? Now there are a dozen benefits of growing a garden.

Other web sites I like-

http://www.cultivatinglife.com/

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/victorygarden/

http://www.parkseed.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?catalogId=10066&storeId=10101&langId=-1&mainPage=page1&cid=ppp000009

http://www.reneesgarden.com/hm-gardnr/resource/shepherd.htm

http://www.burpee.com/

http://www.gardenguides.com/resources/nurseries/nursery.asp?store=797545

http://lambertfloral.com/

For plant and seed selection- order seeds early in the year.

Remember that any seeds that are “heirloom” can be saved and planted next year, so you save on seed cost too and the integrity of the plant should be maintained. Seeds taken from hybrid seed or hybrid plants don’t always maintain the same qualities that you wanted in the original hybrid seed or plant.

They tend to revert back to less desirable qualities. I grow both, but am leaning more and more towards heirloom because if seed ever gets difficult to obtain in the future, I have my own heirloom seeds taken from plants the previous year.