With Thanksgiving just around the corner, it’s a good time to focus on gardening gratitude as the growing season winds down and plants go dormant. Winter is a great time for reflection for gardeners. Take some time to think about your garden, thankfulness, and what you love so much about working in it.
Top Reasons to Be a Thankful Gardener
To be thankful in the garden is to truly embrace and enjoy the outdoors, working with your hands, and doing something that is both practical and rewarding. There are days when gardening is frustrating or disappointing, but at Thanksgiving remember what is so good about being in the garden.
- Gardening is good for the soul. Thank your garden and your hobby for improving your mental health. No gardener needs the proof, but studies show that being outdoors and working in a garden is beneficial. It lifts the mood, gives you a sense of self-confidence, and keeps anxiety and stress at bay.
- It’s wonderful to witness the seasons. Winter can be a little depressing for gardeners but take the time to be grateful that you get to see all the beauty of each season’s passing. The cycle of plant and animal life is best witnessed with your hands in the dirt, tending to a garden.
- Pollinators keep gardens going. The next time you get annoyed by a fly or a bee buzzing by your head, remember what they do for us. No garden could succeed without amazing pollinators like bees, butterflies, bats, flies, and other animals.
- Gardening is for solitude and socializing. Be grateful for a hobby that allows you the peaceful solitude of a garden and the invigorating togetherness of a plant swap or gardening class.
- All gardens are a blessing. Your garden is your home and the fruit of your labors. Take time to be thankful for all of the other gardens as well. You get to see your neighbors’ gardens on a stroll around the block, taking inspiration for plantings. Local and community parks and gardens provide space to appreciate even more plants and all nature has to offer.
Celebrate a Garden Thanksgiving
As you reflect on everything you appreciate about your garden, highlight it for the Thanksgiving holiday. Celebrate the meal with the fruits of your vegetable and herb garden, use garden materials to decorate the table, and most of all, be thankful as a gardener.
Don’t forget your garden, plants, soil, wildlife, and everything else that makes gardening so wonderful as you go around the holiday table this year, reflecting on gratitude.