Gardening – The Perfect Hobby

Gardening – The Perfect Hobby

Think of a hobby that has been around for centuries that people ages 5 to 95 can partake in. Gardening is that very hobby. As long as there is earth to plant and grow in, gardening will be around. “For nearly... well ... forever, gardeners and farmers grew plants using common sense, careful observation, and the resources nature provided” (Organic Gardening,1999). Just as technology has modernized our daily lives, it has also improved and eased methods of gardening as time has evolved.

Organic Gardening states evidence of gardening and horticulture recorded dating back to 8,000 B.C. “The staples of Native American cuisine, corn (maize) and common beans, are cultivated in the Western Hemisphere in 8,000 B.C. Also, Roman farmers are advised to spread dung on their fields to enhance soil fertility in 1 A.D. These two statements prove that not only gardening, but techniques we use today in gardening were used well before our time.”

I have never realized how valuable my time was spent in the garden when I was younger. From as early as I can remember, my entire family would spend (what seemed to be) countless hours in the garden on hot summer evenings picking strawberries and green beans and other tempting treats. There was even the dreaded job of hoeing weeds and attempting not to rip a plant out of the ground (or at least not letting Mom know if we did). Little did I know how much I would appreciate not only the fruits and vegetables we enjoyed from our garden for so many years, but also the time spent bent over with three generations of my family.

This is just one explanation of what gardening is to me. Many people garden for more reaso...

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...ndless. The records of this hobby date back to 8,000 B.C., when in that time it was a way of survival and support in human’s lives. Today, gardening can be as time consuming as you want to make it or as expensive as you want to make it, but it will always remain a fulfilling and educational practice that is timeless.

Bibliography

1. A Brief History in Gardening. Organic Gardening. (Nov./Dec. 1999)Vol. 46. Issue 6.

2. History of Gardening in America. Horticulture. (Feb. 1993).Vol. 71. Issue 2. p.64.

3. Hedrick U. P. (1950). History of Horticulture in America to 1860. New York: Oxford University Press.

4. Leighton, A. (1976). American Gardens in the Eighteenth Century: “For use or for Delight.” Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

5. Olszowy D.R. (1978). Horticulture for the Disadvantaged and Disabled. Springfield, Ill.: Charles C. Thomas.