I started to garden because it beats going to the gym for exercise. Now I love it because it gets me out of the four walls and into the fresh air, refreshing and energizing me. There is something wonderful that happens inside me when I connect with nature... touching the soil... finding a newly germinated seed or admiring fresh blooms that brighten the world around me. I love it that no one likes to garden so they leave me alone out there, under open skies, allowing me to let my thoughts go uninterrupted... giving rest to my mind and freedom to my thinking.

Sugarhill, it's funny you brought up the song "Morning Has Broken" as that song expresses exactly why I love to garden.
Other reasons I garden are the feelings I get when I feed my own family food from my hands.
I also love to share beauty. Many of my neighbours did not experience the beauty of creation at their own homes. They often did not feel worthy, or felt that they could not afford it...that it was something others were entitled to. Now some do garden, but many more just come and visit the garden here and enjoy what they see and sense.

GGG
P.S. I LOVE to ammend soil, especially in the winter when I crave physical activity that makes me warm!

Oh GGG, how wonderful to have garden visitors. I know I would plunk myself down in your garden anytime. I'm just now getting over being too shy to let people see my garden.
Hope I see you in January when you come to amend my soil?

I love the exercise and the connection with nature. I also love learning how to grow fruits and vegetables. It's so much better eating veg I grew myself (hat-tip Mother Nature) using organic methods, it tastes better and forces me to eat more healthily than I might otherwise. Also it forces me to get more creative with the cooking-- after the 8th picking of green beans you gotta do *something* different right?

Growing and propagating fruit trees is all that but also an investment in the future. I love looking out at the figs, blueberries and pawpaws and thinking of the bounty in years to come.

My housemate does the ornamentals and together we're transforming the land around us into a paradise. I could never give this up, not even if all the mosquitoes in Georgia try to keep me from it.

Thanks for posting those song lyrics sugarhill :)

I have often pondered that very question. I remember loving growing things as a very small child. It is hard to express, but there is just something magical (for want of a better word) about life springing from the ground, whether it is trees, flowers or vegetables. Gardening is better than a psychiatrist, it is therapeutic to me. As SOON as i start digging, weeding or whatever it might be, I find my stress is melting away, and without even realizing it, I find myself singing (quietly, of course, I would'nt want to traumatize my neighbors) Another reason I garden is the sense of pride I get from my accomplishment when someone says "Hey that looks great!"

...because I love flowers. And I love butterflies and birds. I want to make a pretty habit in my yard for the animals and myself to enjoy.

I always wonder why I do this when Augst comes around and I feel like it is a a chore to go out and do anything, but for most of the year it is my therapy, my stress relief and in many ways my spiritual retreat. One of my favorite things is moving plants or dividing them. I find myself telling them how happy they will be in this new spot I have chosen for them. I love finding little creatures as I am playing in the dirt. It really keeps me grounded (no pun intended.)

I'm the same way, kathyga. I love gardening in the spring and fall, but right now, the heat's too much! Added to which we're not supposed to water, so my garden looks horrible. I've given up - if it needs water, it's just going to have to die a horrible death. Too bad the privet I'm trying to get rid of won't die from thirst!

all of the above - except in August! i have so much to do, but it is just so hot. Luckily we had rain (storms!) four evening last week so things are looking better, but the weeds really enjoyed the rain...........

I garden because I love it. I love plants and I love nature.
I garden because it is a freedom (think about it), a pure pleasure. But sometimes I think I garden because that's all I have left. Kris Kristopherson said "freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose."
I know part of my post sounds melancholy so to end on a cheery note, I do have music and a beautiful grandson. Now if you'll excuse me, the garden is calling.

Here is a link that might be useful: BittersweetGardens.Com