Mainly being outside. Also Watching a little seed grow into veggies and fruit. Filling the pantry with good homemade pasta sauce, pickles, and peppers along with frozen veggies for winter.

It's a toss-up. I enjoy working with soil. Anytime I'm gardening I forget my problems, my pains are gone and so is my stress. I've always been fascinated that a tiny seed can produce a big plant. I love seeing seeds sprout. I feel like a child again, I am so full of glee. Harvesting is probably the best. I know it's going to taste soooo much better than store bought veggies or fruits and I know I never sprayed it with anything.

In spring I like digging in the soil. I like the feeling of crumbling fertile soil and the special aroma and the anticipation of planting and growing.

Everything except weeding.....bad back! Enjoyed weeding the raised-up beds today, though! Nancy

My favorite part would be peak harvest... hectic at times, but that is the culmination of the year's efforts, and I love being able to share the bounty with family and friends. My second favorite time is after frost has put an end to the garden, when I can begin to shell out all the dry bean pods harvested during the summer. For me, shelling beans by hand while watching a movie is therapeutic.

Getting dirty, and the smells. Sorry for having two, they just kind of go together!

I love it all but the best part is my grandson hollaring for daddy to come have a snack as he stuffs his mouth full of broccoli Raab

I love to cook so being able to turn top quality, *just picked,* chemical free produce in varieties I can't even get from the grocery store into an amazing meal for the people I love is really satisfying.

I honestly and truly can't pick just one favorite! I probably like the research and planning more than most other gardeners do, though. I love trying new varieties and tweaking my methods in order to be more productive.

Canning season. Nothing gives me a sense of accomplishment like preserving all the food I have grown and knowing we are well stocked for winter.

Dave

When I have finished compost or my mulch turning to compost, and finding mycelium in the soil. Taking photos of different insects and interesting things I see it the garden. Also the sunlight exposure for vitamin D.

This will be my second gardening year. I loved the actual "growing" phase. When you can go to work one morning and when you come home and everything is noticeably taller or bigger. I also enjoyed the planning part a lot especially after learning so much last year.

Believe it or not, I actually enjoy weeding. It is a relaxing task that keeps your mind off other things, and you get to see instant results for your hard work.

Peter, I like to weed, too!

Definately eating!!It all tastes so good.

I'd have to say that preparing the beds for planting/sowing is my favorite. Like adding compost and such. Although this year, I can hardly wait to dig up the garlic in the summer and see the results! :-)

The serenity of being out in the garden. Eating produce in the middle of February that I grew last August.

So many good answers!

Can't believe anyone likes weeding!! Maybe the end result of weeding but not the task.

Other than harvesting, eating, and preserving the harvest, my favorite part of gardening is trialing new vegetables and varieties and learning the growth characteristics of different plants. Sometimes the first trial ends in failure but with GW such a great source of information those failures have diminished substantially.

It is nice, to be outside, see instant results of your hard work, and the task is kind of like meditation. When it isn't fun is when you don't have enough time to do it and things are overgrown everywhere.

I don't mind weeding if I don't let them get too far ahead of me. Other than that I like harvesting the best. Sweet corn & tomatoes are my favorites. I make a lot of juice from tomatoes which I drink thruout the winter. I love tomatoe juice.

I use a good hand weeder similar to a Cape Cod weeder and agree that weeding when you haven't let it get away from you is very satisfying. I got mad at my husband last year because he dug the potatoes without me. I love seeing the treasures revealed (I'm the one who does 99% of the garden work). Last year I interplanted a patch of red cabbage, leeks, white alyssum, lemon gem marigolds and violas. It was so beautiful. I like to plant herbs here and there so sometimes I get surprised by a fragrance. Looking forward to picking the first pepper and first tomato is so much fun.

Favorite part of gardening: The quiet mind that every stage of gardening gives me, from planning to planting and caring and harvesting, to preserving and cooking with the produce.

Favorite part of this thread: reading the responses and seeing folks who don't post much chiming in. :)

Turning this

And the warmth of spring/summer and being able to for the first time have a larger garden to include more than just hot peppers. Been doing a lot of research and ready to get my purple garden going

My favorite part is digging and burying stuff in my garden beds. Weeding and harvesting are kind of fun too but most of the time I just do them simply out of necessity. I love my soil and all the things that I could do to improve my soil. I consider those big fat organic vegetables that I finally harvested from the beds "nice side-effect" of all my soil improving activities. I really like burying stuff in the soil and see them gone after a few weeks. That is why I would never do any gardening that does not involve soil such as hydroponics or containers.

I really enjoy the relaxation. And eating what I grew. I grow stuff I can't buy at the grocery store (Persian basil! Aleppo peppers!) and it is nice to get to eat it.

Also, to continue the tradition. My family has been growing citrus in the southwest for at least 100 years. I enjoy continuing that tradition. Plus, fresh citrus tastes like heaven.

I like everything except weeding and tending to sick plants (spray BT, find SVB in vines, etc.). But of course my favorite parts are eating and vitamin D. I grow sprouts continuously, but there is something about the first vegetables in spring (garlic and arugula shoots, first lettuce) that even fresh sprouts do not have.

In addition to watching those little seeds grow into something to feed my family and trying out new varieties of vegetables and eating stuff that is much better than I can get in stores, I like the feeling of being connected to the earth and to all the people who have farmed and grown these same plants for thousands of years, including my own ancestors.

There is a line in Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass"-- I bequeathe myself to the dirt, to grow from the grass I love; If you want me again, look for me under your boot-soles." I love that.

Also, the blessing said on Ash Wednesday "You came from dust, and to dust you shall return."

I think of that when I dig and plant. Our connection to the earth.

I like seeing things grow and get bigger. Sometimes I try to stay away from the garden an entire day (very hard to do) just to to notice how much things have grown.

Ever since I realized that I am not in a "race" I started to enjoy weeding. I just slowed down a little and it became relaxing. Besides no one bothers you when your weeding, they are all afraid they will be asked to help :)

My favourite quote is " you can bury a lot of troubles digging in the dirt"

I wear shoes or at least flip flops when I'm in the garden but I love some barefoot time feeling the dirt and grass. Sometimes I have no plan in mind except to check on things but I start pulling some weeds, discovering a zucchini's hiding place or inspecting for big bugs that need removing. Fortunately, haven't seen any tomato hornworms in a couple of years.

Planning and building temporary structures and trellises are my favorite things to do in the garden.

Weeding...well maybe not exactly, but I like it.

Actually, I think watering by hand is my most zen thing in the garden. I do have soaker hoses, but every once in awhile I do a deep watering by hand and inspect each plant, pull a few weeds, check on nests etc..

Also, kicking back with a glass of wine in the evening and watching things GROW! Nancy

What I like best: Planning. Dreaming. Catalogs. Harvesting, weeding or planting with happy-to-be-there, absorbed children. Otherwise, the productive human solitude surrounded nature busy by doing it's thing, and the feeling I am hands deep in something timeless.

I'm with you nancyjane on the hand watering. It gives me a chance to pause and really look at each area as I evaluate the water needs there. I feel like I really know the garden well after a few times through with the hose end watering wand. I'll notice pests, weeds, produce ready for harvest, etc, etc, and go back and deal with those later. But for the present moment, I'm just playing with the plants and water.

Harvesting is also a favorite except when it is something very time consuming that I've over planted. Processing the bounty is NOT my favorite so I try to adjust my planting to spread things out so I can eat most things fresh. For later use, I'll go for things like onions, garlic, winter squash that don't require much work before storage. I also like things I can overwinter in the ground or protect with row cover.

It's interesting to see that some of the things I like least are favorites of others. I worked with a lady who loved to weed. I did not. But after working in a school garden with her over several years, I came to like weeding...at least a little bit. The change was due partly to attitude and partly to techniques I learned from her.

I'm with Nancy, the glass of wine while watching things grow part! I also love the planning and harvesting (oh and the eating!!). I have found a great product that may help you with your back Nancy.... I too suffer from that as well as a dodgy hip and tried this so see what you think! Cheers :)






http://kingbrand.com/Back_Injury_Pain.php?REF=1094PV29

The pungent smell of my fingers after pinching tomato suckers. A smell evolved to repel pests, yet I cannot stop huffing on them.

Actually, Happyhelenr, I go to the chiro 1x per month. He's great and I tell him all the ways I adapt things in order to garden (I worked in Spec Ed for 38 years so adapting is my thing!)

He chuckles, admonishes me not to over do and accepts my offer of home made pesto each month that basil is available! ;) Nancy