Until very recently gardening seemed to me like a boring hobby for older people who have nothing to do. What can be exciting about digging the soil and spending so much time and effort to get some crops that are available in the nearest supermarket?
But then in March 2020 lockdown have hit and for some mysterious reason just like many I got reaaalllyyyyy into house plants, in a few weeks my flat was looking like an urban jungle, in a few months I’ve started converting our shared balcony into a little garden, I have planted tomatoes, potatoes, herbs, so shrubs and a couple of trees. It became a real hobby and I have spent hundreds of hours learning about specific classifications and types of plants, understanding their needs and requirements, ways to propagate, growth hormones, nutrients, light, humidity, and the list can go on and on…
Now I consider myself as a professional gardener and plant dad.
Two things that Gardening taught me.
Firstly, it really helped me to reconnect with nature, I’ve started to feel and understand the magic of growth and development, my garden has become a habitat for many creatures, bees and butterflies were popular visitors to the balcony and so were birds. Having time just to stop and reflect really helped me with my anxiety, being around plants and/or nature is a very healthy habit that helps with many issues. Taking care of your plants is very relaxing and allows you to be in a present and not be in the stream of infinite thoughts and fears, seeing them thrive makes me genuinely happy.
Throwing away food is now a huge taboo for me since I’ve seen how much time and effort it takes for a plant to grow certain parts and fruit it become for me absolutely unacceptable to waste such things. It is obvious that during the cooking process It is not possible to not waste. Therefore I keep my compostable waste in a little green bin from the City Council that later will be recycled into fertiliser for local farmers and generating electricity during the process. It is possible to recycle any food waste no matter what condition it is, pet food, tea bags, coffee ground, moldy food, as long as it does not contain any non-compostable particles – it is totally fine.
Not so fun fact – It estimates that if food waste were a country, then it would be the third highest emmiter in the world. Each year, we waste 1.3 gigatons of edible food and this releases 3.3 gigatons of CO2 equivalent (without taking into account land use change).
Happy gardening!