More and more people are rediscovering the pleasure of growing, of seeing plants grow from seeds. Caring for them and observing how they deliver their fruit also nourishes our hopes.
Written and verified by the psychologist GetPersonalGrowth.
Last update: 15 November 2021
Today it is a common image: there are many people who have embarked on the enterprise of cultivating a vegetable garden at home. On the terrace, on the balcony, on the veranda or on the windows there are pots in which shy seedlings grow. Plants that with our care, our dedication and our patience will offer edible fruit in a few months.
For many people it is little more than a fashion. Social networks are saturated with images of people, both anonymous and famous, who have begun to show off their little home gardens. These photos get thousands of likes, showing us how we can create an ecological garden starting from a few seeds, compensating for the lack of space with creativity and dedication.
But for the experts it is not about fashion and it is not even an attempt to devote ourselves to a creative activity when we have nothing to do. In reality this exercise, or passion, is also a way to return to the origins, to contact with the earth, to something basic for the human being.
We are not driven by the fear of running out of food at any moment; it is not even a desperate attempt to feed themselves self-sufficiently, to grow garlic and tomatoes on the balcony in the event of a famine. It is a return to nature to find calm, to reconnect to a primordial and reassuring element.
Growing a vegetable garden at home: the return to the earth
The poet Rabindranath Tagore used to say that people have the habit of mistreating the land and it does not offer its fruits in return. That's it.
A large number of people in these days are experiencing an interest in returning to the earth, in contact with that soil that nourishes, protects and, ultimately, gives life.
Suddenly, having time and living at a slower pace, intimate and with an introspective gaze, aroused in us curiosity for the land and interest in seeing plants, seeds, flowers and fruits sprout ... Growing a vegetable garden at home is not a simple whim on dull days. Many are experiencing unexpected benefits from this activity.
Cultivating the earth to reconnect with oneself
Sometimes we need space to feel good, to think, to find calm in a world that suffers, that changes quickly. We survive as best we can, but we also discover something new every day.
Many create, others simply rest to regenerate, to allay anxiety. And others have chosen to dedicate a few hours of their day to home growing.
It is interesting to discover that growing a vegetable garden at home is an exercise that regenerates our mental health.
Jennifer Atkinson, a lecturer at the University of Washington, explains in her research work Nature, Fantasy and Everyday Practice that a vegetable garden or a garden helps to manage stress, helps to think about possible ways to solve problems and favors the connection with ourselves.
Cultivating a vegetable garden not out of fear, but to get in touch with the earth and see it sprout
We said at the beginning: cultivating a vegetable garden at home is not an activity in response to fear. We are not afraid of running out of options.
We must say, however, that in times of crisis and hardship this practice was common and may have left in us a little instinctive trait.
Beyond the fact that we dedicate ourselves to this practice by necessity or not, there is an undeniable fact: cultivating seeds, seeing them grow and give a fruit or a vegetable is one of the most rewarding exercises for the human being. It has always been like that. Getting in touch with the earth brings us back to the origins and this does not offer us simple pleasure.
A kind of hope arises in us to see how plants grow, how the fruit sprouts and, finally, how the plant hangs, in the hope of being noticed.
Growing a vegetable garden at home, an alternative to electronic devices
Growing a vegetable garden at home is one way to relax the brain. Today technology is our ally, it is a fact. Thanks to it we are in contact with friends, relatives, work colleagues. The screens of mobile phones and computers fill our hours and create bridges with those who are far away.
Despite this, when we answer the phone or finish a video call we feel pervaded by a feeling of emptiness. That inexplicable void can be filled by gardening and those vegetable gardens on the terrace or balcony.
Cultivating means creating, getting in touch with the earth, learn to care for them and to be patient. The days go by more quickly seeing that plant grow and blossom, bear its small fruits ...
They have nothing to lose by trying, immersing ourselves in this ancient practice that often goes far beyond supply and nutrition.
