There are plenty of great reasons to grow a food garden: warm, sunny days of digging in the dirt, the satisfaction that comes from seeing your crops thrive, the taste of a homegrown tomato.
We recently polled our readers to find out their primary reason for gardening, and it turns out that self-sufficiency reigns. Not far behind was the reason that gardening simply brings joy to people’s lives. Cheers to that! Here are the full results of our survey:
What’s your primary reason for gardening?
To achieve greater self-sufficiency 395 (47.76%)
Simply for the joy it brings 271 (32.77%)
To be more environmentally sustainable 77 (9.31%)
To save money 66 (7.98%)
The community or family aspect 13 (1.57%)
To sell at market 5 (0.6%)
We’d love to hear more about your gardening philosophy and the main reasons you grow food. Please post a comment below. And happy gardening, everyone!
Shelley Stonebrook is MOTHER EARTH NEWS magazine’s main gardening editor. She’s passionate about growing healthy, sustainable food and taking care of our environment. Follow her on Twitter, Pinterestand Google+.
Photo by iStockphoto/cjp