By CHLOE GRUSING
Editorial Editor
With the weather changing from blistering cold to nice and warm, I can begin to plant my garden.
Gardening is one of my favorite hobbies and I have been blessed to have the resources to continue it year after year.
My family has gardened for longer than I have been alive and growing up I was always helping my parents weed.
This hobby has changed my life for the better, as I can be outside, grow my own food and appreciate the food on my plate more.
I truly believe and encourage everyone to try gardening in some sort of capacity. While a student is living on campus it may be hard to start, but there are resources around campus to get a garden started.
I talked to Dr. Mindi Clark, who teaches a horticulture class in the spring semester, about why students should try gardening. She stated gardening is one of the top ten hobbies in the U.S., and covid-19 sparked an interest for people to begin.
Horticulture class also offers many ways for students to understand the way plants grow. In the course students plant seeds and grow them in a greenhouse. The plants will later be donated to the community garden and in flower beds around the Alva campus.
Students not enrolled in the course can still garden. My freshman year of college, I had a small planter in my room and grew seeds to later plant in my vegetable garden.
That summer when finals week was over, I took the seedlings and planted them. This was my way of practicing gardening while living in the dorms.
Gardening is a stress reliever for me and is a satisfying hobby. It feels great when you can grow the crop yourself and share with your community. Dr. Clark mentions she shared corn with her church community.
She spoke happily of their smiles when receiving the corn, and how brightening someone’s day is worth gardening. Even if the people getting the veggies may not like them, the thought alone can make someone’s day. A person could be dealing with difficult times and sharing may brighten their day, or even week.
Being able to bring a community together through gardening is another reason I recommend starting your own. Alva has a community garden that students can engage with.
The garden is located at the Homestead Retirement Community and offers a great way to get your foot in the door. Students are welcome to plant their own vegatables there and share them with the public.
Starting a garden can be a scary task so I asked Dr. Clark what a new gardener should know. She mentions taking a soil sample can greatly improve the quality of your plants.
Local resources are available depending on where you live so I suggest doing research to get your soil tested.
The reasoning behind this is to test the PH and what components are in the soil. This can help a person determine what type of plants will grow best or what to add to the soil for the desired plants. This can be a beneficial practice to help grow your garden to the fullest.
Beginning your own garden can be a very fulfilling activity. I recommend students try to garden, if not to have crops, then to relieve stress. All students should try to garden at least once.
I encourage everyone to reach out to your adviser to take the horticulture class if you would like to learn more about gardening. I firmly believe that starting a garden has improved my mental health and the way I view myself.
I feel more accomplished seeing the hard work I have put in come to fruition through a tomato, carrot or beautiful flowers.
The ability to use ingrediants that were grown by you also feels great. Being able to watch your crops grow from seed to full grown plants is satisfying.
Everyone is able to, in some way, garden and have their own crops. Gardening can help improve your sense of self and work as a way to relieve stress. My great-grandmother once told me to plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow, so go and conquer tomorrow today.
