Let’s take this time to grow together and reconnect with nature. Gardening is good for you in so many ways. It is educational, it helps our environment, it encourages pollination, and most importantly, gardening is known to help you de-stress from the hectic pace of life.
Gardening creates a beautiful space for you and your family to enjoy while supporting the neighborhoods and ecosystems all around you. Planting trees and maintain plants in your landscape improves the air quality around you. It also reduces the noise pollution surrounding you. Your landscape can help absorb the noise, thus improving your quality of life. Gardening can attract beneficial wildlife, reduce soil erosion, and even help you save on energy costs. Plants provide so much more than just beauty. They can improve our everyday lives and our overall quality of life. In this blog, we will teach you some ways to promote wellness with plants in your home and how to reap the many benefits of gardening.
THE BENEFITS OF INDOOR PLANTS
Growing plants indoors is a popular trend for so many reasons. They bring beauty to your indoor space, they teach care and responsibility, and they help purify the air in your home. NASA conducted a study of houseplants and how they impact the quality of air indoors. This study proved plants can detox the air in effective ways by absorbing toxic chemicals and pollutants found in our everyday lives. Here are the top 5 indoor plants for a clean and happy home from Fresh from Florida®!
Sansevieria
Also known as Mother in Law’s Tongue, the unique look of the Sansevieria plant can make a strong visual statement in any space. Sansevieria is ideal for indoor spaces because it is easy to care for and it removes allergens! Sansevieria releases moisture in the air and lessens airborne allergens while it also avoids the collection of such allergens due to the smooth surface of its leaves. It loves humidity and is ideal for bathrooms or bedrooms because Sansevieria also gives off oxygen at night, helping you rest easier.
Dracena
Dracaena is one the easiest and most common indoor plants around. Dracaena is a shrubby species with over 40 different varieties and sizes which can work with all different spaces in your home or office. Its colorful leaves are dramatic and beautiful. Dracaena plants are considered one of the best for removing formaldehyde, trichloroethylene, and benzene chemicals from the air which can be found in everyday products like paints, cleaning products, and plastics. This plant should be grown in bright indirect sunlight, but is known to tolerate lower light levels.
Spathiphyllum
Spathiphyllum, also known as the Peace Lily, has been called by some as the “perfect houseplant”. Spathiphyllum is easy to maintain, forgiving, and lets you know when it needs watering. NASA found this great indoor plant to be one of the top plants for cleaning air. It breaks down toxic gasses to keep the air you are breathing nice and pure while soaking up mold spores in your home.
Kimberly Queen Ferns
Kimberly Queen Ferns grow dynamic sword-shaped fronds covered in elegant green leaves. Kimberly Queen Ferns can grow indoors or outside and made NASA’s list for its ability to absorb chemical agents like xylene. It performs well in both full sun and full shade and it does best in average to evenly moist soil conditions. Make sure to use a great potting soil like Calloway’s Premium Potting Soil when planting!
English Ivy
English Ivy filters out four toxic chemicals in your home like trichloroethylene, formaldehyde, benzene, and xylene. English Ivy is an easy-to-grow vine. It can thrive in cooler temperatures and low light while staying green all year long. It makes for a great “spiller” plant that flows down a shelf or mantel. Not to mention, it can reduce the amount of mold in the air of your home and can be used to naturally cleanse the air of mold spores.
THE BENEFITS OF GROWING YOUR OWN FOOD
Growing your own vegetables, herbs, and fruit is a great way to know exactly where your food is coming from. Imagine, with just a simple step outside, you can create fresh and delicious tasting meals. Skip the grocery store and the hassle of long lines. Enjoying fresh and juicy vegetables is possible with any living space. As long as your plants have access to great soil, the proper amount of sunlight, and enough water, anything is possible!
Choose easy to grow veggies like tomatoes, corn, beans, peas, squash, cucumbers, and peppers. You can even create your own salsa garden! Check out our blog here and learn all about planting your very own garden for the perfect summer salsa.
Whether you are planting in the ground or in a container, always make sure there is plenty of room for your plants to grow. Use a well-draining potting soil like Calloway’s Premium Potting Soil for container gardens or use Calloway’s Organic Compost in your vegetable garden beds. Feed your plants the organic way with Calloway’s Natural Garden Food. This highly enriched fertilizer is ideal for edible gardens, lawns, flowerbeds, trees, and shrubs. Apply as instructed with our easy-to-read directions for all your gardening needs. For more care tips for your vegetable gardens, check out our blog here!
THE BENEFITS OF OUTDOOR THERAPY
Finding solitude in your garden is key. Nature should be a form of relaxation and is ideal for meditation. Create a peaceful environment by adding some accents while you take in the benefits of the outdoors.
Vitamin D
Sunshine is good for your soul. Exposure to vitamin D can increase your calcium levels, benefiting your bones and immune system. Gardening is a simple way to get the sunshine you need while pursuing a fun and relaxing hobby. Always wear proper protection like sunscreen and a hat.
Boost Your Mood
A study was completed to illustrate that gardening is far less stressful than other hobbies. It was concluded that the gardening participants reported being in better moods with lower levels of stress. Flowers are known to generate happiness. The colors and beauty can lower stress and anxiety. They create a positive feeling of comfort and joy. Gardening provides a form of exercise and can help you with your strength, stamina, and flexibility. Also, gardening has been known to lower the risk of dementia. The soothing impact of nature can improve your concentration while supporting memory retention. Plants stimulate your senses which conditions and strengthens your mental performance.
Add Relaxing Elements
A simple way to ensure your relaxation is to add some features to your garden or landscape that will soothe your mind and soul, like water features. Water features create a delicate trickling sound reminiscent of the sounds you hear at a relaxing and luxurious spa.
Another element of relaxation to add to your garden are wind chimes. We have wind chimes in all sizes and shapes like Corinthian Bells® Wind Chimes. Corinthian Bells® Wind Chimes are not your ordinary wind chimes. They are the first generation of wind chimes to combine excellence in design with incredible tones and resonance. These are visually and acoustically exceptional chimes, with a classic look and a sound that is heavenly.
Chimeneas are wonderfully charming, hand-decorated outdoor fireplaces that are fantastic to enjoy all year long. Warm up your patio during the cooler months, or use it as a natural insect repellent during the spring and summer. Chimeneas are great as a garden focal point or accent piece. With delightful fragrances such as pinion wood, you can truly relax outdoors during every season.
THE BENEFITS OF FAMILY GARDENING
Make gardening fun and plant with your family! Family bonding time isn’t always the easiest to get these days with everyone’s hectic schedules, homework, and after school activities. Spring is the time to grow together in your relationships and plant knowledge. Great for all ages, each family member can take on their own planting tasks or responsibilities and together you can create a beautiful sanctuary, a plentiful vegetable garden, and form a sense of accomplishment for working together as a family.
Family Bonding
Gardening as a family can improve your relationships. Spending more time with plants can create a stronger level of compassion for each other. By spending more time with plants, people are often more likely to want to work together and help each other. This can build a stronger bond within your family, but also help others create stronger relationships among peers.
Pick up your gardening supplies for you and your family. We have children’s gloves, shovels, and watering cans available in their favorite cartoon themes or styles. Gardening has never been cuter.
One activity to do when starting your family garden is to get creative together! Teach ownership and responsibility in a fun and entertaining way. One craft that the kids will love is decorating their plant tags.
Each child can be responsible for different plants and design the plant tags for those plants, or you can design the tags together.
Plant tags are important for keeping track of what is planted where so that you can provide your plants with the proper care that they need to grow strong and healthy. Break out your crafting supplies, paints, crayons, and more! Get creative and have some fun!
Learn With Plants
Family gardening is a great tool for learning about our environment, our ecosystem, and even covers basic principles of math, science, and art. Watching the weather, measuring water intake, and examining all the beneficial pollinators that visit your landscape can help you become the expert for your garden. Knowing your garden will help increase your planting success. Using plants within an educational environment can enhance the ability of children to focus and absorb information. Why not make your garden an educational tool and help create a positive association with learning new things? Here are a couple of activities to help everyone grow and learn from nature!
First, start a Daily Gardening Journal! Enjoy the free printable PDF here!
You and your family can keep a daily log of your garden, specific plants within the garden, or different areas of your garden. Keep track of the weather conditions, temperature, sunset, and sunrise. Make observations about plant growth, bloom color and size, the overall look and feel of the plant, and if the plant has any needs that need to be tended to.
Add a decorative rain gauge to your landscape and take note of rain levels or use a Rapitest® Digital Moisture Meter to measure the moisture levels in your container gardens.
Also, you can record your observations about any beneficial pollinators that are visiting your plants, any pest control needs, and take note of other birds and wildlife surrounding your plants.
Add things like birdhouses and bee houses to attract beneficial pollinators to your yard. Feed and support this wildlife and study their feeding patterns, the different species, and more!
Then, take a moment for reflection and record a visual observation with a sketch, colorful drawing or painting. Use this journal daily and save it to reference next spring. See if there are things about your garden that you can improve on, different plants to select, or what you learned to be successful and try again.
Finally, go back to the basics with photosynthesis and the joy of coloring! Understanding how plants grow and why they benefit us and our world in so many ways is essential. Explain to your kiddos how all elements like the sun and water work together to produce the majesty of nature while supplying us with essential elements like the oxygen that we breathe.
Enjoy this free printable coloring page PDF here!
Now, let’s get outside and grow! Stop by our store nearest you for all your planting supplies. Questions? Ask one of our Texas Certified Nursery Professionals available at our store nearest you!
Share your creations with us on any of our social media pages! Have fun planting, stay safe, and be well.
