Gardening: Good for You and Your House

Gardening is good for you and for your house.

A beautifully landscaped property adds to the value of your home and improves your well-being.

Flowers make you feel happier, don't they?

There's a lot of talk lately about how we need to spend more time in nature. Just looking at nature has been shown to reduce stress and improve brain function. A beautiful garden is truly rewarding. Getting your hands dirty and doing the gardening yourself has even more benefits. You get outdoors and have some physical activity, and you feel connected to nature. You can plant fruits and vegetables to improve your diet. Here's an article from CNN Health that discusses the mental and physical benefits of gardening. You can practise Horticultural Therapy in your own backyard!

Not only is gardening good for body and soul, but it's also good for the bottom line. The value of your home depends on it. In fact, a study by Money Magazine has shown that good landscaping increases the value of a home and bad landscaping decreases the value of a home. Money spent on landscaping is very well spent indeed:  "landscaping can bring a recovery value of 100 to 200 per cent at selling time." Everyone talks about "curb appeal" and when they do, plants and flowers are always mentioned. Add a pot of flowers to the front step and you've got better curb appeal. Create a beautiful flower bed, and you get much, much more.

Your neighbours will benefit from your beautiful landscaping too. Their home value goes up with yours, and they will enjoy the increased natural elements in their lives.

Now is a great time to work on your landscaping. Garden Centres are full of plants and tools and most will even be open on the Victoria Day holiday so that you can take advantage of the perfect planting conditions.

First-Time Home Owner/ First-Time Garden Owner (Handy tips and links)

Your First Home! Wow! Congratulations! Awesome feeling, home ownership.

Are you excited about having a yard? Are you planning your flower beds, maybe some decorative pots on the porch? Did you remember to buy a lawn mower (a push one if you have a small lawn)?

It's exciting to get your hands dirty in the garden for the first time. It's also a big responsibility. I've got some information you need, things to think about, some tips and links for you to get you started, including a list of essential garden tools. 

There's the property standards thing: There are bylaws about fences and hedges, and garbage, and more.  "Private Property and Boulevard Enforcement involves by-laws primarily associated with land use (zoning), lot maintenance, property standards, boulevards, signs and noise. The enforcement of these by-laws supports orderly development, community standards and community image." (Town of Newmarket) 

And the environmental thing: Newmarket has a bylaw limiting pesticides, and water restrictions. There is a green bin compost program and the town encourages you to purchase a garden composter (Town of Newmarket) and York Region has tips for yard care and gardening that save water and we got our rain barrel cheap through the region (Water For Tomorrow).   "The average suburban lawn uses six times the hazardous chemicals per acre as conventional farming. Per hour of operation, a gas mower emits 10 times as much hydrocarbon as a car. Then, of course, there are the sprinkler systems that go off like clockwork, even when it’s raining." (Canadian Living) 

Remember, you're taking care of living things. You'll love watching your baby plants grow into flowers and vegetables. If you don't have children, having a garden gives you a great outlet for your nurturing instincts. If you have children, there are a million lessons that gardens teach.

Don't worry. There's lots of help out there: websites and blogs online, books, and staff at gardening centres, even gardening centres in department stores and at Canadian Tire can help. And, talking about yard work is a great way to meet your neighbours! They'll know best about what works in your neighbourhood.

For information on plants and planting and everything gardening, follow local garden people, like Mark Cullen. on blogs and Facebook posts to get timely advice. You'll know when it's time to plant tulips and the best way to do it, for example.

Don't go crazy buying all the fancy gardening tools. You might not need them all, and you might be able to borrow some. Here's a list of essentials:

1. Gloves (can be old leather gloves)
2. Wheelbarrow (kids' wagon works in a pinch)
3. Rake (for leaves, and a straight rake if you have flower and vegetable beds)
4. Hand pruners (scissors, saws, and loppers and other cutting things are good too)
5. Watering Can (and a good hose attachment is nice)
6. Trowel (for planting smaller things)
7. Spade (for planting bigger things- watch where you're digging. Here's the number to call to locate underground stuff.)

Creepy Garden Gnomes Optional