With technology getting better by the day, one would think that mankind would have more time to itself. Instead time is now at a premium and we keep hearing the oft repeated refrain that we do not have enough time. Just a couple of generations back, there was no fast food and we took time to eat home-cooked food, much of the ingredients coming from our gardens. We also made fewer visits to the doctor!

Unfortunately, gardens have given way to high rise apartments and even if they do exist they have shrunk in size. A generation ago, gardening meant growing flowers, fruits and vegetables of that particular season. At the end of the season, one took the effort to collect the seeds of the crop and store it for the next year. This also meant that you were contributing and saving the biodiversity on the Earth. But all that has changed. The approach is why bother to go through the menial work when one can go to a store and purchase seeds which promise a range of desirable traits.

No wonder then, that the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity estimates that 30,000 vegetable varieties have become extinct in the last century, and one more is lost every six hours. Surely, Mother Earth deserves better than this from us.

Slow gardening could be an answer to slow this process of extinction. Similar to the Slow Food movement, an international movement which came into being in Italy and Paris in the 1980's, which defends foods and cultivation and processing techniques inherited from tradition, slow gardening can introduce us to the pleasures of raising plants, get us in touch with nature and also introduce you to like minded groups.

Slow gardening does not exclude technology. You can still have the pleasure of using your equipments like mowers and trimmers run by electricity. It simply means that you take time off to potter around in your garden and decide what goes into it. Starting from its landscape design, choice of your plants, watering them and preparing your own compost, you have been involved. You find that the pomegranate from your garden tastes sweeter than that bought at the store ? it has your effort in it. Keep a look out for plants which multiply fast so that you can distribute to those around you. You have then already done your bit to sustain the diversity of Planet Earth.

If you like Gardening....These pages might also interest you:

Allium Directory, Amaryllis Directory, Begonia Directory, Crocus Directory, Daffodils Directory, Dahlia Directory, Hyacinth Directory, Iris Directory, Lily Directory, Tulip Directory

Also see:

A Love Affair With Gardening, Charming Camillias, Firescaping, Gardening for the Family, Garden Rodents, Garden Catalogs, General Gardening Tips. Gardens in the Shade, Hot Summer Cool Garden, How to Plant Leeks, Involve Your Children, Outfits for Gardening, Photograph Your Garden, Plant Care Basics, Using Leaves as Compost, What to Avoid Buying Guide, Cheap Garden Ideas, Creating Garden Berms, Garden Fragrances, Garden Lessons, Gardening for The Challenged, Gardening is Great, Gardening Math, Gardening Tools, How to Use Peat, More About Gardening, Love affair with Lilacs, Organic Gardening, Slow Down and Enjoy, Smart Plant Shopping, Tips for Beginners