The pandemic in early 2020 pushed us all back into our homes, and millions lost their jobs, and anxiety among people seemed to hit an all-time record.
That is when many people got into gardening. Turns out, cultivating these coronavirus victory gardens helped people to cope up with stress. Some common benefits of gardening are listed below:
- Activities like digging and chopping wood build strength
- These exercises also improve cognitive functioning and thus improve memory
- According to a survey, gardening has been proved to ease mental health issues such as depression
Whether you do it on a small patch of land, your balcony, or in a full-fledged greenhouse, the benefits that come along with gardening are inevitable. Much like plants, gardening is also divided into several kinds.
Do you want to know about them? Let’s get started!
In-ground Gardening
This method is easy to get started given the soil quality is desirable. However, it requires some effort.
You will have to perform activities like tilling, digging, and amending the soil composure unless it’s ready.
Pros
- In-ground gardens give you the option of changing the crop whenever needed without any significant cost raises.
- In-ground beds do not dry as quickly as raised beds. Therefore less water is required.
- They are cost-effective, and not much startup work is needed to set them up.
- Flat ground gardens can be easily irrigated and tilled using roto-tillers.
Cons
- Good soil is scarce these days, and if you do find good soil by any chance, you will be troubled with weeds. Apart from this, practices like tilling also kill worms and other microbes, thus deteriorating soil life, especially when soil is exposed to UV radiation.
Aquaponics
It refers to the cultivation of plants by creating a symbiotic ecosystem between fish and plants, whether they feed off each other and thrive.
This method has been catching up and is trending nowadays. Aquaponics is often considered sustainable and is the best way to produce organic and nutrient-rich vegetables.
If you have the capital to invest, then you will not be disappointed by the result this method produces.
Pros
- The produce is totally organic.
- Vegetables are produced at a faster rate and are bigger in size as compared to conventionally grown vegetables.
- The system is self-reliant and requires minimal labor.
- The need for finding quality soil is eliminated.
- Uses upto 90% less water as compared to In-ground gardening.
- Since it is a closed ecosystem, you will not have to worry about weeds.
Cons
- While the product is high-quality, the cost involved for the set-up and electricity will burn a hole in your pocket. It cannot be deemed profitable unless done on a slightly larger scale than household Aquaponics.
Raised Bed Gardening
This involves raising the soil on platform-like beds usually made from a mixture of wood, timber, and bricks.
These beds are generally 5-8 inches in height and offer benefits to people who have difficulty bending and reaching the weeds. Due to their height, water is drained faster, allowing better growing conditions.
Pros
- Ideal for older farmers who have difficulty bending.
- There’s enough room to walk around in a well-designed garden. Hence, if you have children around, you do not have to worry about them stepping over your harvest.
- They can be built on steep slopes, parking lots, and many other locations where gardening would otherwise seem futile.
Cons
- They require additional construction to be built, and the person should also keep the bed filled with soil. For this, adequate knowledge regarding soil amendments is required.
Square Foot Gardening
If you are short on space, then this is the way to go. We have various trays covering an area of a square foot, where we can grow different crops.
People generally take a four-by-four or four-by-eight container, then divide it uniformly into square blocks. There’s no wastage of soil as it stays in the box, and it also remains loose because you never step on it.
Pros
- No space wasted, ideal for people living in small urban apartments
- Intensive planting ensures that the yield is high.
- If your garden is one with a soilless mix, you will not encounter any weeds during the first season.
Cons
- The initial cost of set up is high.
- They are not suited for crops that need ample space to grow as they may get crumpled into other crops.
- Since this is a raised platform, the soil dries out quickly. Therefore lots of watering is needed.
Container Gardening
Container gardening, also known as pot gardening, cultivates plants solely in pots rather than planting them in the field.
A container refers to a thin, sealed, and typically portable object used to view live flowers or plants in planting. It may be a kettle, a box, a tub, a basket, a tin, a barrel, or a hanging basket.
Pros
- Container gardening is great for people with limited space. It gives them a chance to garden, and they have something to put plants in.
- Container gardening is also suitable for planting the annual plants here and there if you don’t want to mix this in with your natives and other plants throughout the garden.
- In container gardening, you can move plants in and out of the sun and the shade whenever you want.
Cons
- In some cases, it has been shown that pots have restricted plant growth.
- They need more maintenance as they dry quickly.
- You can only grow plants up to a sizable amount in pots, and this limitation can be a drawback if you are going to farm big plants.
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