This month, we are pleased to share some words from Katie, one of Grow Ohio Valley’s first year gardeners, about how she found her way to gardening and how she understands it to affect her life and health.
I had never really been interested in gardening growing up. My mom was always outside tending to her flowerbeds, and I would dread the days she asked my brother and I to help her weed. My dad also had a medium sized garden in our backyard as well and all I could think as a child was, “that looks like a lot of work!”
However, everything changed the moment my husband and I bought our own house. Suddenly I was interested in tending to my flowerbeds, just like my mother. The first summer we moved in, I was determined to grow a garden the next year. I had become so passionate about growing flowers all around my house that the obvious next step was starting my own garden. But how was I going to do it?
By chance while scrolling on Facebook, I stumbled upon an application for something called the Backyard Gardeners program from Grow Ohio Valley. The program talked about how they would teach you how to garden through monthly workshops and would also supply almost everything you need to start your own garden! I was ecstatic; this was exactly what I was looking for!

Starting from scratch!
This first summer of gardening has sparked a passion within me that I am determined to continue every year. There is something so satisfying about picking and eating the fruits and vegetables that were just a tiny seed 3 months ago. Watching your garden change and grow into a beautiful green paradise is an experience like no other. It may be difficult in the beginning to get started, but once you are established, it is smooth sailing from there!
Besides a fulfilling feeling of joy that gardening brings, did you know that studies say that gardening can make you live longer? According to an article titled “Gardening could be the hobby that helps you live to 100” on BBC, the world’s healthiest and oldest populations live in areas called “blue zones”, which are located in Japan, Costa Rica, Greece, California, and Italy. The one shared hobby between the residents in these locations all over the world is gardening, and some of these people are well into their 80s, 90s and beyond.
Gardening has so many health benefits physically. It gets you outside standing, kneeling, walking, bending, reaching, lifting; it moves all your muscles! But on a mental level, gardening can be a lifesaver– literally! Gardening has been shown to relieve stress by lowering the stress hormone, cortisol. Australian researchers have also found that men and women in their 60s who regularly gardened had a 36% lower risk of dementia. Another study conducted at Harvard showed that people who live around lush nature have a lower chance of developing cancer or respiratory illness.
Gardening clearly is a beneficial hobby to pick up. As a child and even as a young adult, I didn’t understand the passion or interest in gardening. But gardening opens your eyes to the world around you. It helps you understand the food system and how you are getting your fruits and vegetables (and why it tastes so much better when you grow them yourself!). It connects you with nature and helps you learn more in detail about the life we are surrounded with but so often ignore. It connects you with your community through education and sharing the abundance of produce from your garden. And on an even higher level, gardening helps give you a reason for living. As a gardener, every day you wake up, you know your garden is depending on you to help it thrive, and that is a beautiful thing.
So thank you Grow Ohio Valley for showing me a whole new side of life that connects me with the nature I ignored all of these years. Hopefully this new hobby will add some years on to my life!
– Katie S., GOV BYG 2024

Beautiful green paradise!

One of the many zucchinis grown this summer!

Baby watermelon
I love how you put into words exactly how I feel about my garden. Thank you Katie