{"id":20090,"date":"2023-09-20T07:53:14","date_gmt":"2023-09-20T11:53:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.meadowsfarms.com\/great-big-greenhouse-gardening-blog\/?p=20090"},"modified":"2023-09-20T07:53:14","modified_gmt":"2023-09-20T11:53:14","slug":"staying-close-to-nature-through-gardening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.meadowsfarms.com\/great-big-greenhouse-gardening-blog\/staying-close-to-nature-through-gardening\/","title":{"rendered":"Staying Close to Nature Through Gardening"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">GARDENING HAS BEEN THE #1 HOBBY WITH PEOPLE FOR YEARS<\/h3>\n<p>Here we are in mid-September. Our fall season is officially here on the 23rd. The month of September represents a prime time for planting and gardening. Hopefully, Mother Nature will cooperate by giving us seasonable temperatures and adequate rainfall.<\/p>\n<p>But let\u2019s talk about how to get close to and stay close to nature, and if you have gotten away from it, how you get back to connecting with nature through gardening. Here are some steps you can take in the coming years.<\/p>\n<h4>Step One<\/h4>\n<p>You\u2019ve got to get fed up. The fact is that nothing is going to happen in your life until you get dissatisfied with the way your landscape looks and until you recognize the need to change the look of your landscape. Too many feel disconnected from their plants.<\/p>\n<p>As I am writing this blog and stating this first step, I can\u2019t help but think about a co-worker and how he has transformed the entire landscape around his house. He lives in a neighborhood where all the homes have similar landscapes with grass lawns, foundation plants, and trees. This co-worker has ripped out all his shrubs and trees and transformed his entire property into one huge garden with edibles and flowers to support the native pollinators.<\/p>\n<h4>Step Two<\/h4>\n<p>You have to own up. Nothing will happen or change until you own up to how you landscape. Have you heard of the word <strong>BIODIVERSITY<\/strong>? Biodiversity is defined as the variety of different types of life found on Earth. Humans must learn the importance of sharing our living and work space with other living species, such as animals, insects, etc. Please take a minute and re-read this paragraph and give it some deep thought because I see biodiversity increasing in how we landscape our property very soon. Biodiversity is all about connecting with nature. It is about the newfound appreciation for the earth\u2019s precious resources and the love of nature. I see a trend with people wanting to cut back on high-maintenance landscapes, especially lawns that require a lot of watering, fertilizing, and too many chemicals.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">A CHALLENGE<\/h3>\n<p>My challenge is to start thinking about how you can become more connected with nature through your landscape. This fall, you can plant more flowering native perennials to benefit our bees, butterflies, and birds. Let yourself enjoy your creation, knowing that you are beginning to connect with nature and doing your part to protect your environment.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>PLANT A LITTLE HAPPINESS!!!!!<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meadowsfarms.com\/great-big-greenhouse-gardening-blog\/\">To read more posts from Doug, visit our blog<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meadowsfarms.com\/hours-locations\/big-great-greenhouse-in-richmond-virginia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Return to the Great Big Greenhouse homepage<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>GARDENING HAS BEEN THE #1 HOBBY WITH PEOPLE FOR YEARS Here we are in mid-September. Our fall season is officially here on the 23rd. The month of September represents a prime time for planting and gardening. Hopefully, Mother Nature will cooperate by giving us seasonable temperatures and adequate rainfall. But let\u2019s talk about how to &#8230; <a title=\"Staying Close to Nature Through Gardening\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.meadowsfarms.com\/great-big-greenhouse-gardening-blog\/staying-close-to-nature-through-gardening\/\" aria-label=\"More on Staying Close to Nature Through Gardening\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":20091,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[359,360],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Staying Close to Nature Through Gardening - The Great Big Greenhouse Gardening Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Let\u2019s talk about how to get close to and stay close to nature, and how you get back to connecting with nature through gardening.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.meadowsfarms.com\/great-big-greenhouse-gardening-blog\/staying-close-to-nature-through-gardening\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Staying Close to Nature Through Gardening - 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