Selected Gardening Facts for your Enjoyment

Learning selected gardening facts can be as much fun as gardening itself. Share them with friends or intrigue your neighbour one day as you chat with one another across the fence.

You can change a hydrangea’s color by altering the pH level of the soil.

A more alkaline soil will result in pinker blooms, while more acidity will produce blue blooms. To coax your plant to the blue side, add more organic matter to your soil, like egg shells and coffee grounds (though the acidity in used coffee grounds can vary greatly, so you might try a high-acid fertilizer, too). The change won’t happen overnight, but eventually you should succeed in manipulating your soil’s pH level.

Tulips led to the first known economic bubble three centuries ago.

selective focus photography of red tulip

For all you flower lovers out there, one of the more fascinating, fun gardening facts surrounds the history of tulips. During the Dutch Golden Age, these flowers were everywhere, popular in paintings and festivals. However, in the 17th century, tulips were brought up to such a degree that they were worth more than gold and were even used as currency until the actual tulip market crashed, hard.

A sunflower is not just one flower.

Both the fuzzy brown center and the classic yellow petals are actually 1,000 – 2,000 individual flowers, held together on a single stalk.

woman in black long sleeve shirt and black pants standing on green grass field during daytime

Most gardeners are women

More than 54 percent of gardeners are women and about 68 percent of this group is over the age of 45. More than 64 percent of gardeners are married.

Why is gardening relaxing?

It’s because gardening lowers your levels of cortisol and increases your creativity. Regardless of how artistic you are, developing a garden tailored to your own wishes is one of the most creative things you can do. Gardening also deals with stress by improving your mental focus and mindfulness. The physical activity you do while gardening also breaks down stress and negative energy. Finally, even just looking at nature can have relaxing and calming effects on your mind.

Gardening can significantly boost your brain.

Gardening can really improve your life. Being outdoors and getting some physical activity does wonders for your health, and gardening gives you exactly that. However, scientific facts about gardening show that those who regularly garden have a 36% lower risk of dementia.

What are the benefits of vegetable gardening?

Vegetable gardening can significantly improve your health, as you’ll primarily be consuming the organic produce from your garden. The vitamin content is highest in home-grown vegetables because there are no chemicals in them. Saving on groceries is also one of the benefits, as well as getting exercise outside. All of this improves your overall health and quality of life.

Tomatoes, cucumbers, and sweet peppers are the most popular homegrown vegetables.

According to the National Gardening Association, statistics show that people love growing tomatoes the most, with 86% of households who grow their own food making room for them. Cucumbers are a distant second, at 47%, and sweet peppers are close by, at 46%. Beans and carrots are also pretty popular, at 39% and 34% respectively; summer squash and onions, 32% and hot peppers, 28%.

man in white t-shirt and white pants holding brown wooden stick

Urban farming produces 20% of our food.

People in the city have begun farming food (and quite well, mind you). The urban gardening statistics gathered by the United Nations show that over 800 million people grow their food and raise animals in cities. One-fifth of the world’s food is produced in this manner.

Roughly 80% of original forests have been lost.

They’ve been cleared, damaged, fragmented, or harnessed, thus removing habitats for an uncountable number of species.

Almost half of all assessed plant species are threatened with extinction.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature has only assessed 10% (28,265) of the known species of plants. Of these, 13,000 (45%) are being threatened with extinction in the wild.

Sadly, we simply don’t know the status of the remaining 90% and whether they’re safe, vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered.

The original wonders of the world were gardens.

Think of of garden of Adam and Eve. And, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were said to have been built by King Nebuchadnezzar II, found in the capital of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Sadly, there’s no definitive proof that they ever existed.