When planning for your home, you may sometimes be deciding whether to have a real garden (with grass, plants, scrubs and flowers) or may often be tempted to just turn the entire green patch into concrete.
I have a garden in my home and I cannot tell you how often I am tempted to convert the entire space into concrete tiles. Only those who have a garden would know how painful it is to keep the garden presentable looking at the very least….geezz…those weeds can just creep up and bury everything in it.
However, I also learn to appreciate the wonders of having a garden. Everything comes with a price. Many people I know have since turned their garden space into concrete- I’ve visited and also stayed at such place so here’s the pros and cons:
Pros of turning your garden into concrete flooring:
1. No more pesky weeds and uncontrolled growth of plants
2. Much less maintenance compared to maintaining a garden
Cons of concrete flooring:
1. Huge one time expenses for tiling
2. You still need to clean and wash the tile floors in order to make your house look presentable.
3. You would find your home more hot. There is something about having lots of grass and plants that help to absorb some of the heat. Granted, the problem can be solved if you have air condition.
Pros of having a real garden:
1. Greenery has therapeutic effect on the eyes and soul. That is why private hospitals that can afford space would tend to allocate an area of greenery whereby patients can be wheeled out to enjoy the nature
2. You get exercise from pulling out weeds. Even a mere 20 minutes out there pulling weeds would cause you to sweat buckets
3. Gardening can be a rewarding hobby. Blooming flowers make you feel good and you can also plant vegetables and fruit trees that you can eat (and fruit trees give you shade)
4. Walking barefoot on bare soil and grass is good to discharge electromagnetic energies from the body. Of course you can do that in the public park but you may risk stepping on something like doggie pooh
Yes, most of us are already holding stressful jobs and sometimes could not get enough sleep, so maintaining a garden is out of the question.
But I know of someone holding a high position in corporate and working a very stressful job is an avid gardener as he finds maintaining a garden and planting beautiful flowers to be rewarding and a great way to destress.
If one have no time to maintain, one can get workers to come in once a month to trim the weeds and sweep off at a low price. I know of a neighbor of mine who even though is not well off, would still maintain the garden by getting the temporary workers to come once or twice a month to keep the weeds from growing out of control. It is real nice to pass by her garden to see the green patch at her corner house.
Note: However if you use a weed trimmer, the grass actually grows back faster compared to hand pulling them.
To be honest, I used to hate to pull weeds and maintain my garden. In the past, if I had my way, I would rather pay up to have my entire compound replaced with tiles. But nowadays, I find pulling out weeds to sometimes be therapeutic. There is a feeling of accomplishment when you see how you transform a weedy garden into a tidy one…so that the beautiful flowers have a chance to show themselves. At the same time, I get a very good workout when I am outside pulling weeds.
Gardening can really be a rewarding hobby. And having a garden is therapeutic and helps you to destress. Once you turn the green patch into concrete, it is very hard to go back. You may counter to say that, well, you can always have potted plants. But in fact, potted plants also require watering and they die much faster if you neglect them compared to having them planted on the ground.