Finally, April is here! Although March 19 was the first day of spring, for most of us living in Indiana, April is when spring truly begins. April is National Gardening Month; a time to celebrate Mother Nature and the beautiful season of growth. It is finally time to pack your parka in the attic and shove your fuzzy boots back in your closet. After you’ve done that, open your front door and smell the fresh air. The Netflix-binging, nap taking hermit you may have been during the winter months is finally out of hibernation! Get out of the house and enjoy what Mother Nature created, the great outdoors.  

In 1987, President Ronald Reagan initiated the first ever National Gardening Week, and by 2002, the National Gardening Association had extended this week-long celebration to the entire month of April. Start your spring by incorporating National Gardening Month into you and your loved ones lives by appreciating the world you live in and taking the time to take care of it as best as you can.

National Gardening Month can be what you make of it. You may decide to go the traditional route and build a garden. Whether that is in your backyard, on your balcony in a rail planter box (check Etsy!) or you sculpt an indoor Bonsai tree, you have the opportunity to start a new hobby or perfect the hobby you already love. Grab some flower seeds at your local grocery store in the gardening department and see if you have a green thumb. Your first time gardening? Start small, get one pack of seeds and see what you can do with those and then the next year try something more advanced.

Interested in teaching the kids something new? Read all about Indiana Farm Bureau’s “How to get your kids excited about gardening” as published in My Indiana Home.

Another way you may want to celebrate National Gardening Month is to put time into taking care of your own self growth. Whether you want to revamp your resolutions, look back at the first three months of the year or start fresh by doing something that will help you grow as a person inside or out, the options are endless.

No matter how you celebrate National Gardening Month this April, it is a time to enjoy and be thankful for the gifts Mother Nature gave us—and take great care of them as well.