20 Fun Facts About Homes Gardens

The Benefits of Home Gardens

Home gardens are small-scale subsistence agricultural systems that are set up by families to supplement their diet and gain food. These garden plots are often a mixture of fruits, vegetables trees medicinal and ornamental plants, as well as livestock.

Many studies show that home gardens provide multiple advantages to families with limited resources. These benefits include economics and nutrition as well as sustainability, health of agroecosystems, and health.

Nutritional Benefits





Gardens at home are crucial for food and nutrition security, according to a variety of studies. They can provide a variety nutrients, provide a supplement to staple food and help to reduce "hidden hunger" and help prevent diseases caused by micronutrient deficiencies, as well as improve the quality of life and income of families. They provide ecosystem services, and are often utilized to increase resilience of communities in crises.

In Java, Indonesia, for instance, 7% of the time used by people in the garden, which produces 44% of their total calories consumed, and 32% of their protein intake. This is a greater quality than paddy rice which only accounts for 6% of a household's total calorie intake.

Gardening at home can provide a wide range of fruits, vegetables, tubers and minerals, including iron, calcium, folic acids and vitamins (especially vitamin C). This helps to create an optimum diet and allows families to meet their nutritional needs at relatively low cost in comparison to commercial sources of food.

Certain gardens are designed to produce high-value plants, such as spices and other herbal products that can be sold on the market. This has boosted the income of families with poor resources, especially women, and improved their nutrition and health. Some households have also integrated livestock and poultry into their gardens to increase supply of animal protein.

Home gardening is often the best strategy to boost food and nutritional security in post-crisis situations. During the drought in Tajikistan 2010 a large number of households were able to use their gardens for diverse plants and vegetables they grew to supplement their emergency food storage. In addition, they grew crops like beans, which could be purchased at a bargain price and comprised the majority of their food supplies. This helped them avoid malnutrition and hunger and ensured a healthy diet while decreasing their dependence on imported food items. In many instances it was a lifeline to families who had been severely impacted by the conflict and were struggling with economic hardships and unemployment.

Economic Benefits

Home gardens offer a bundle of benefits including food security and income generation. flower gardens provide a constant and steady supply of fresh fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices as well as animal products (e.g. eggs and milk) in addition to numerous ecosystem services such as soil fertility and conservation of water. These numerous advantages make gardening at home an attractive sustainable farming practice especially in developing countries.

In various studies, the role of home gardens in providing food staples and as an insurance against the threat of insecurity food is well-established. Research has revealed that kitchen gardens can provide an unending supply of food items that can be consumed by the family and also an additional income from selling products at markets. These profits can be used to fund other necessities like education, healthcare, and savings.

A literature review shows that women tend to the majority of garden at home. This is a reflection of the norms of society that consider the role of women to the production of food for the household. The involvement of women in the management of home gardens allows them to gain skills in the practices of gardening and plants and improves their agronomic skills and contributes to meeting family needs [41].

Additionally, the study by Rowe found that home gardens supplement the dietary intake of families living in degraded and densely populated areas with little crop land. They achieve this by increasing the availability and variety of foods with high nutritional density, thus improving the balance of diet and health [52].

Due to their geography and horticultural content homes are often described as low-tech and low-cost agriculture systems [53]. They use local resources such as soil, water, and plants to achieve their objectives. This helps reduce investment and operating costs as compared to the cost of buying commercially produced food items and also generates economic benefits by cutting down on household expenses.

In addition to being diverse sources of food and income, home gardens also help to promote the development of rural communities and encourage entrepreneurship. They have been shown to be especially effective in post-conflict and fragile situations. In Tajikistan for instance that gained independence after the long civil war and natural disasters such as drought gardening at home was crucial in helping to alleviate the poverty and ensure food security for the population.

Medicinal Benefits

Many studies around the world have proven that home gardens provide multiple social and cultural as and economic benefits. They can help improve food and nutritional security in a variety of political and socioeconomic contexts, promoting family health and human potential, providing income and self-reliance, helping empower women as well as preserving indigenous cultures and knowledge, and protecting natural resources. Gardening at home also contributes to ecosystem services such as habitats for pollinators and animals, nutrient recycling, reduced soil erosion and watershed protection.

The variety of advantages that gardens at home can provide has led to them becoming a part of the landscape of agriculture in many of the developing countries across the globe. In gardens flower in north-east India and Latin America for example, the cultivation of a garden at home is a traditional ethnoecological (TEK) or a traditional response, to declining soil fertility, and site degradation because of changing agricultural practices.

Gardens at home are not just essential for sustaining food production but also play a role in combating the 'hidden' hunger associated with micronutrient deficiencies. Wiersum and. and. mention that the presence of a variety of fruit trees in the home garden allows families to easily access a high-quality, vitamin - and mineral-rich diet, which can help them prevent diseases caused by deficiencies.

In addition, in countries that are in transition or post-conflict, gardening at home is often used as a method to improve food security, nutrition and income with the assumption that gardening is versatile, affordable and adaptable, especially for women-headed households. For instance, Rowe found that in Tajikistan which was a country that gained independence from the Soviet Union and was tormented by the economic crisis and civil war households ate basic foods from rations but depended heavily on their home gardens for a variety of other fruits and vegetables as well as tubers (such as yams and cassava) to add to their daily diet.

Additionally the cultivation of medicinal plants in home gardens has proved to be a significant source of treatments and medicines for a variety of ailments in many developing countries. Local, traditional herbal medicine is often cheaper to produce than pharmaceuticals. This means it is more accessible to the poor.

Environmental Benefits

Home gardens are small-scaled subsistence agricultural systems that provide food and other household items. They usually comprise a mixture of shrubs, trees, annual and perennial plants and herbs, spices and ornamental species. They are also a major source of income, particularly for those with a limited budget.

As opposed to commercial agriculture that is dependent on chemical inputs, home gardeners use organic fertilizers and pesticides to promote healthy soils. flower gardens help in preserving biodiversity and natural resources.

A garden in your home can be a habitat for wildlife, like insects, birds and other animals, who depend on it for their survival. It also provides protection from the harsh environment including extreme sunlight and wind. A garden in the home can help reduce noise pollution from traffic on busy roads. flowers garden in your garden will help to absorb and block out noise which will help to maintain peace within your neighborhood.

As a result of the growing environmental issues, more focus is being given to developing and improving local food systems. Home gardens are gaining attention as one of the most viable ways to provide local food and ecosystem services. Numerous studies have highlighted positive effects on food security, nutrition and income generation particularly among families with limited resources in rural and urban contexts.

Additionally, studies on the social facets of gardens at home also show positive effects on the welfare and social eminence of household members, particularly women. In the Achuar community of the upper Amazon region, for example, a woman’s ability to keep a garden full of flowers improves her standing in society.

Gardening at home is an essential strategy to build resilience in the face of constant food shortages and crisis, like conflict, political instability and drought. They provide a low-cost, viable alternative to buying expensive food items from overseas. They can also be an engine for growth and change by giving power to communities that are marginalized.