Many don't, but I love gardening - and particularly organic gardening which I recommend.
There are the obvious benefits such as better tasting fruit and vegetables with higher nutritional and mineral content than shop bought produce.
There is also the benefit of being able to eat food in season. Additionally by eating and growing your own food you are significantly reducing air miles and the transactional costs associated with modern food chains. This also has the benefit that you are (in theory) contributing towards less energy being used and less vehicles on the road.
There are many other benefits too - I love to garden with my children. It gets them outside into the fresh air. I can teach them important things such as how plants grow, the delicate balance of an eco-system and I can teach them the value of natural balance.
It's also really nice, in today's society of air conditioned offices and false strip lighting to teach children to experience the passing of the seasons - I love collecting leaves with my kids in autumn and discovering all the worms and beetles in spring, and watching the birds nest and hatch.
There is a lot of research that demonstrates if children have a greater involvement in where their food comes from, they are less likely to encounter issues such as obesity and food related illnesses as they get older.
Gardening is also a great way to stay fit and in shape. A few hours of digging, carting compost around and hoeing is a decent work out.
And lastly gardening is important because it helps to preserve important insect populations (such as bees), maintains and improves soil structure and provides a haven for all sorts of wildlife.
There are so many horrific stories about whole communities of bees being wiped out by modern agricultural practices and pesticides - this is worrying because we rely on bees as our pollinators for many other staple crops and foods.
In addition the recent proliferation / trend in concreting drives is reportedly leading to increased risk of flooding in our cities. Whereas before gardens, grass and soil would act as a natural sump for rainfall, modern concrete drives tend to contribute towards increase run-off which in turn puts stress on our sewer systems and can result in flooding.
There are SO many reasons why gardening is important. These are just a few of them
