One of the most satisfying things I have ever done is to grow trees from seeds. I remember years ago a friend said

"Oh no, there is no point planting a tree seed... they takes years to grow and you will not live long enough to see the results."

Luckily I don't let others put me off doing things that my gut tells me are a good thing to do.

This is a false pepper tree that I grew from a seed, just seven years ago and now it is a real tree sized tree. I grew a whole bunch of them in fact, so have a veritable woodland or the beginnings of.

This is how these beautiful trees look a few weeks after planting the seeds ( that are pink peppercorns.)

Even if they had not grown this quickly I would still plant the seeds. If only I live to see small trees I would be equally satisfied, knowing what a beautiful gift I am leaving to mother Earth and those who come behind me.

It is enough for me that someone will get to appreciate the shade of its boughs on a hot day, even if it is not me.

"I can't grow veggies - I don't have the space!"

Then we come on to vegetable gardening. You should not be put off by the fact you do not have a garden. In the past I have grown beautiful vegetables in a few old tomato crates, outside my front door in town with no garden whatsoever. You will be surprised how much you can grow in a few crates!

And if you have just a couple of metres of ground outside you can grow enough kale and salad greens and radishes ( or whatever else may take your fancy ) to last you for months!

You can also fill up a big garden quickly by just buying a couple of plants from your garden centre and then within a few months they will be gig enough to turn into many more plants through simple division. Succulents are particularly easy to do this with. You don't need "green fingers" ... just a a little patience and one plant that cost you just a couple of dollars , euros, pounds or pesos can soon produce many more plantlets that will, within a few months be the same size as the original one you bought.

This can even be turned into a VERY profitable business if you only grow with the intentions of re-selling.

Growing is SOOOOO satisfying!

Until you have dropped some seeds or cuttings into a pot of earth and got a little dirt down your fingernails and watched things grow, you will never be able to imagine the AMAZING feeling it gives you. Once you do know the feeling your life will be truly enhanced, better than before.

To eat the fruits of your labour is of course the biggest prize. The nutritional value of fresh picked vegetables or fruit is so much greater than the nutritional value of the relatively dead veg you buy from a shop that unless it is a fresh farm produce type shop where things were picked at dawn that day, your average veg in the shop has been picked days before, sometimes even weeks before! Veggies lose goodness by this delay in picking to getting to the table.

Your own fresh picked lettuce, carrot, cabbage or whatever has a flavour and goodness that will blow you away!

Even if you can't grow all your food, to just grow a percentage of it increases your health levels in multiple ways.

Gardening is taught and encouraged amongst people who suffer with depression, stress or are bi-polar.

The positive results are well documented and respected.... you can google many, many personal stories of people who have become passionate gardeners.

So do what you can, you can start small but START you must! You only have one lifetime so take small steps to improve it every day.... the rewards are REAL!