I've enjoyed having a garden for many years, and recently it's taken on deeper significance in my life. So I loved this conversation with this week's guest Joe Lamp'l, the Joe behind Joe Gardener®, as we discussed the many benefits of gardening. Physical exercise and fresh produce are obvious advantages, and we also explored the mental, emotional, and even spiritual benefits of being in your garden.

Topics we touched on included:

Gardening as a way to combat perfectionistic tendencies

The easy connection and camaraderie among gardeners

Seeing gardening “mistakes” as opportunities to learn

Applications of a fixed vs. growth mindset

Practicing trust and acceptance in the garden

Joe’s aha! moment that drew him into gardening

Why we have such an emotional connection to food taken directly from the ground

Being a steward of the earth

The advantages of natural gardening (here's a link to the effects of exposure to the chemical pesticide diazinon, which I experienced as a teen)

The role of gardeners in helping our planet to heal

Nurturing a relationship with our gardens

The therapeutic effects of gardening

The layout of Joe’s beautiful garden farm

Common mistakes among new gardeners

The network of life beneath the soil’s surface

Joe shared with me his photo of the first monarch that returned to his garden, which I've posted here.

Here's the link to Joe's excellent (and free) Complete Guide to Home Composting where you can also sign up for his newsletter.

We discussed a couple episodes of Joe's Growing a Greener World television series:

Stone Barns Center & Blue Hill: The Best of Food and Agriculture in which the man had an epiphany simply by pulling a carrot from the ground.

Waking Up the Garden Farm™ which chronicles Joe's collaboration with his daughter in developing a tomato seedling operation.

Joe Lamp’l (aka joe gardener®) has been hooked on horticulture since childhood. He is one of the country’s most recognized and trusted personalities in gardening and sustainability, with a passion for living a greener life.

That passion is evident to a nationwide audience who turns to him for gardening advice through his new joe gardener Online Gardening Academy™ and watches him in his current role as Creator, Executive Producer, and Host of the Emmy-award-winning PBS series, Growing a Greener World® and, previously, as host of Fresh from the Garden on DIY Network (and more).

Joe also shares his know-how on NBC’s TODAY SHOW, ABC’s Good Morning America, The Weather Channel and through his popular books, podcast series, and more.

Joe’s past awards include The American Horticultural Society’s B.Y. Morrison Communication Award, which recognizes effective and inspirational communication—through print, radio, television, and online media, t Best On-Air Talent for Television by The Garden Writers Association, and the Taste Awards for Best Branded Television Series, Best Environmental Television, Series, Film or Video, and Breakout Storyteller of the Year for a television series, and 2018 Daytime Emmy Award for Best Lifestyle Program.

Joe is also the founder and “Joe” behind joegardener.com – a gardening-intensive website with a focus is on how-to videos, podcasts, online courses, and blog posts around the most popular topics gardeners want to know.

When not talking or writing about green living, Joe can likely be found in and around his organic garden and spending time with his family on their Atlanta, GA farm.

Find Joe online at his website, and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. And if you're interested in enrolling in his highly acclaimed online gardening academy, check that out here.