</center><!-- END LINKEXCHANGE CODE --> <table border="1" cellpadding="6" bgcolor="#FFFFCC" bordercolorlight="#800000" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td> <p align="Center"><b>Gardening Misconception</b></td> <td> <p align="Center"><b>Get Fit Through Gardening Way of Thinking</b></td> </tr> <tr> <td><font color="#800000" size="2" face="Arial"><b>Being fit is exercise or sport</b></font></td> <td><font color="#800000" size="2" face="Arial"><b>Doing something meaningful can help you be fit. Get Fit Through Gardening is good for the environment and can be a primary fitness program.</b></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td><font color="#800000" size="2" face="Arial"><b>A bigger (vegetable, flower, tree) is better than a smaller one.</b></font></td> <td><font color="#800000" size="2" face="Arial"><b>An artifact from 4-H clubs and county fairs. Bigger is not better. Smaller, younger vegetables taste better.</b></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td><font color="#800000" size="2" face="Arial"><b>Bigger, taller, faster is part of fitness.</b></font></td> <td><font color="#800000" size="2" face="Arial"><b>Again, part of the bigger is better mode of thinking. Gardening is a fitness program where young and old, fast and slow, big and small all compete on the same playing field.</b></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td><font color="#800000" size="2" face="Arial"><b>It's better and cheaper to just buy fruits and vegetables at the grocery store.</b></font></td> <td><font color="#800000" size="2" face="Arial"><b>Every apple tree I plant, every flower bed I prepare expends thousands of calories. Why is it running nowhere for a half hour is exercise and planting four tomato plants or raking leaves is work?</b></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td><font color="#800000" size="2" face="Arial"><b>There's nothing to do in the winter.</b></font></td> <td><font color="#800000" size="2" face="Arial"><b>Buy a greenhouse, join a gardening club, start plants from seeds, rake leaves, recycle aluminum cans, cross-train, turn the compost pile, edge your garden beds with a spade, build a hot bed/ cold frame. Keep busy. Stay active.</b></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td><font color="#800000" size="2" face="Arial"><b>Gardening is work. Gardening always makes you sore.</b></font></td> <td><font color="#800000" size="2" face="Arial"><b>This idea is perpetuated by the media (easier is better), bad tools, bad habits and gardens that were too big or not suited to the local climate. Instead, embrace the physical part of gardening. Exercise!</b></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td><font color="#800000" size="2" face="Arial"><b>You have a bad back, bad knees, bad feet, or arthritis. You are too old, too young or too tired. Therefore you cannot garden.</b></font></td> <td><font color="#800000" size="2" face="Arial"><b>Horticultural Therapy deals with techniques and tools that allow those with physical disabilities to enjoy gardening. Raise the garden beds to waist height. Use adaptive tools, select varieties for hardiness.</b></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td><font color="#800000" size="2" face="Arial"><b>You have a brown thumb.</b></font></td> <td><font color="#800000" size="2" face="Arial"><b>There is no such thing. Growing plants is not magic.</b></font> <p><font color="#800000" size="2" face="Arial"><b>It is a matter of:</b></font> <ol> <li><font color="#800000" size="2" face="Arial"><b>Doing simple things well.</b></font> <li><font color="#800000" size="2" face="Arial"><b>Having a positive attitude.</b></font> <li><font color="#800000" size="2" face="Arial"><b>Counting your successes, not your failures.</b></font> <li><font color="#800000" size="2" face="Arial"><b>Learning from your mistakes.</b></font> <li><font color="#800000" size="2" face="Arial"><b>Having the correct tools.</b></font> <li><font color="#800000" size="2" face="Arial"><b>Matching plants to your climate.</b></font> <li><font color="#800000" size="2" face="Arial"><b>Matching gardening goals to your lifestyle.</b></font> <li><font color="#800000" size="2" face="Arial"><b>Being persistent.</b></font> <li><font color="#800000" size="2" face="Arial"><b>Be a learner. Read, watch videos - talk to people, join gardening clubs.</b></font> </ol> </td> </tr> <tr> <td><font color="#800000" size="2" face="Arial"><b>Traditional gardening is the same as Get Fit Through Gardening</b></font></td> <td><font color="#800000" size="2" face="Arial"><b>No. Traditional gardening focuses on the plants we grow. Get Fit Through Gardening focuses on people. Adding stretching, aerobics, resistance training, and balance dramatically increase the physical benefits of gardening.</b></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td><font color="#800000" size="2" face="Arial"><b>If it's not perfect, why bother?</b></font></td> <td><font color="#800000" size="2" face="Arial"><b>Striving for perfection can often add stress to an already stressful life. Plants are non-judgmental and very tolerant. Grow a wildflower garden, a butterfly garden, or a cottage (freeform) garden. Gardening is the perfect complement to an exacting profession such as computer programming, medicine, law, accounting and engineering. Your personal enjoyment is paramount (not what your neighbors think!)</b></font></td> </tr> </table> <p align="Center"><b><font size="2" face="Arial" color="#008000">For more information, my books, </font><font face="Arial" size="2"> <a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781578262687" target="_blank">Get Fit Through Gardening (2008) </a></font><font size="2" face="Arial" color="#008000">and <a href="http://ritecode.com/aerobicgardening/dyngardening.html"><i>Fitness the Dynamic Gardening Way</i></a>, are available!</font></b> <p align="center"><img src="moveline1.gif" align="Middle" alt="line" border="0" width="600" height="1"></p> <blockquote> <blockquote> <p align="Center"><font face="Arial" size="2"><a href="main.html">Get Fit Through Gardening</a> </font><font face="Arial" size="2"><a href="main.html"> Home Page</a> |<b> <a href="http://ritecode.com/aerobicgardening/nutshell.html">In a Nutshell</a></b> | <a href="http://ritecode.com/aerobicgardening/overview.html">Overview</a> | <a href="http://ritecode.com/aerobicgardening/misconceptions.html">Misconceptions</a> | <b><a href="http://ritecode.com/aerobicgardening/exerday.html">National Gardening Exercise Day</a> </b>| <a href="http://ritecode.com/aerobicgardening/links.html">Get Fit Through Gardening</a> <a href="http://ritecode.com/aerobicgardening/links.html"> links</a> | <a href="http://ritecode.com/aerobicgardening/sports.html">vs sports</a> | <a href="http://ritecode.com/aerobicgardening/thighmaster.html">/Swap for a thighmaster offer</a> | <a href="http://ritecode.com/aerobicgardening/topquest.html">Top Questions</a> | <a href="http://ritecode.com/aerobicgardening/tradgard.html">Traditional Gardening</a> | <a href="http://ritecode.com/aerobicgardening/jan2000.html">Jan2000 article</a> | <a href="http://ritecode.com/aerobicgardening/feb2000.html">Feb2000 article</a> | <a href="http://ritecode.com/aerobicgardening/myturn.html">My Turn article</a> | <a href="http://ritecode.com/aerobicgardening/topquest.html">Top Questions</a> | <a href="http://ritecode.com/aerobicgardening/whatdotoday.html">What You Can Do Today</a> | <a href="http://ritecode.com/aerobicgardening/stretching.html">Stretching Program</a> | <b><a href="http://ritecode.com/aerobicgardening/dyngardening.html">Dynamic Gardening</a> </b>| <a href="http://ritecode.com/aerobicgardening/biography.html">Biography</a> | <a href="http://ritecode.com/aerobicgardening/politics.html">Politics</a> | <a href="mailto:ritecode@ritecode.com">E-Mail</a></font> </blockquote> </blockquote> <p align="Center"><a href="main.html"><img src="98_bon.gif" align="Middle" alt="Balance of Nature Publishing" border="0" width="287" height="15"></a> <div align="center"> <table cellspacing="3"> <tr> <td><font color="Maroon" size="2" face="Arial">Balance of Nature Publishing </font></td> <td><font color="Maroon" size="2" face="Arial">Phone: (901) 517-1705</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td><font color="Maroon" size="2" face="Arial">7204 Deventer Cove</font></td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td><font color="Maroon" size="2" face="Arial">Memphis TN 38133</font></td> <td><a href="mailto:ritecode@ritecode.com"><font face="Arial" size="2">Email: Jeffrey Restuccio</font></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="http://ritecode.com/aerobicgardening/home.html"><font face="Arial" size="2">Home Page</font></a></td> <td><font color="Red" size="2" face="Arial">This page updated <!--webbot bot="Timestamp" s-type="EDITED" s-format="%B %d, %Y" startspan -->March 17, 2008<!--webbot bot="Timestamp" i-checksum="17635" endspan --></font></td> </tr> </table> </div> <p> </p> </body> </html>