Gardening with Kids

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Girl showing camera the ladybug on her finger

Written by Kristy of The Simple Diabetic (featuring Zoe)

Spring is here! The weather is warming and signs of new life are appearing with green grass and flowers budding.  For those of us who garden, we are abuzz with anticipation of a new season playing in the dirt. Who better to play with than our kids?

I am relatively new to this cultivating hobby, if you consider five years still a little green behind the ears (pun intended).  Although I spent a few years tinkering with flowers, it is the vegetables, fruits and herbs that are my personal focus. Growing your own food brings a certain satisfaction and multiple health benefits that make summers all the brighter. And let’s not forget to mention the taste. Can we all agree that a homegrown tomato just tastes remarkably delicious? I recently read that homegrown foods taste better because people typically use higher quality soil than mass market farms. Better soil equals better tasting (and more nutritious) food.

As a mom, spending time in the garden with my child is priceless. As a homeschooling mom, it takes it to another level. Science class literally comes alive in the garden. For example, we like growing the herb, Dill. Swallowtail Butterflies use this herb as a host plant. Every year we watch them flutter around and lay eggs. Soon enough, we have caterpillars eating our herb and, eventually, chrysalises to search for. If you plan on doing this, here is a Pro Tip: plant more than one Dill plant so you can transfer all the caterpillars to a “sacrificial” Dill, otherwise they will eat (and poop all over) your herb. We also watch ladybugs act as organic pest control by eating aphids and other common undesirables found on plants. They can actually be bought on Amazon for this very reason. 

Zoe showing off one of our many resident ladybugs.

Another perk of gardening with littles is that they are likely to eat more veggies! Growing snap peas and green beans are awesome, kid-friendly options. Just be sure to take note of the type of green beans: bush beans grown on the ground but pole beans need a tall trellis. Multi-colored carrots are fun too. We have a high producing Meyer Lemon tree. The fruit is not ready for harvest until late Fall but we still make a lot of lemonade…with help from Stevia grown in the herb garden.  

Dehydrating herbs is a fantastic way to preserve summer harvests. Some popular ones to dry are oregano, stevia, flat leaf parsley and peppermint. Be careful with peppermint though – it is very invasive.  Ours was planted in a pot, in the ground, but our attempt to keep it contained (literally) was foiled. We easily grow enough to give to our neighbors a year’s supply for tea. Growing a “Tea Garden” is great idea if you want to try a small garden…and you like tea, obviously. Herbs are so beneficial. There are huge health benefits in addition to the delicious flavors they add to dishes and drinks. Our neighbor really enjoys receiving our homegrown limes and peppermint. Just sayin’

Another fun gardening experiment with kids, is to grow potatoes. Smaller ‘taters, like mini reds, are great. Buy a bag from the store, eat most of them but put a few in a cool, dark place and let them sprout.  Once the potatoes start growing shoots, they are ready to plant! You can even cut the spud if it is growing sprouts in multiple spots in order to get more plants. Place it in the bottom of a larger container or “potato grow bag” and cover with an inch of dirt. As the sprouts begin to grow out of the dirt, keep adding more dirt to bury it. After the container is full, wait until the flowers bud – then die…and it’s time to go potato hunting! The potato sacks make this really fun. You can actually lift up the flap to check on the progress, or grab a potato or two! We used 3 gallon buckets last year.

Growing berries are excellent kid-friendly garden choices too. Very few berries actually make it into our house from the garden because tend to be used as outdoor “grab and go” snacks! Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries are perennials. Because they return every year, be sure you are ready to commit to their location. Raspberries and blackberries grow in tall, woody canes but strawberries can grow into beautiful, trailing plants. 

Strawberries make great “porch pot” plants as well!

Several items have made gardening easier and more enjoyable. In fact, I will admit, I am a hose-wand snob. Or maybe I am just lazy. Some days, usually the hot “sticky” ones, the last thing you want to do is walk around the house to the hose, unwind it, turn it on and walk back to the garden in order to water your plants.  Having a good, reliable wand allows you to leave the water turned on. All you need to do is, move the wand’s lever and you are in business. The additional length a wand gives is also nice to reach plants that are hard to get to. It is also fun to nonchalantly spray your child while they play outside too ;). And, while I love my wand, a fun watering can for the kids helps them get in on the fun too. 

GREEN MOUNT Watering Wand
Melissa & Doug Giddy Buggy Watering Can

Dirt is good. Dirt is healthy. Yet dirt is sometimes a pain to get out from under your fingernails. A good pair (or two) of gardening gloves are, well, handy to have. There are so many pretty ones but I have found the best are well-fitting deerskin gloves. Handheld gardening tools are also critical; however, 9 times out of 10, I only use the trowels (aka, mini shovels). There are many adorable gardening kits for kids too. Using the tools, both child-size and adult, as rulers to space out planting help make uniform rows in the garden too. 

Finally, a tip I learned in gardening classes: Organic Bio-tone Starter Plant Food. (This stuff is the BEST!) In our class, we were told this fertilizer helps plants thrive after being transplanted. So, if you are planting seedlings or other established plants, sprinkling some Bio-tone in the hole prior to the placing in the plant, will give it a head-start. 

“To Plant a Garden is to Believe in Tomorrow.”

As Audrey Hepburn said, “To Plant a Garden is to Believe in Tomorrow.” What better activity to share with your children, the leaders of tomorrow. Lessons of love, patience and nurturing are all taught in the garden. These are lessons worth growing. 

HAPPY GARDENING!

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