Earth Day: Gardening with Children
As Earth Day approaches, I want to share, with you, the joys of gardening with children. My love of gardening came from my father. He was raised on a farm in West Virginia, and although he married and became an electrical engineer, his love of the land never faded. As I was growing up, Dad and Mom always planted a garden. Sometimes it was small and other times it was huge. Digging in the dirt, playing with worms and watching the plants, start as small seedlings and grow large enough to produce the food for our table, was a treat. I will admit that the weeding and breaking bushel after bushel of green beans got a bit tedious at times; but the vegetables we grew in our garden were better than anything we bought at the store.
I don’t have the green thumb that my Dad and Mom have but I continue to try. A few years ago, because of several health issues my husband has, we decided to try our hand at organic gardening. We chose the Square Foot Gardening method, as taught by Mel Bartholomew. It can be a little expensive in the beginning but I love it because I don’t need a rototiller to break up the ground. It is always soft, loose and easy to work in. And since it’s so easy to work with, it makes gardening with children a breeze.
One of the areas I fail miserably at is having the time to take care of my garden the way it needs to be. I work full time and I live far enough from my workplace that I don’t have a lot of time to dedicate to gardening. It’s mid-April and this is what my garden currently looks like:
I know, I was taught better than that. I should all ready have my onions and radishes in the ground. I was hoping to have my little helper (my great-nephew) last weekend but he and his mom were busy. Even though he wasn’t able to help me this past weekend, I can share the fun we had getting the garden ready two years ago.
Jeremiah was 21 months old, so as you can see, you can start gardening with your children when they are quite young. Here is one of the reasons that the Square Foot Gardening method works well when gardening with children; the dirt was so soft and loose that he was easily able to help me pull out weeds and old plants. He also helped me loosen the dirt by digging and raking. At first, he wasn’t too sure about getting dirt on his hands but the longer we worked the more he got into it. And I really mean he got INTO it! LOL!
There is so much learning that can happen while gardening. Realizing that vegetables grow on plants before they get to the store can be a lesson in itself. You can discuss how worms and certain bugs help the garden while other bugs hurt it. Learning about weather, and how the garden needs rain and sunshine to grow, are other lessons. You might find that your child is willing to try different vegetables when they have had a hand in growing and caring for them. One unexpected thing you might find growing, while working in the garden with your child, is the bond between the two of you. So put on some old clothes, grab some rakes and shovels and start growing your own memories.
View Comments (46)
I love when my little boy helps with our garden. We don't have a huge place to grew a garden so we use containers. Your little helper is adorable!
Those little guys are so fun to work with. I think I learn just as much from him as he does from me. ;)
I absolutely yearn for a garden, but I've been in apartments since I move from my parent's at 18. Usually 2nd floor. These pictures make me wish I could let my boy feel the Earth and grow something.
But potted plants it is for now.
Do you have a balcony/patio? You could grow some things in containers.
Those pictures are adorable!! I loved gardening with my mom, so I'm continuing that tradition with my kids.. So fun.
Gardening can be hard work but it's also very rewarding.
This post took me down memory lane when I used to help my grandmother with her veggie garden. I never really realized all of the lessons that I was learning in gardening. She would explained to my sister and I about how the veggies grow, how the ground has to be, how important the rain is, etc. Thanks so much for sharing :)
My grandparents used to have a big garden too. I love that type of learning...the kind that you don't even realize it's happening.
I love gardening with our kids!! Still a little cold to start here, but I cant wait!! Only a few more weeks!!
It's warm enough for onions, radishes and some lettuce but I haven't even gotten my garden cleaned out...as you can see.
I love to garden, have always just done flowers. This year we are going to do a vegetable garden. I am so exited. That picture of your son walking away is precious!
I love beautiful flowers but my favorite thing is my vegetable garden. I think partially because it saves money and the things you grow in your garden taste so much better than store bought.
Those are the cutest photos, I love the one of him walking away!!!
Thank so much. The one of him walking away is my favorite too.
You are so right about kids loving gardening, and it is so great for them to see things growing and to make the connections between the garden and their plate. And I know what you mean about not having the time to take care of your garden as you should! I've just spent a desperate day trying to sort mine out after a two week holiday and I'm not sure I'll be able to move tomorrow! Little and often would be so much better :)
Little and often would be better but sometimes that's just hard to accomplish. Good luck with your garden this year.
This is great! We have a porch garden and our 4 year old was so excited when he saw his first tomato!
That's so wonderful that you are able to have a garden so close to the house. It makes it nice to be able to step out the door and get what you want.
He looks like he loves gardening! One of my kids does too, another one is oblivious to it, and the little one just likes playing with the hose pipe!
He was a big helper. I can't wait to get him over to help some more.