Gardening With Kids

Gardening with kids is a natural. Kids start off in the right frame of mind. They want to be in the garden, and they like the work. Even toddlers watch sprouts poke their little green heads out of the backyard soil with a sense of awe.

Our job as parents is to keep them in that frame of mind and not wreck a good thing. That's tougher than it sounds because gardening can be hard and tedious.

We have to devise ways to keep that sense of wonder alive throughout their childhood. These tips for gardening with kids can help.

Making the (Garden) Beds

Garden beds need to be prepared. You don't just march out one day, dig a hole, and stick a plant in it. Well, maybe you do. That might explain that whole brown thumb thing of yours!

The Planting Plan

I gave a gardening friend signs for her garden with her name and her daughter's name on them. Her daughter promptly claimed one area of the front yard with her sign and has tended it ever since. Ownership is important.

As you're planning your garden, make it a learning experience. Talk to the kids about how different plants have different needs. Show them how to read plant labels to see how much sun and water particular plants require. Walk around the yard and discuss which part looks sunny, which sections look shady, and which plants might be happier where.

Talk to the kids about using contrasting textures and complementary colors in their designs for more interest. Explain how putting short plants up front and tall plants in the back makes it easier to see them all.

Next, make it fun by having your child choose a theme for her garden. Some of our favorites include:

• A pizza garden: with tomatoes, oregano, and peppers

• A salad garden: with lettuce, tomatoes, and carrots

• A scented garden: filled with sweet-smelling plants

• A snacking garden: of carrots, cherry tomatoes, and celery

• A tactile garden: bursting with plants with interesting foliage to touch

• A butterfly garden of plants that attract butterflies and provide food for butterfly larvae

• An exotic garden of fruits and vegetables in unusual colors, such as yellow tomatoes, orange peppers, and blue potatoes; and an edible flower garden.

Choosing a theme makes gardening much more special. 

Garden planning is a fun activity for the whole family. Kids love going to nurseries and poking around. Let them help you pick out plants, Give them a budget and let them choose the plants for their own plots.

This will be honing artistic and mathematical skills while they shop. The more that kids are involved in the conceptual part of gardening, the more they will be interested in the maintenance. You need to make them feel responsible.

Planting Time

Once your kids have their own little plots, help them be successful gardeners. 

Show them how to dig a bigger, better hole for a happier plant. Teach them how to handle the roots carefully to prevent injury.

Help them gently water the plant and then return to water it some more after the initial watering has settled. Explain how just-planted plants will need more water until they get established.

If you haven't prepared the soil already, this is your last opportunity to work some finished compost or aged (not fresh) manure into the top few inches of soil.

Versatile Vegetable Gardening With Kids

While any gardening with kids is help is good, it's especially great to have kids help with veggie gardens. Nothing encourages children to eat their vegetables more than growing the vegetables themselves. Plus, when you grow your own vegetables, you can be sure that they have not been sprayed with pesticides. 

Birds and bugs will be your problem if you grow seeds. You will have these cute little seedlings poking up through the soil one day and zilch the next. Protect your seedlings by covering them with a special cloth called a sponbonded row cover until they are a couple of inches tall. 

Here's an important safety tip: Never let your kids taste the seeds they are planting. Many have been treated with fungicide to help them grow. These are poisonous to kids.

Some plants, such as root vegetables like carrots and radishes, have to be started from seeds. But you can get a head start on tomatoes, peppers, and other plants by buying growibg seedlings, called transplants.

When gardening with kids, remind them that with seedlings especially, don'trush the season, especially with tomatoes. If you plant before the nights are warm, tomatoes are susceptible to fungus. Be patient!

The Marvels of Mulch

After you've planted, it's helpful to mulch. And mulch again. And mulch some more. You can use wood chips, straw, or even compost for mulch. I prefer using organic material because it will eventually release nutrients to the soil after it breaks down.

Mulch accomplishes three things: It helps hold water in the ground so you don't have to water as often, it helps hold warmth in the ground so plants grow faster, and it helps keep weeds from sprouting.

Mulch is a serious weed deterrent only if you mulch 4 inches deep. But any mulch at all helps because weeds in mulched soil are easier to pull. After planting encourage kids to make little markers for their plants saying things such as, "Hi, I'm Marigold."

Gardening with Kids: Harvesting

You don't need to motivate your kids for this one! Kids love to pick veggies and fruits.

This could be one of the gardening chore motivators. Tell kids that they can't pick the produce until they've picked off the pests. (Or weeded. Or watered.) Be sure to supervise at harvest time, however, or you may be dining on those trendy "baby" veggies. Kids usually can't wait to pick veggies until they're fully grown!

Show them which colors mean "ripe" for which veggies. (A yellow tomato is usually only half-ripe, for example, unless it happens to be a yellow-fruited variety like "Yellow Pear.")

Now for the best part of gardening with kids: Go and enjoy the fruits of your labors!