8 Things To Grow With Children

We all know that eating healthy foods is important for ourselves and for our children. Studies show that introducing vegetables to young children frequently and repeatedly makes a significant impact on their adult eating habits. We also know that where possible choosing organic foods reduces the toxins that we introduce into our family’s diet. However, buying organic is more expensive. So why don’t we all just take up gardening? Why is gardening so intimidating for many of us. For me anyway the biggest hurdle to starting a garden was that I did not see myself as one who gardened. A gardener in my mind was someone with special skill and practice, and I, well I would just be making a mess. When I started it was surprisingly rewarding. I quickly learned that a small family garden can improve so many things. I was motivated by an urge to show my children that food grows from the soil in order to expand their knowledge of how things grow and where they come from. I found that in turn it increased their receptiveness to the vegetables that we grew. I think they just seemed to be more fun to eat because they had picked and washed them.

The benefits of starting a garden I found extended beyond their knowledge of plants and openness to eating vegetables. Had the benefits not gone beyond those alone I would have still been delighted but the benefits kept coming. I advocate for finding life balance and adding a garden brought with it some balance. My boys engaged with nature and their family. They were outside doing something physical and it was a distraction free time for us to use to connect with each other. I had intended to utilize my new garden for food and for educational purposes but had greatly underestimated the bonding benefits! The boys have over the past couple of years have also had the opportunity of watching me learn. Kids have a tendency to believe that their parents already know what they can know. Gardening has brought with it surprises and challenges and my children have had the chance to observe their mother learning new ways to do things and have been part of the problem solving at times themselves. This collaboration has encouraged creativity and provided an opportunity to watch their mother stick with something through challenges.

All that said getting my kids engaged in the gardening process has had its highs and lows. My advice is to keep your garden small especially to start. A 4×6 area allows for easy reach and is less intimidating when it come time to weed and turn the soil. Most of us are not looking to put the local farmer out of business and if you have the space you could always expand. Another option is to sneak a crop in among other plants. If you have a spot in your yard that gets some good sun but there is some open space consider sneaking in a crop. Strawberries can be fun ground cover for example. I have even seen pumpkins growing along a driveway wrapped around small palms.

When picking crops to get the kids involved I recommend:

1. Potatoes: To plant potatoes all you need are potatoes from the grocery store. You cut them up into pieces each with an eye from which the new plant can grow. The kids will love digging little holes and dropping in pieces of potato to watch them grow. Digging them up with their hands is even more fun than planting them. You never now how many there are going to be and it is like rooting around for treasure.

2. Green Onion: Here again you get to start with clippings from the grocery store. You get to use the onion in your dinner then the kids get to take the trash and plant it roots down int he ground and see it grow.

3. Lettuce: This may not seem like it would be fun to us grown ups, but kids like the way it grows quickly creating full leafy plants. Also of great benefit is that to plant it they just have to sprinkle the tiny seeds on top of the dirt and pat it gently into the soil.

4. Tomatoes: Children find tomatoes very gratifying. I would recommend starting with seedlings from the store if you are starting out. The kids can dig little holes and put cage over them. Tomatoes quickly start growing and filling their cages. Then they get to watch them turn into big red fruit and they are easy to pick.

5. Pumpkins: Pumpkin seeds are big and fun to handle and kids marvel at how big the plant becomes and the giant orange fruit. The joy here is pretty obvious who doesn’t love watching a pumpkin get bigger and bigger, oranger and oranger! They take a lot of space though so plant wisely.

6. Green beans: The pole varieties spread nicely and can quickly create a kid friendly hedge. Tomatoes and zucchini can have some prickly uncomfortable areas that are aversive to young gardeners. Green beans pose no such challenge. The kids can reach all through them finding the perfect hanging bean pods. this is one crop that my kids were much more likely to eat having grown it themselves.

7. Garlic: This is another fun one to plant. It is hearty, easy, and we all use it. The fun for the kids is that once again you start at the grocery store. they get to pull apart a big head of garlic separating out the cloves. then they just need to dig a little hole and drop each of those separate cloves in.

8. Carrots: A small easy to plant seed for kids. The real fun comes in the harvest though. There is so much mystery and magic in finding out how big those things have gotten in the ground. Tugging hard to get it free from the dirt to find a giant orange carrot in their hand is not unlike the mystery of pulling a fish from a lake and seeing what you caught. Dipping their fresh catch in some ranch dip makes it extra rewarding!