Get Kids in the Garden

It’s officially summer! And time to get out into the garden!

If you haven’t gardened before, it is a really fun way to get the kids outside and active

doing something they’ll learn to love. You don’t need a lot of yard space and even if you

live in an apartment or condo, you can do a container garden on the porch.

Babies even love playing in the dirt but be watchful of any small rocks or mulch as these

can be a choking hazard.

Children learn so much from growing in the garden:

Patience

Cause and effect

Rewards

How plants grow

Where our food comes from

Joy of being outside and healthy eating

There is even evidence that shows spending some time digging in the dirt helps the

immune system. Getting out into the direct sun every day gives us a healthy dose of

vitamin D which our bodies naturally synthesize when the sun hits our skin. Secondly,

when a child is exposed to bacteria from the soil it can help promote the immune

system by allowing the body to better identify threats from non-threats which can calm a

hypersensitive immune system linked to chronic conditions like eczema, asthma and

allergies.

So now that we are ready to start our gardens, let’s dig into the details (pun intended!).

There are two different types of garden plants we should know about:

Annuals - You have to plant new seeds every year

Perennials - Plant once, they grow back year after year

We have chosen a list of plants (for a Spring/Summer garden - we’ll discuss Winter

gardens at a different time) that have little risk and high reward when planting for you to

start with:

PERENNIALS:

Perennial plants are low maintenance but they can take a while to grow from seed. If

you live on a property that you’d like to see your plants come back every year, these are

some of the best to grow. They generally require less water and daily care but you have

to be choosy on where you plant them, because that is where they will stay forever.

Some common garden perennials are:

Flowers: These are often best planted by seed because it is the most economical. You

can go to an online seed store and choose the flowers you’d like to plant at your house.

Perennial flowers generally take many months to see your beautiful blooms, so the

reward is mostly for the parents here (yay). But children will still enjoy getting out and

helping mom in the garden with her future flowerbeds. When they finally come up and

you are smiling at the blooms with your morning coffee, you can remind the kiddos that

they helped bring the smile to mom’s face by planting these.

Berries - Strawberries, blueberries, and other berry bushes: Berries grown from seed

can take up to 18 months to begin producing fruit. This is a long time for a child! These

are often better to purchase as existing plants from places like Home Depot or Whole

Foods. The kids can help pick a spot to put them (remember, it’s the forever spot!) and

assist in digging and transplant. Often times the plants will start producing fruit the same

season you plant them but will grow bigger, more bountiful, as they get more

established. Berries are a great crop to plant as kids love going outside to pick the

colorful fruits and eat them straight off the bush. Be careful of thorns!

Herbs: such as rosemary, oregano, mint, lavender, sage. These are also best

purchased as an established plant as it can take a year for them to grow from seed.

Trader Joes often has organic herbs for around $5. Herbs can be fun for children when

you send them out for clippings, which they can pinch off with their fingers, while you

are cooking dinner. It helps them learn where our food comes from and which ones are

which. Children often pride themselves when helping mom using the knowledge they

have gained. “Go grab me some rosemary and sage, honey!”

ANNUALS:

These are the quickest reward in growing a garden! They also generally require daily

maintenance in the summer heat so it can give the children something to do outside of

the house every morning. If you have a fenced yard, you can send the older kiddos out

to grab the hose. They will light up when the seeds start to grow.

Some of the best annual vegetables are:

Green beans

Tomatoes

Zucchini

Okra

Cucumbers

Very easy to grow! Just put seeds in the ground and water. Make sure wherever you

plant them has at least 6+ hours of direct sunlight per day. The above plants are all

great for kids because they produce high yields (fruit) and the kids can go out every day

to pick and eat for lunch.

When we teach our children where our food comes from, they grow an appreciation for

the food chain and learn that food doesn’t come from a cardboard box. It can also help

encourage them towards healthy eating because growing your food is a lot of fun!