Each year, Earth Day is my inspiration to teach my kids something new about the Earth and how we can make it better. Gardening together, I think, is a wonderful way to help them understand the importance of nurturing something and get excited about the fruits of their labor. While kids may not love eating veggies, growing them may change their opinion. There is a certain magic to gardening with kids – bright colors, plenty of water and mud, worms, bees and butterflies, and, best of all, the transformation from seed to plant. Here’s how to help your kids develop their green thumbs.
When to Begin Gardening with Kids?
38% of the respondents in a recent Garden-Share.com’s survey [of its 27,500 followers] say they started gardening before age 10. “While there’s no right age to start gardening”, says John Mitchell, founder of Garden-Share.com, “toddlers naturally want to be with you outside and join in your activities. Give them their own-sized tools and they will enjoy it even more. Kids and gardening are a natural combination. There are bright colors, unusual smells, different textures, dirt and a chance to play with water.” “Children as young as 2 years old are ready to do some sort of gardening, as long as they understand when and why they shouldn’t eat something”, says Susan Cooper, M.Ed., Parenting and Child Behavior/Development Expert and mother of two, “Managing their own row is dependent on the child’s ability to be responsible and tolerate repetitive actions. It can be as young as 4 years old but more likely around 7 or 8.” As with any kids activity, watch for them to give you cues when and if they are ready. Start small and do more each year. You can introduce the concept of gardening at the grocery store, suggests Susan Cooper, M.Ed. by introducing new fruits and vegetables. Visiting local botanic gardens and forest preserves will help them cultivate the love for nature; plus many of these places offer camps and gardening classes.
Plan Before you Plant
This is actually a good piece of advice for any gardener. If you plan your garden in advance, you will remember to prepare the soil, know how many and what kinds of plants to pick and when to start. Take note of your location – some root plants will do better in one area while other soils are more welcoming of other plants. Think about annuals vs. perennials – perennials like chives will come back year after year, which will make it easier. At the same time, annuals can be more fun since kids will have an opportunity to pick something new each year. Don’t forget about the sunlight/shade, since some plants will be happier in the sun and some will prefer the shade. Plant tags will typically tell you about the sun/shade requirements and planting depth and distances. And definitely get your gear in advance.
Pick Together
Kids love having a voice and making their own decisions. Considering you make most of their decisions for them, it’s a great source of joy for them to have a choice. Start by picking the gardening tools: your child may enjoy picking his own watering can, rake, shovel, gloves, etc. “Purchase kid-size tools”, suggests Sara Jenkins-Sutton, co-founder of Topiarius Urban Garden and Floral Design (www.Topiarius.com). “Kids will love having the tools that grown-ups have, plus it will be safer for them to participate.” There are many nice gardening sets for kids on the market, which offer all the tools you need in one package. Once the tools are ready, have them pick the plants and pick your gardening day.
Make it Fast
Kids won’t enjoy waiting forever for the plants to appear, so Susan Cooper recommends going with plants that mature quickly such as carrots, radishes, or green onions. Sara Jenkins-Sutton of Topiarius.com seconds this: “With a day seeming like forever, it’s helpful to provide as much instant gratification as possible so that their interest is sustained. Examples may include coreopsis (butterflies like it), purple coneflower, bee balm and geraniums.”
Make it Simple
Planting plants into your garden as opposed to starting with seeds will make the process simpler (and faster, another bonus). However, the transformation won’t be as dramatic. Another way to make gardening simple is container gardening, which works year round in any area.
“Container gardening is the best place to start with kids because it is simple and controlled”, says John Mitchell. “All you need is a container, a few stones, soil, a plant or seeds and some sunshine.”
For beginner vegetable gardeners, choose vegetable plants that are hearty. Â For example, chives are hard-to-kill plants that can survive and thrive with little tending from humans. Â “Early successes with hearty plants give kids a sense of success and encouragement in their gardening skills”, says Candi Wingate of Nannies4Hire.com.
Make it Fun
What kids wouldn’t love bright colors and playing in the mud? These are just a few of the things that make gardening so much fun for kids. Jon Feldman, a landscape designer in Nyack, NY with a 25-year old design/build firm (www.gbiloba.com) and a great gardening blog, Theluckygardener.wordpress.com has a few words of advice for making gardening more fun (which worked on his now 7-year old):
- 1. Bring him to plant nurseries that also serve doughnuts
- 2. Let him pick out plants, whether I liked them or not.
- 2. Show him that working in the garden can let him play with bugs (worms were specially popular).
- 3. When flowers appear at different times of the year, we could make mom happy by picking them and bringing her bouquets. Then, later in the year when the flowers are gone but the ripened seed pods are, I explained the process of fertilization.
There are a lot of kids books on gardening which can help your little one understand it better. A few examples include The Apple-Pip Princess, Jack’s Garden, One Bean, Jack and the Beanstalk, Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots and The Curious Gardner.
Make it Special
Taking care of their own plant will certainly require some encouragement, so adding something unique to the garden will make it more fun. Sara Jenkins-Sutton of Topiarius.com is thinking big: “Plant oversized items. Sunflowers are a great example of bold impact that is fascinating for kids.”
Another popular gardening approach with kids is thematic planting. Sara Jenkins-Sutton explains: “Grow flowers that have all the same colors or grow a vegetable garden that revolves around toppings for a pizza.” Another popular tip is to create a rainbow, suggests John Mitchell: “Ask kids to select flowers in the six different rainbow colors and plant them in curving rows. When they bloom, you will have a rainbow.”
Teach a Lesson
There are many amazing skills your child can pick up from gardening, with patience probably being the biggest one. Tolerance for unexpected complications and ability to deal with them (bunnies in the garden?) is another important quality. Gardening will help your kids cultivate both.
Kids can learn a lot about colors in the garden. “Pointing out the different color leaves”, says Jon Feldman of gbiloba.com, “I explain that different chemicals create different colors in leaves and follow through with that theme in the fall when the leaves turn color on the deciduous trees here in the Northeast US.”
On a large scale, gardening teaches kids about “climate, weather, biology, soil, bugs and provides them with an appreciation of nature”, says John Mitchell.
On a basic level, kids can learn about measurements, applying the ruler to measure the distance between plants or the depth of planting.
Help them Eat their Veggies
Did you ever notice that when kids help you with dinner, they are more likely to eat it? That’s why Sara Jenkins-Sutton recommends growing a vegetable garden. “When kids are participating in growing their own food they’re more likely to eat it. It’s eco-friendly, safer and teaches them about the earth. Include heirloom tomatoes, zucchini, potatoes, eggplant, peas, and beans. For balcony gardens or in tighter spaces consider specially bred pot sized vegetables such as Tom Thumb Pea, Golden Nugget Carrot, Toy Boy and Small Fry Tomato, most Pepper varieties, or Spacemaster Cucumber.”
Tend to It
At my house, kids fight over who is in charge of watering the plants for the day. I chuckle, since what is a chore for me, is a fun game for the little ones. But there is a lot more that the garden requires, says Candi Wingate. “Some plants require daily watering. Â All plants should be weeded at least weekly. Â As your vegetables develop and ripen, you will need to remove ripe vegetables promptly – as you remove your first ripened vegetables, wash and eat them promptly. Â Let your kids experience the wonderful tastes that they have created with their own hands.” You can learn more about gardening from the below resources.
