Helping Kids Garden and Teaching Them to Love It

Kids’ gardens need wide spaces between rows so there is ample room to walk without treading on the plants. Even if you don’t use mulch around the plants, put it in the middle of the rows. It will give the grandkids a nice walkway that will keep their shoes relatively clean. Don’t use store-bought mulch. Use grass clippings, hay, pine needles or leaves. At the end of the season, you can till the mulch into the soil for much-needed organic material.

Be sure to raise some crops from seeds. There’s nothing quite like putting a tiny seed in the ground and seeing it turn into a flourishing plant. Put extra seeds in the ground so that if some of them are planted too deep or too shallow, you will still have a good crop. You can always thin if you have too many plants. For the smallest children, beans are the easiest seeds to handle.

Mini-lessons on botany delivered in the garden can have a greater impact than lessons learned in school. Be sure to use the proper names for the plants. Use the time-honored method of using the seed packets to identify the small plants, or make miniature garden signs. Point out insects and birds in the garden as well. If you don’t already have bird and insect identification guides, buy some.

Herbs are fun for grandchildren to smell and taste. Maybe they’ll even learn to enjoy a little chopped basil on their “basketti.” Herbs in the garden also attract beneficial insects. Plant most herbs early, as many varieties will "bolt," or go to flower or seed, in hot weather. Be careful about planting most varieties of mint as it spreads like crazy. If you want mint, plant it in a container.

Blooming plants add color and beauty and also attract pollinating insects. The vegetable garden is also a good place to grow some flowers just for cutting. Some gardeners swear by marigolds, geraniums and other strongly scented flowers to repel unwanted insects. Grow sunflowers for the bloom and later you can harvest the seeds to feed to the birds, if they don't find them first!

Organic gardening is not only best for the planet, but also safest for kids’ gardens. Lots of insects can be hand-picked and killed by being squashed or dropped into soapy water. It’s not fun, but it works. Wear gloves if you are squeamish, or use tweezers or tongs. Some organic gardeners put the insects into a plastic container, freeze them and put them outside for the birds. Your grandchildren may not cotton to this part of organic gardening. If not, try to do it while they are not around.

Don’t expect grandchildren to love garden maintenance. Pulling weeds and hoeing can be hard work. Some think that grandchildren should experience the good and bad sides of gardening. I agree, but if you turn it into a chore, don’t be surprised if they are turned off completely. Try mulching, which not only conserves moisture but also controls weed growth and keeps soil from becoming hard, so that gardens require less drudgery. Children almost always love to water, so save that job for them.

Letting kids garden always means a few goofs. Some items will get picked when they are too small or when they are not yet ripe. Occasionally a branch may be broken off, or even a whole plant may get pulled out of the ground. You can reduce the chances of the plant being damaged by taking your garden knife and cutting the stem partly through and then letting the grandchild give the final tug.

Most vegetables are tastiest when picked relatively small, but let a few specimens grow just to see how big they will get. Grandchildren get a big kick out of enormous vegetables. Zucchini is a great one to grow big. It seems to get enormous overnight. Pumpkins and melons are other good giant crops.

If the grandkids don’t like the taste of their vegetables, that’s okay, although kids will consume lots of things if provided with a little ranch dip! Even if they decide they don’t care for the vegetables, they can still help you prepare them for the table. They’ll enjoy seeing other people enjoy the food from the kids’ garden.

At the end of the season, let the grandchildren participate in getting ready for the next step. That can mean planning a fall garden to follow the summer garden, or it can mean pulling up the old plants and planning next year’s garden. Gardens are great tools for teaching about the cycle of life, and gardeners get a fresh start every year. The value of a fresh start is a good lesson for kids to learn, in or out of the garden.