Open the door to science and a healthy hobby by gardening with
children. Since kids are our gardening future, we need to teach them and
encourage them to garden. After all, they all just naturally like to play in the
dirt!
Creating fun gardens for children means involving the
kids in the design and evolution of the garden, working together to produce
something unique.
Once you have introduced your child to the basics of creating
gardens and gardening, you will be amazed at how many and varied ideas they come
up with themselves, let alone their enthusiasm!
Growing Vegetables with Kids
There is nothing quite like the delight of growing your own
vegetables. Generally growing vegetables is easy (compared to other plants),
depending on the type chosen. Nor do you need masses of space to grow vegetables
or a specified vegetable plot, since there are more and more possibilities for
growing vegetables in containers, such as plant pots, hanging baskets or window
boxes.
Growing vegetables with your kids is likely to encourage them
to eat more vegetables too - especially for the fussy eaters! Let them choose
the vegetable seeds, plant and tend them together, and finally harvest the fresh
vegetables. A lot of homegrown vegetables taste a LOT better when they are fresh
and not mass produced or forced commercially. Tasting the difference between
tinned peas and fresh peas from the pod is like eating a completely different
vegetable.
You can also experiment with different vegetables easily. Your
child doesn't like spinach? Then try growing swiss chard instead. Thinks
tomatoes are yucky? Try growing small yellow or red cherry tomatoes instead -
they tend to be sweeter and much more popular with kids.
Kids just love digging up the potatoes, parsnips and carrots -
it's like digging for buried treasure. And watching seeds grow from tiny
seedlings into grown, mature plants, tending them and keeping an eye on their
progress, protecting them from invaders (in the form of slugs and bugs!), really
is quite an adventure.
Still not convinced about growing your own vegetables?
The benefits of growing vegetables yourself:
You are assured fresh vegetables. A lot of vegetables
lose at least some of their vitamins as soon as they are gathered, so being
able to take them from the garden or balcony to the table in a matter of
minutes, ensures you gain the maximum possible health benefits from your
homegrown vegetables.
Value for money. In just about every case it is much
cheaper to grow your own vegetables, than to buy them at the local shop or
supermarket.
Growing vegetables which are not readily available in
your area. For example, heirloom tomatoes.
You can grow organic vegetables. Growing vegetables
organically simply means not using non-organic compost, fertilizer or
pesticides. For people or children who are particularly sensitive to
chemicals, this is a brilliant alternative to buying organic vegetables, and
the cost is a fraction of that in shops.
Children actually learn where vegetables come from, how
they grow and what they look like. Not only that, but they learn how to
prepare vegetables for eating from scratch. Given that more and more
children seem to have difficulty recognizing basic vegetables, let alone
know what to do with them, growing vegetables yourself is providing them
with a valuable life skill and education - while they have fun and plenty of
fresh air!
Easy to Grow Vegetables
While it is easy to grow vegetables, some vegetables are
easier to grow than others. When starting off a vegetable garden with your
children, you will want to begin with easy vegetables to grow to almost
guarantee a decent crop, encourage the children (and yourself!) and keep
enthusiasm for growing vegetables high!
Just how easy to grow vegetables are does depend in part on
your climate and the soil conditions, but the following list is generally agreed
across the board as being a good guide on easy vegetables to grow.
List of Easy to Grow Vegetables
Cress. This must be the absolutely most easy vegetable to
grow. Usually grown indoors in flat containers with just some damp kitchen
towel or blotting paper, you simply cannot go wrong. Cress, like mustard,
grows very quickly and is the ideal starting place for young children.
Lettuce. Again, lettuce can be grown inside or out, in
containers or in the vegetable patch. There are lots of different varieties
to chose from. Follow the advice on growing lettuce and to begin with, try a
smaller lettuce which grows quickly.
Radishes. These are also a must on your list of starter
vegetables. They prefer a damper or colder climate, and need very little
maintenance - simply thin them out sufficiently to ensure there is enough
space for the bulbs to develop. Radishes are often grown together with
carrots, as the seedlings pop up quickly, acting as row markers, and also
help to break down the surface for the weaker carrot seedlings to come
through. Grow some radishes and carrots in their sandbox! Mark off a one
square foot area in their sandbox with an open ended box. Mark a line in the
soil and drop in some carrot seeds and then right on top some radish seeds.
Smooth out the line carefully and water gently everyday. The radishes will
grow very quickly while the carrots will take a little longer. Both are such
fun for children to pull out of the ground with their bright red and orange
roots! They will be easy to clean and eat since they were grown in sand.
Swiss Chard. Like spinach, chard is not fussy about the
ground and needs almost no care apart from thinning out and weeding to begin
with. Chard also looks nice, especially the variety with red stems, and both
the leaf and stem can be eaten. In many climates, chard will overwinter
quite cheerfully. Children who don't like spinach, will often take to chard
instead.
Green Beans. Try the bush types for ease of cultivation,
though runner beans do offer more yield in the same space (because they grow
upwards!) and you can experiment with growing the beans over arches,
creating a tunnel of runner beans through which the children can walk.
Carrots. Providing you keep to a few simple rules,
growing carrots is easy. They prefer a cooler climate and can be planted as
soon as the frost is past and the ground is workable.
Potatoes. Though often not considered to be an easy to
grow vegetable, potatoes actually are as long as they are banked up and
watered frequently. You can grow potatoes in containers, which means they
don't take up much space for a decent crop.
Spinach. The best type of spinach to go for is spinach
beet (which is not really a 'true' spinach at all) as it is less likely to
bolt. Spinach prefers cooler climates so is ideal planted in early spring or
autumn (check the variety on the seed packet), and like chard, leaves can be
picked off and used and the plant will just keep on growing.
Onions. Your best bet is to plant onion sets (miniature
onions) rather than onion seeds to begin with. They are easy for younger
children to handle and need almost no maintenance apart from initial
weeding. Plant radishes together with the onions to mark out the rows, as
they sprout faster. Onions like to be planted early on in the season, but
there are also varieties which can be planted in late summer or early autumn
for a winter or spring crop.
Beets. Like spinach, kids either love it or hate it, but
it is one of the easiest vegetables to grow. It can be planted as soon as
the frost is over and just requires damp ground to germinate.
The above list are easy to grow vegetables because they can be
planted directly in the ground and don't require transplanting. They are also
not too fussy about the soil or climate and don't need too much maintenance.
In warm climates it is also easy to grow vegetables directly
outdoors which in cooler climates may benefit from being started off indoors or
in a greenhouse and then being transplanted later on when the weather has warmed
up a bit. These are:
Tomatoes. Tomatoes are easy to grow as long as the leaves
do not get too wet. They need staking (usually with bamboo canes) or can be
grown upside down! In cooler, wetter climates they do better indoors or in
greenhouses but can be successful if planted along a south-facing wall and
given some protecting in the form of a tomato frame. Choose cherry tomatoes
as these are sweeter.
Cucumbers. Cucumbers love climbing, so need some form of
frame to grow along or can be planted by a fence - like tomatoes, they can
also be grown upside down! In cooler climates, they do best indoors or in
the greenhouse.
Pumpkins. Pumpkins are a must for children! Pumpkins love
hot summers and are well worth growing just for their sheer interest. The
plants need lots of space and trailing kinds will grow along fences or
trellis. Once established, they require little maintenance apart from plenty
of water.
