Posts Tagged ‘Gardening’

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Garden Patch for Kids

Monday, March 16th, 2015

garden-patch-for-kidsWhy not make a fun garden patch for kids? Your children can enjoy playing in the dirt and can watch the plants grow. Here is how your child can design his or her own garden patch.

Designing a Garden Patch for Kids

  • Find a spot in your backyard where you can place a garden patch. A sunny spot will work better than a shady one.
  • With a large shovel, dig a hole about a foot deep, removing any bad soil and replacing it with good soil. If the soil is good already, then just fluff it up with the shovel.
  • You can buy some fencing at a dollar store or make your own by hot gluing large popsicle sticks together in the shape of a fence. Stab them into the soil.

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  • Choose some plants from a local nursery, and set them on top of the area, re-arranging the plants until the tall ones are in the back and the shorter ones in front.

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  • Now dig a hole for each plant, take the plant out of the container, and place the plant into the soil. Pat the dirt around it like a nice comfy blanket.
  • Water your garden. Give it a long drink with a gentle spray, either with a hose or with a watering can
  • Enjoy your garden.

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Posted in Fun Spring Activities | 7 Comments »

Tips for Gardening with Kids

Monday, March 9th, 2015

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Gardening with kids is a joy! The kids can see a plant growing up out of the soil into a large and beautiful plant. Getting fresh air and sunshine is good for children, and they are more likely to eat fruits and vegetables when they grow their own plants.

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First you will want to find a plot of ground for your child to plant his or her garden. There was a small square plot at the front of our house, and my son chose that space for a small tomato plant. If you look at the picture above, last year his plant grew to ten times the size in just three months! The tomatoes tasted wonderful. He wanted to sell them, but they were just too good. So into his mouth they popped.

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This year my son wanted to plant strawberry plants. I told him that a contained area is great for strawberry plants, which tend to take over the whole yard like a weed. The strawberry plants thrived as well.

Tips for Gardening with Kids

  • Make sure that the soil is rich in the area where your child is planting. You will want to dig out the bad soil and replace it with good gardening soil.
  • Don’t forget to water your plants. You might want to place a note on the refrigerator to remind your child to water the plants.
  • Let the child choose the plants. This way they will be more interested in the growth and produce of their plants.
  • Choose plants that are native to your area. You are more likely to succeed if the plants are indigenous to the area. You can find those in local nurseries rather than big chain stores that ship their plants from outside your state.

Have a wonderful time gardening with your kids!

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Posted in Fun Spring Activities | 13 Comments »

Growing Indoor Grass

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

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One activity that my young children enjoyed was growing indoor grass in a plastic cup. I saw the idea in lots of different places, including Family Fun Magazine. Even though we did this activity in the spring, it might be fun to grow the grass in the winter as a centerpiece for my dining room table, just to see some greenery at that time of year. If I grew it in a shallow container, I could make a scene, depending on what I added to the grass. Candles, plastic animals, army men… the list is endless as to the scenes you could create!

Older children could create scenes from different countries or habitats, or a battle from the Civil War. Or they could design a scene on the grass that would make someone feel like they were in a spa, with different levels of candles stabbed into the dirt.

If you want to make the fun grass heads in the picture above, start with some clear plastic cups. The children decorated these according to their personalities. I decided to hot glue their decorations onto the cup to make sure they didn’t fall off, but your kids could use white school glue. Each child shoveled soil into the cup, then sprinkled grass seed. They sprayed the seeds with a spray bottle of water. We placed the cups on a table next to a sunny window.

Grass grows fairly quickly, so we didn’t have to wait very long. Soon the grass was tall enough to decorate the “hair,” so to speak. We put hair clips into the grass heads, and they looked really silly. This is a perfect activity for young children.

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Posted in Early Childhood, Fun Spring Activities | 2 Comments »

My First Garden (at Boarding School)

Friday, May 21st, 2010

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My science teacher at boarding school was super cool. Besides having a live snake in his classroom, he gave each of us a plot of garden for our own, sectioned off by rope. During the first semester, we planted wheat. After it was ripe for harvest, we removed all the grains by hand, and we ground it and made flour. We baked bread out of it, and it was delicious, hot from the oven.

The second semester, we could plant whatever vegetables we wanted. That was when I grew to love the smell of the soil. (That is, before we were required to put old cow manure into it. It never smelled the same after that.) I made furrows the correct spacing apart, and I planted the seeds and covered them with soil. I ended up growing carrots, radishes, lettuce, cucumbers, beans, and peas.

Every day, I would run out to my garden, look at the progress of each tiny plant, and pull any weeds that were growing. When it was time to harvest the fastest-growing plants, we had a huge, absolutely enormous basket of radishes and carrots. The carrots were so sweet and huge, with beautiful green tops still attached. I felt like Bugs Bunny as I chomped away. I eventually got sick of burping radishes, and the rest of the radishes spoiled, even though we let everyone in our dorm eat as much as they wanted.

The harvest from the other vegetables was eaten by us little by little as it grew, so we never had any leftovers of those. I enjoyed opening the small gate and swinging it shut behind me. I would walk down the rows of plants, because I had left enough space to walk around each row. As I saw the vegetables growing, I would pluck them off like Peter Rabbit. What a clever way to get children to eat more vegetables!

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