A garden is a wonderful place for a child to experience the natural world and learn how things grow. It is a place of wonder and surprise that excites the imagination as it teaches valuable lessons about the environment, responsibility, and discipline. With a little planning and effort-and a little help from you-your child can create his or her own garden world to enjoy all summer long.
Creating a Child’s Garden
Give your child his or her own special space: Rope off a corner of the family garden, prepare a separate plot, or set up a rain-barrel planter. Just be sure to place the garden where it will get plenty of sun, at least 4-6 hours per day. Help your child create a simple plan, using kid-friendly plants, such as large colorful flowers, tasty vegetables, and interesting plants that grow quickly. Great beginner plants include morning glories, zinnias, sunflowers, sugar snap peas, pumpkins, corn and tomatoes.
While buying pre-finished plants will the job easier, consider starting the garden from seed. Winter is the perfect time for planning the garden and for selecting and planting the seeds.
In early spring, help your child prepare the garden bed. Children will appreciate the process if they understand a very basic concept: The soil is the seedling’s lunch box. This is where the plant will get all the food, water and nutrients it needs for proper growth. Preparing the soil will teach your child an important lesson in the rewards of hard work.
Keep it Fun!
The Potato Volcano is a great gardening and recycling project to try. Or, if your child likes private hideaways, you can help him or her create a pole-bean teepee or a sunflower clubhouse. Whatever project your child chooses, be sure to keep things fun. Let gardening open a whole new world for your child-one filled with earthworms and flowers, sunshine and showers!
