Gardening with small children

[Patch of Heaven Farm]

My boys 5 and 7 have thier own spots in the garden and I encourage them to handle the plants gently and how to weed around them. They do end up pulling a few of the seedlings but it is no big deal because I have plenty planted in the main garden. Mine love to garden and understand it is important to know how to grow our own food and that is so much better than the store bought veggies and that they are better for us. They get to pick out thier own veggies to plant in thier spots. We decorated a sign and row markers for thier garden and they had a blast doing it. They are so proud of thier veggies and flowers they want to show everyone that comes by thier garden(even the UPS man! lol)! :mow



I bought my kids a shovel,rake,hoe,trowel and hand rake at Wal-mart(under $5 each)! These are the metal type not the plastic so they actually work great! They also got a rolling bucket and gloves. I have seen them in some garden catalouges for kids but those are quite expensive. This is what we got them for Valentines day. Better than a bunch of candy and a stuffed animal huh??

Practice makes perfect! I bet she will have a great time this year! :watering

 

[homesteadmom]

My dd who will be 3 in May, loved to pull the green tomatoes to feed to the chickens last yr & pulled a few other essential plants while ds & I were pulling weeds!!!! So I basically just let her dig in one spot. I am hoping this yr will be better & different for her & no trampling the plants either. When ds#2 was 2 he "helped" me pull weeds, it was my okra plants he was pulling up!!!!!!!

LOL.... but they are so cute doing it!

Yea she would pick them & run to the chicken pens as fast as she could!! In reality I could not help but laugh to myself of course as it was cute.
Ds does get to plant his own raised bed, he prefers the carrots to plant in his every yr. Not sure what else he will plant this yr yet.

 

[Ron]

Gardening with children? I prefer to use compost!

 

[me&thegals]

Where do you think the term "kindergarten" came from?

 

[vfem]

Where do you think the term "kindergarten" came from?

 

[momofdrew]

Gardening with children? I prefer to use compost!

Oh I almost forgot when my grandchildren were little I used to make a bamboo tepee big enough for 2 to sit under and then let them plant beans around it and then they would watch them grow and it makes a cool spot to sit in the shade of the beans and read or color...they loved it...

 

[gudrin]

Thank you for all the replies! I think I will let her have her own little garden this year. I was thinking of having her plant peas, and I'll let her plant a couple of tomato plants that she'll help me start this year. I'll probably give her some marigold plants that we'll start inside as well, just like Mom's garden! (I will have a little fence around my garden to keep bunnies out, and then plant marigolds around it. At least that's the idea this year.) Oh, this is going to be so much fun! Can you tell I'm getting spring fever? She's going to have so much fun digging around this year.

vfem: What day in March? My daughter will turn two on the 14th. If you don't want to say, that's fine too.

Beth

 

[me&thegals]

Something my sister has always wanted to do and that I finally did last year was to make a sunflower fort for the kids. We had a weird leftover triangle of earth, so we bordered it in sunflowers. I planted loofas in the middle, but they never came up, so it was a perfect little fort once the sunflowers got big The kids pruned off some of the leaves for a little entryway. Mine are a little big/old for this, but it would be so much fun for littler kids!

 

[nightshade]

That is a really cool idea!

oooo make sure you get one of those little wheelbarrows that they have at places like Coles hardware. They are perfect size for your little one and they are made really well so they last too. My son who is 5 has had his two years now. It is still in really good shape and he has grown into it nicely. This year he has decided to paint it cause it has gotten very faided and looks pink, which he reminded me pink is for girls when he brought me the can for bright orange paint the other day lol.

 

[ajsgramma]

Hi, I'm new here & could really use some help. My grandson's in 1st grade & I help out at his school.
They're designing a new playground & intend to also have a garden for the students. It will be used in conjunction with different subjects - history, art, science, etc. We also intend to make it handicap accessible.
Has anyone been involved with a project like this before? I could really use some ideas for a starting point.
I've gardened for myself but this is on a whole other level. We're in zone 8 if that helps.
Thanks & (((((HUGS))))), Verna