February 5th, 2009
A Spring Garden for Kids
Stumble it!
Spring gardening season is not that far off! (Seriously East Coasters, hang on!) Today we are joined by Christy Wilhelmi, who is the driving force behind Gardenerd.com. Christy is an expert organic gardener and she often shares her green insights with us here at Low Impact Living. Today she has some great ideas for how to get your kids jazzed about gardening this spring. What better way to teach them environmental stewardship and have some fun in the process!?
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Encourage kids to do something with their thumbs this spring besides playing Game Boy. Give them the chance to become a green thumb. Spring is a time of renewal and rebirth for people as well as plants. What better way to renew your relationship with nature and your children than to plant a food garden. For those who aren’t already growing some of their own food, you can use your children as an excuse to start now. Show them the way, or learn how to garden together. Here are a few quick veggies that provide nearly instant gratification and are kid-friendly crops to plant:
Radishes – the ultimate instant-gratification vegetable. They sprout in days and can be harvested in a very short time. Perfect for impatient little ones!
Lettuces – not only will you see sprouts emerge quickly (10 days or so) but you’ll be able to harvest the outside leaves in a little over a month from the time they sprout. You’ll have salads through spring and into summer.
Beets – okay , kids might not like beets, but they are really easy to grow, have virtually no pests or diseases, and bring a lot of color to the garden. Their red-veined leaves and stems might actually convince kids that beets are tasty, too.
Arugula – this green is a little more sophisticated in flavor, but much like radishes, it sprouts in days. Your kids may not like it but you will, so tell them that kids can grow grown-up vegetables to share.
Peas – nature’s snack food rarely makes it in from the garden. Peas take longer to germinate, but given a place to climb, they will thrive. Kids will enjoy watching peas reach for the sky, flower and form little tiny pea pods. Practice patience by waiting for the peas to plump up and then pick and eat them right in the garden. These are the things memories are made of!
For great organic seeds, visit Seeds of Change and Abundant Life Seeds.
For a list of other spring vegetables that can be planted soon, visit Christy’s previous post on spring garden planting Low Impact Living.com. And visit www.Gardenerd.com for more tips and tidbits about organic gardening.
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