One of the best gifts you can give a child is to garden with them. Most adult gardeners started in the garden with mom, dad or a favorite grandparent. Introducing kids to gardening at a young age leads to a lifetime of healthy eating and loving plants and the environment.
Here are a few tips for introducing kids to gardening:
- Start by showing how much you love gardening and grow gardens around your home. Even if you aren't a great gardener, your child will pick up on your enthusiasm.
- Let your child have a garden, or part of one, to call their own.
- Engage them in garden planning by asking what veggies and flowers they like.
- Relax your standards: Crooked rows and toys, fairies and action figures in the garden are okay. Leave space for just digging and playing.
- Make sure they have some success. You may have to do some weeding, watering and saving of plants on the side, especially with young kids, in order to get a harvest.
- The harvest is the most important part. Make it special. Have a party in the garden serving their beans or cherry tomatoes and decorating the table with their flowers.
For this week's tip:
After removing the winter mulch from your strawberries, weed and fertilizer the rows. This will stimulate plants to fill in quicker, producing more berries this summer.
