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On a personal note here, my daughter graduated from high school and is ready to leave home for college in two weeks. Have we prepared her for life? Is she ready to fly? We’ve done our best and she’s a great kid. Our roles as her parents are changing – now we’re more advisors (when asked) and providers of unconditional love.
Vegetable gardening with kids can be very rewarding for parents as well as the kids. It just depends on… a lot of things… like how old the kids are, how patient they are, how big an area you have to grow veggies, and if your kids even like veggies!
If the children are quite young or have a real short attention span, it’s best to start with seedlings rather than seeds and keep the growing area on the small side. Show young kids the seed packets so they can get a visual idea of what they want to plant. But don’t buy the seeds (unless they’re fast sprouting), head over to the seedlings and get those.
Prepare the ground where the kids will plant by letting them play in it with small trowels. Be sure to set up some sort of border so they know to upturn the soil "inside the lines." You can amend the soil if necessary.
Allow the kids to dig holes in the ground where the seedlings will go, gently put the seedling in the ground, and carefully cover it up. The next step is to stick some sort of identifying marker in the ground so they knew what the plants are. My children resorted to writing the plant name on popsicle sticks.
Lastly, show them how to water the plants carefully around the base, rather than blasting them full-on with the hose. Explain how the roots under the soil need the water, not the leaves.
Here is a list of favorite kid-friendly vegetables to plant:
- carrots – so fun to dig up later
- potatoes – same as above
- speckled shelling beans – probably need to order from a garden catalog, but oh-so-cool when kids crack open the withered brown shell and see pretty speckled beans
- purple green beans – the unexpected!
- peas
- pumpkins
- cherry tomatoes – so sweet they’ll eat them right off the vines
- sunflowers save the seeds and roast them
For ideas on what to do with the garden bounty, read Kids Cooking From The Garden
Remember, this is vegetable gardening with kids. The kids should be active participants, and the garden doesn’t need to be perfect.
