One thing that is important to me is that our children learn to appreciate gardening and nature. All kids should learn at some point how to plant a seed, how that seed becomes a plant, and what it takes for that seed to grow. Learning those three ideas will instill in the child an appreciation for where our food supply comes from, how people historically gardened and why, and just might get them hooked on a very worthwhile hobby or profession: horticulture!
It can be as simple as a few seeds in a pot or as elaborate as you can dream. You could even do what we did last Saturday morning and find a spot in the yard to drop in a children’s garden. It doesn’t take much effort to make something for the kids to enjoy, especially when the child is only two years old.
We went out into the backyard and found a spot that wasn’t growing any grass and just had weeds in it. It was caused by some moles that had passed through our yard and were no longer occupying the spot. It’s too late in the season to worry with planting grass there so it made the perfect location to plant a few seeds for the younger generation.
I skimmed the ground clear of all plant material. Thanks to the moles the dirt was very easy to work. The weeds on top skimmed off leaving a nice loose soil underneath. Of course my daughter had her shovel out and got into the event quite eagerly.
Once the surface was skimmed I went around the 3′ x 5′ bed and churned up the soil to the depth of my shovel head. This was surprisingly easy, we have some good dirt back there with very little clay.
Then we had to decide what to plant. When picking seeds for kids to plant it is a good idea to think of their hands and how well they can handle the seeds. The larger seeds can be easier to handle but you can also sprinkle the smaller seeds. It just depends on how dexterous your child is. Sunflower seeds are perfect due to their size. If we were planting vegetables, watermelon and beans would have been great choices for little hands to handle (we planted both of these plants in the vegetable garden several weeks ago). Zinnias are great for sprinkling as are many other types of seeds. We used mostly the seed I collected in the fall since we have a bunch of it. Coneflowers, coreopsis, zinnia, rudbeckia and sunflowers were all planted in her garden. The zinnias and sunflowers are on their way up. The others may never grow or may not show up until next year but that won’t matter since the zinnias and sunflowers are sure things for this season. At her age she won’t realize that some of the seeds didn’t sprout, she’ll just see the colorful flowers that did.
After planting seeds we had to water the garden. She and I both had our own watering cans for the job. Her garden was ready all that was left to do now was wait and watch it grow!
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The picture of her standing tall, belly out with a shovel is priceless. Good job.
Thanks Deb! We’ve always thought she was priceless!
Your little girl is a darling. My grandson will be 2 in August, and even though we live a province away, I hope to introduce him to his own little “plot”, even if it’s just a single seed in a pot. 🙂 Have fun with your little one because, before you know it, she’ll be 29. 😉
What a wonderfull thing to do with the cutie!!
Dave, this is a wonderful posting! Puts a smile on my face to see such a young one interested in nature…
Adorable little girl and what a delightful post…My offspring has no offspring, yet! Maybe someday I will be providing a little spot for a grandchild!
gail
What a cutie! You have a huge backyard.
You have the cutest little daughter. She is just soooo adorable!!!!!!!
I did the very same thing with my children last year. This year they work alongside me planting things and they love it. Allowing children to garden is a wonderful experience that they will carry with them forever.
Hey Bub even a small garden is great for the kids. Anything that gets them started is great. Sis and Ole Hat had little shovels since they were two. We like planting taters also being of Irish ancestry. I favor yukon gold. But this year aside from the taters we planted cabbage and blueberries for a rabbit we rescued. Sunflowers are great, and they are the kansas state flower.
The bad thing is we get to digging and planting and the next thing I know we have a can full of worms and grubs and we are headed to the pond. Not a bad thing really.
Take care!
Gardening with children is dangerous and contagious…
When our son was 4, we made a small vegetable garden for him, only a few square meter. He had ‘Tommy Tumb’ salad in it, a kind a very small pumpkins and so on…
But year after year that vegetable garden grow, and last winter we bought a rather big greenhouse (9 x 3.5 m). My husband, who tought he would never love gardening, is even considering NOT to travel this summer (that was always his most valued hobby), because of the pleasures of that (nowadays large) vegetable garden.