Develop a love of gardening early! The benefits are nearly as endless as the ways to get creative, learn and “grow” with kids. No matter the season, there is always something you can plant and many ways to make the process fun for kids. With our suggestions, help them discover the benefits of growing a vegetable garden, learn how to plant certain varieties that will benefit the environment and much more. Dig in!
Start simple and grow from there
- Grow plants that require low maintenance, like cacti.
- Grow plants that are pretty, like coleus.
- Multiply plants by taking cuttings, rooting and then planting them, like ivy, coleus or geranium.
- Start flowers and vegetables from seeds you collect or buy, such as: grapefruit or avocado, marigolds or sunflowers, beans or peas, crowns like pineapple or eyes like potatoes.
- Force branches to bloom in winter.
- Start bulbs indoors for early flowers like special varieties of tulip, hyacinth, or daffodil.
- Grow a seed, like sunflower, from planting to harvesting. Plant, grow, harvest, dry, roast and eat!
- Plant a butterfly garden, or bird-friendly garden.
- Plan activities around bugs and worms in the garden!
What makes soil?
Here is a fun activity to learn about soil. Take a large jar, at least a quart, and add some soil so that the bottom is completely covered with no glass showing. Fill the jar with water and let it sit for a day. What you will discover is all the different layers which make up soil, sorted out by weight.
- Sand
- Silt
- Clay
- Organic matter: the lightest floats on top!
How do I start a garden?
Answer these questions first to determine what kind of garden you would like to start:
- Why do you want a garden?
- Is it for flowers?
- Do you want perennials? Plants that bloom once in a growing season, and come back each year.
- Do you want annuals? They bloom continuously but die with the frosts of fall and winter.
- Is it for food? Vegetables can help with your family’s food bill, and can taste better and fresher than store-bought! You can grow a "pizza garden" with all of your favorite toppings, a "taco garden" for adding to your tacos or nachos, or an "eggroll garden" for stuffing in your homemade eggrolls.
Where can you garden?
Depending on what type of garden you want to grow, there are a large amount of possibilities for you in choosing a location. Maybe there is a corner of your family's garden, or grandparent's garden, or space in your yard? Maybe there is a community garden? Start small so that no one is overwhelmed. You can always increase the garden size!
Who can help you?
- Parents and grandparents, neighbors and friends
- Programs such as Junior Master Gardeners, classes and clubs, such as Minnesota 4-H Clubs. You’ll learn how to first prepare the soil for planting, removing grass and weeds and their roots.
- Get the whole family involved and watch your garden grow together each year!
What do you need?
- Your garden space
- A set of kid-friendly, smaller-sized garden tools
- Plants or seeds to start out your garden
When do I garden?
Gardening can happen all year long! Even for those of us in cold climates.
Winter:
- Take care of houseplants and indoor gardens
- Plant and care for a terrarium
- Plan and dream about next year
- Look back over our successes and even challenges of the past year
- We learn from what doesn't work!
- Look through garden books, magazines, and seed catalogs for ideas
- Make garden art, fences, supports, stepping stones, etc.
Late winter and spring:
- Start seeds
- Plot your vegetable garden
Spring:
- Transplant perennials that bloomed in fall
- Plant cool season vegetables
- Plant tender bulbs like dahlias, cannas and gladiolus
Summer:
- Take care of the garden, watering, weeding and harvesting
- Look for insects
- Visit other gardens for ideas
- Harvest vegetables
Late summer and into fall:
- Continue harvesting
- Collect seeds from heirloom and favorite plants for next year
- Take cuttings for rooting new plants
- Dig up roots of plants to winter them
- Dig up plants to winter them, as geraniums and coleus
- Dig up tender bulbs like cannas and gladiolus to winter them for next year
- Plant bulbs for next spring's flowers
- Transplant spring-flowering plants for next year
Now that you have the right tools and direction, go out and start gardening! For more garden activity ideas check out KidsGardening.org. As always, the experts at Gertens are there for you when you have questions.
