Spring is upon us and it is a great opportunity to get your kids excited for fresh fruits and vegetables. Starting your own garden, whether it is a window box with herbs and flowers or a larger garden in the yard, can be a wonderful learning experience for the whole family.
Simple gardening tips:
Start small – pick a very sunny area of your yard or deck and plant a couple of plants. Most plants require full sun for most of the day. One tomato plant will give you enough fruit for the whole family!
Try pairing an herb plant with a vegetable plant. For example, plant a basil plant and a tomato plant. How great would it be to have fresh tomato and basil for the summer! You can research recipes together with your kids and have a fun project to do for the summer.
Learn how to care for your plants. A little bit of TLC will reward you with plenty of fresh produce. Look up care instructions online, or go to your local nursery with your kids and have the staff teach you about the plants, or if you have a neighbor who loves to garden ask them for advice. I find that most people who have a passion for gardening love to share information and would be more than happy to help you out! The more the kids know the more excited they will be to start gardening.
Here are some easy gardening ideas:
Try planting pole string beans or vine type sugar snap peas. Very easy to grow, you will need a trellis or be creative and use wooden poles to create a tent structure. Plant 4 to 6 seed around each pole and watch the beans ‘crawl’ up the poles and create a little play area for the kids. You can play and have a healthy snack all at the same time!
Tomatoes are always fun to grow, try planting some cherry, plum, grape or pear shaped tomatoes. They come in a variety of different colors and the smaller fruit is very easy to pick and eat! My personal favorites are the Juliet hybrid and yellow pear tomatoes. Remember you need a very sunny spot for these plants.
Summer squashes are beautiful plants, large leaves, and beautiful orange flowers; there is nothing like a fresh zucchini. I find these plants pretty easy to grow but require a lot of room, they look very small as seedlings, but require 3 to 4 feet of space to grow.
Herb gardens are simple and don’t require a lot of space. You can grow these in window boxes or planters on your porch. A little sun and water and these plants will take off.
