Gardening with Kids: An Easy Guide

Gardening with Kids: An Easy Guide by Julia Kelly (Midwest Mom)

Gardening with your children is an easy thing to do. At our house, we involve our kids in as many aspects of tending our family garden as we can. Gardening together provides us with high-quality time together outdoors and away from the television (a good thing in my book!) It gives me the opportunity to teach them about plant ecology and bugs and the environment. And honestly, my kids are great helpers.

Spring Planting

Spring in the Midwest is for planting. It is the most work-intensive time in the garden, and the dirtiest. But the work you and your kids put in now to plant the garden right will make the late-Spring and Summer a lot more carefree.

If you are planting seeds, keep your children’s needs in mind. Larger seeds are easy for small hands to manipulate. Seeds like beans and peas can be soaked ahead of time in a glass filled with moist paper toweling. Once softened, they will germinate more quickly. Or, you can leave them in the glass and watch them sprout. What a great way to teach your children how a seed works its magic.

Smaller seeds are great for scattering and gently raking into the soil. Lettuce seeds or flowers like Cosmos are easily planted this way. Both make a big impact once they germinate, too.
If you have a flower garden, try letting your children plant sunflowers. Again, the larger seeds are easy for little ones to handle, and they will be amazed at how tall they grow. Your family can sign up with children across the country to participate in the Great Sunflower Project. The Great Sunflower Project encourages families to grow sunflowers at home to help chart the health of the bee population. Our family is participating. Yours can, too.

If you prefer to plant seedlings from your local garden center, focus on varieties that grow well in your area. Let your children help choose what colors of flowers to plant. Talk about what kind of vegetables your family likes to eat or would like to try. Make a list and play “veggie hide-and-seek”, letting your children search the garden tags for the right plants.

Know the dimensions of your garden space and pay attention to the space, light, soil and watering needs of the plants you purchase. If your child is a reader, have him read the planting instructions and measure the size of the hole with a ruler. Be sure to dig an adequately large hole for each plant. Fill the hole with water, and once it has drained completely, place the seedling inside, backfilling to make the base of the plant even with the surrounding soil level. Press the earth gently and water again.

Water Games

Kids love to help with the watering. When the weather gets hot, they can’t get enough of it. But the key to successful gardening is to water correctly. So, my first rule of watering may be: make it fun. But my next rule is: do it right.

Spring rains can sometimes be enough to get the garden going. But when the weather is dry, it is a good idea to keep the garden evenly moist until seedlings emerge. I let my children take turns with the hose. There are three of them, so once everyone has had a turn, our garden is well-watered. Using a hose with a spray-selector works well; I set the nozzle to ‘shower’ or the setting that most closely resembles raindrops, so seeds and seedlings won’t be dislodged or broken.

Once the weather gets warmer, our watering turns to water-play. I like to fill 5-gallon buckets and arm my crew with plastic watering cans. They water each plant individually and watch as the ground eagerly soaks up the water. From time to time, they wind up watering themselves as much as the plants. But it is cooling play that is fun for us all.

We like to water in the early evening, to give our plants a chance to soak in the moisture when the night turns cool. But watering in the morning works just as well. The key is to be consistent.

Measuring Progress

A great way to help your children maintain their enthusiasm for the family garden is to regularly measure its progress.

We keep a calendar of our planting dates and count the days until we can expect to harvest. Other families may enjoy keeping a garden journal with measurements, drawings, and photos. What a great project for homeschoolers!

We stop and check our garden a few times a week and mark the way the plants are changing. We encourage the children to find the creatures that live in the garden, from butterflies to grasshoppers to bees (and even, unfortunately for last year’s crop of peas, the occasional bunny. This year we have a better fence.) At the end of the season, the flowers and produce are the best reward we could ask for.

Our home garden is a place for us to teach our kids about life, about caring for something other than themselves, about the value of work and enjoying the fruits of one’s labor. It is a natural classroom that brings our family closer together.
I hope you will try planting a garden with your own children, even if you just begin with a plant or two. You just might find, as we have, that you love it.

- Midwest Mom

Julia Kelly (aka Midwest Mom) lives in Central Illinois and is the mother of three, wife of one. As the chief cook and bottle-washer for her brood, she has a thing or two to say about living life with a healthy sense of perspective and a good sense of humor. You can read more of her writing on her blog, Midwest Moms.

Pests of all kinds

Spring comes. All of us peek out the windows precariously wondering if the last freeze has really passed. Slowly, but ever so surely, we gain boldness and go out into the foliage, surmising the situation in the garden and lawn. As courage fills our veins, we begin tilling the soil and eagerly awaiting warmer day after warmer day.

And then it comes. The day when you realize that you are not the only kind of creature that comes out with the thaw. As a new home owner for the first time in Ann Arbor, I'm discovering what critters are abounding in my lawn. I thought clearing the snow from the long driveway was a chore -- ha! What I didn't even know...

We've got the signs of a mole in our lawn. We're not sure if he's still in the area. We just know that all the signs are there. Tunnels close to the surface of the lawn, criss-crossing all about and piles of soil that look like small volcano cones. When my husband and I went to Home Depot to ask about this yesterday, every one of the employees who gave us advice started with some horror story about how destructive moles are and how hard they are to get rid of. Great. By the time we left, we had learned it would take about $100 worth of grub killer for the entire lawn and another $20 in various poisons to start dealing with the problem. All that in the hopes that he would die deep, deep under our lawn, along with his offspring and kin and we wouldn't have to resort to more medieval methods of eliminating him.

Then I find out that other rodents can use the tunnels. Things like gophers and voles and rats. Lovely. We live next to protected woodlands. Just a couple weeks ago I watched a large cat (or a domestic cat-bobcat crossbreed?) stalk, catch, and kill some fairly large furry rodent in my back porch flower beds. This wasn't a mouse or a hamster; this was grown squirrel sized, but something other than a squirrel. I'm thinking that there's a good chance that something's using those tunnels even if the mole is gone.

As if this weren't enough to deal with, I discovered something worse. Something that made me realize, those rodents may come in the house. (Not the mole, of course, because he's not a rodent, but other rodents may come in.) My 15-year-old daughter is attracting pests to her bedroom. Not intentionally, of course. But she's doing it, nonetheless. She's got this habit of wanting to eat in her room, and it's usually something containing sugar. through the years we've gone through various stages of curbing this behavior: we went from finding open candy and food in her bed and closet and waste bin...to finding piles of candy wrappers in the closet and under the bed...to finding piles of candy wrappers under her pillow once her bed is made...to finding piles of candy wrappers in her waste bin. But on Saturday afternoon, after she had left the house for an overnight visit with her father, my husband and I found her lunch bag from Friday under her bed and about 10 billion zillion ants pigging out on her untouched peanut butter and jelly sandwich that I had lovingly made the morning before. I think these ants had abandoned their normal behavior of carrying food back to the colony and just decided to go crazy gorging themselves. Some of them were already passed out from overeating.

How shall we deal with the situation? What would YOU do? I grew up in Florida, so I learned my lesson very early on in life that you shouldn't never, ever, ever leave food (or crumbs, or wrappers, or any possible hint that something containing carbohydrates) in your bedroom. If you did, get ready to have an army or ants march across your face when you're asleep in your bed at night. Or a couple of 3" roaches. But my daughter has had the luxury of not dealing directly with consequences like these since we live in a place where the pests are scarce for most of the year. Until now.

Do you think showing her the mole tunnels might scare her? How about when she sees the first real live rodent...in her bedroom?

Does A Vegetable Garden Really Save You Money?

The money I'm spending for my vegetable garden is reaching astronomical proportions. Or is it? Will I recover the costs once the harvests start rolling in?

The seeds I ordered from Seeds of Change tacked on over $26.00 in shipping charges alone. Because many of their seeds are not available locally, I had no choice but to order them; plus Seeds of Change does important work in preserving our heirloom seeds, and our food supply, and I feel it's important to support the company. Here's my latest order:

1 BULK, LETTUCE, NEW RED FIRE - 1,000 SEEDS: 4.05
1 PACK, SQUASH, LADY GODIVA: 3.29
Shipping: 4.75
Total: 12.09

1 PACK, CALENDULA, RED SPLASH 2.59
1 PACK, CARROT, SCARLET NANTES 2.79
1 PACK, BROCCOLI, EARLY GREEN 2.59
1 PACK, CUCUMBER, SMART PICKLE 2.79
1 PACK, CUCUMBER, SWEET MARKETMORE 2.79
1 PACK, LETTUCE, SUCRINE 2.59
1 PACK, LETTUCE, LOOSELEAF, SIMPSON BLACK-SEEDED 2.59
1 PACK, SPINACH, AMERICA 2.59
1 PACK, SUMMER SQUASH, BLACK BEAUTY ZUCCHINI 2.59
1 PACK, PUMPKIN, HOWDEN 2.79
1 PACK, TOMATO, CHERRY, CHADWICK 2.59
1 PACK, TOMATO, PASTE, SAN MARZANO 2.59
1 PACK, CORN, SWEET, TRUE GOLD 2.79
Shipping: 9.14
Total $: 43.81

2 PACK, BEAN, SOYBEAN, EDAMAME SAYAMUSUME 5.58
Shipping: 12.96
Total $: 18.54
Order Recap:
Total Product $: 47.59
Net Product$: 47.59
Sales Tax: 0.00
Shipping: 26.85
Grand Total: 74.44

In addition, I have bought seeds packets at my grocery store:

Bush Sugar Baby Watermelon: $2.85
Watermelon Congo: (Just in case the sugar babies fall through) $2.85
Nasturtium: $1.69
Mesclun: $1.69
Mesclun, Green party mix: $2.19
Microgreens $1.89
Radish Seeds: $2.30
Carrot Seeds: $2.50
Free seeds, from last year include Jack and the Beanstalk, Beefsteak Tomatoes, pumpkins, green beans and more Nasturtiums.

Total: $13.16
So far, the total for seeds is: $$92.40

Soil:
This is a one-time investment, as next year, the compost I've made will eliminate the need to purchase good quality top soil: Total price $75.00

Weed Barrier:
A luxury, yes, but there will be weeks when I will be hundreds of miles away from the garden, so it must remain low-maintenance: $50.00 The label gives it a 10-year guarantee, so I expect to re-use the garden.

This brings my total so far to: $217.40. This figure does not include the stakes used to tie the beans for the fort, fertilizer, and chicken wire and Irish Spring soap that will be used later to deter pests and deer. Most of those items are already in the gargage left over from last year.

Next year, my costs will be lower, as in addition to the soil, many of the seeds bought this year will have left over seeds that I can store in the freezer and re-use next year.

At this point, who knows what the yield will be, but if we look at last year's results from the Get Rich Slowly blog, they showed a $600 profit from crop yield, against a $300 investment in the garden. I can only hope for similar results, and I'll try to count the produce as it leaves the garden, and compare that to the prices at the store. Of course, there are the year-round benefits, as we are still eating the green beans in the freezer harvested from last year's garden.

Still, who's to say what plant will actually make it? Farmers know well that the wrong weather conditions can destroy a crop. Last year's garden only produced two tomatoes for all of my efforts. Chipmunks were the main reason, as well as cool temperatures. This year, I'm moving the tomatoes to a hotter spot, and more chicken wire for the chipmunks.

I've managed to siphon down the work of garden so that the yucky stuff is gone: weed barriers have made weeding nonexistent, and newspapers eliminate the need to dig. But more important than the labor and the cost savings is the taste and convenience. Fresh snow peas, a salad waiting for you outside your door, and, hopefully, a fresh grown tomato, feeds the senses like nothing else.

What will you do with your surplus of veggies?

There are 800 million people who go to bed hungry. While some Moms are forced to choose between utilities and food, the global economic crisis is stressing the supplies of food banks at precisely the moment when the food is needed the most. In 2007, the number of undernourished people in the world increased by 75 million. We can expect that number to rise.

I'm busy spreading the word. Through my newspaper column, my blog, and my badge that's making its way across the blogsphere, I'm trying to get everyone to do what they can to help feed the hungry.

While the recession reverberates through our economy, ultimately reaching our dinner tables,
backyard gardens are a great way to squeeze more nutrition out of our food budgets. At the same time, there are 800 million people who go to bed hungry. While some Moms are forced to choose between utilities and food, the global economic crisis is stressing the supplies of food banks at precisely the moment when the food is needed the most. The solution is simple: Plant a garden, and give what you grow to your local food banks. With gardens, there’s always a surplus of something.

The term Victory Garden has its roots in our effort to give our soldiers nutrients that would ultimately help them win World War I. The government earmarked funds for a national school garden program. A steady supply of vegetables would keep food costs down and save the War Department money. Our great grandmothers created backyard “Victory Gardens” to feed our nation as the Great Depression reverberated across the land. Eleanor Roosevelt even planted a Victory Garden at Pennsylvania Avenue. By 1943, nearly 40 percent of the fresh fruits and vegetables consumed stateside were grown in gardens at schools,parks, rooftops and backyards. Careful preservation allowed us to export our harvests to our allies. I want to join the ranks of my great matron ancestors and help feed the world. Even Michelle Obama finds this an important task.

Today, the average tomato travels 1,500 miles and requires 400 gallons of gas to arrive at your table — this must change too if we are to remain a sustainable planet.

We are Midwest Parents. We live among lush soil that feeds the nation its corn, its tomatoes and its beans. We can help feed the world.

The Burpee Seed company donated their Burpee’s Money Garden, seeds packs.
The bloggers that have spread the word include Shelly at This Eclectic Life, Joyce, Kirsten, Africankelli, Amy at Gift of Green, the Australian goddess mom, Mothergoosemouse and so many more I have yet to meet. Each day the list of bloggers spreading the word grows. My e-mail is filled with notes from gardeners, mostly women, across the world, willing to share those extra zucchinis.

As my inbox swells, I also hope the foodbanks do too. Every six seconds a child dies because he or she is hungry.

While there are many similarities between The Recession and The Depression, one common thread of both crises is the feeling of powerlessness. The Victory Gardens planted during World War I were one practical way families cut their food budget, and shared their crops. Harvesting crops also boosted morale. We only need to read Ruth Krauss’s book The Carrot Seed, one time to feel the victory of the child who learns that “it did come up,” to see how gardening feeds the souls of children. Growing food preserves our world.

Grab this badge, the code is below, to spread the word:

Code for the small badge: [a title="givewhatyougrow by susiejpics, on Flickr" href="http://www.susiej.com/index.php/give-what-you-grow/"][img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3282/3282964326_3525b137da.jpg" alt="givewhatyougrow" width="166" height="161" /][/a]

(Replace these [ ] with these <> to make the button appear.)

All I need now is a cow out back

The beans in my awesome bean fort could win me a place in the county fair... but the real reason I built the fort was so that I could be self-sufficient at the lake, and completely avoid Wal Mart all together.

I have a black berry patch in the woods behind me at the lake, blueberries are a 4o minute drive away, and now the beans in the fort are keeping my table fairly stocked. But of course, a chicken to provide fresh eggs in the morning, and a cow for milk... that would be nice.

Growing your own vegetables is rewarding, but a recent article in the Wall Street Journal revealed that nurseries are seeing an increase in the amount of vegetable plants sold, and a decrease in ornamental and flowering annual sales. The high price of gas, the high price of food are driving many Americans to think about growing their own to keep their food bills down.

In its early days, growing the fort seemed like quite a project, and quite a bit of work. Now that the fort is thriving, and the black plastic is making weeding a nonexistent activity, I do wish I had grown more vegetables now. Because looking back, it doesn't seem like the whole thing was all that hard. The kids want to taste fresh carrots, a watermelon and a pumpkin. Cucumbers, radishes and all of those things do taste so much better fresh from the garden.

I'm already planning next year's fort; it will be bigger and incorporate a few more vegetables. Now, if I could just find a way to get my tomatoes to ripen before the first frost.