D is for Dirt

You can find all of the posts in this series here.

Have you planted a garden this year? Or, if you don’t have space for a garden, have you planted at least one tomato plant in a container?

I am by no means a “gardener,” but I have had a small raised bed garden for the last five years. This year I’ve planted: {so far}

• snow peas
• nearly 30 tomato plants
• bell peppers
• eggplant
• yellow squash
• zucchini
• herbs: rosemary, peppermint, mint, oregano
• cucumbers
• strawberries
• potatoes
• watermelon

I’m hoping to also plant okra and beans and maybe some pumpkin and a few more herbs. I’ve never had a phenomenal harvest, although we do get a few meals out of the garden each summer. Seems like the garden gets better each year, so maybe with all those tomato plants this year I’ll have a bumper crop!

We are so excited because this year {after ten years} the first peach tree we planted is loaded with fruit. Our apple trees have a good amount of fruit too! And we have blueberries growing! Oh, and grapes! Fruits take time {years} to really start to produce, so plant them NOW.

My children love helping me in the garden. {Well, most of the time. No one really likes to weed!} My daughter Laura especially loves gardening and she has created her own garden space and worked it daily for several years now.

Anyway, gardening is a great way to get your kids learning and having fun all at the same time! Not to mention the life skills they will gain and character they will build by working hard. Of course, you don’t have to have a full fledged garden for your children to learn about gardening. Try sprouting beans or even an avocado seed!

Radish seeds are quick to germinate and make a great learning tool for young children especially whose attention span is shorter.

Also, reading books {check out your local library} about gardening with your children is a great way to peak their interest and teach them about how things grow.

Here are some ideas you can use this year to enjoy gardening with your kids:

1. Purchase kid sized tools {my kids loved these}.
2. Let your child select a packet of seeds to grow at the garden center.
3. Plant blueberry plants together and in a few years you’ll have lots of berries to harvest!
4. Germinate a bean in a baggie.
5. Grow a sunflower.

Of course, there are lots of ways to enjoy the dirt besides planting a garden:

1. Raise a Worm Farm
2. Raise and Ant Farm.
3. Make a turtle or frog habitat.
4. Make mud pies.
5. Learn about composting.

Have fun this summer!