Kid's Garden.

For the past few years, my kids have been in charge of their own garden. It is a small space, around 5' x 5', and they are responsible for planting and maintaining it. They are allowed to plant whatever they want, the only rule being that they must eat/try anything that they plant.

This spring Sage was very excited about picking out and buying the seeds for the garden. However, when it actually came to planting the garden her brother did most of the work.

i wasn't very good about getting pictures of the process this year. This photo gives you an idea of the space. Seeds are just starting to sprout in this photo, this was taken in early June.



This is the garden now. It is really filling in and doing great. You can really pack a good amount of veggies in a small space. Just make sure you are amending the soil with lots of compost and natural fertilizers so your plants get the nutrients they need.


On the trellis the kids planted scarlet runners and Purple pole beans. There are also a couple cucumbers climbing up as well. Both kids loves to eat them raw and my girl loves pickles! She'll be helping me to make refrigerator pickles out of them when they are ready. She is very excited about that!

This is a Moon and Stars watermelon. It is an heirloom variety that has a very dark green rind, liberally spotted with bright yellow stars and boasting the occasional larger, moon-shaped blotch of the same color. The foliage also contains these unusual markings. i can't wait to see the design fill in more and the watermelon grows.

Sage wanted a tomato plant. Although neither of my kids will eat fresh tomatoes, Sage loves them fried green. So she had to have her very own tomato plant just for fried green tomatoes.


The kids wanted to plant some Indian Corn. So they planted 8 seeds on the edge of the garden. i'm hoping it is enough to pollinate. They planted Anasazi Flour corn. It's a beautiful Traditional/rare Indian Corn that contains lots of color.

My boy planted zucchini and yellow squash. Both kids love to eat these raw and breaded/fried.

They also planted carrots, potatoes, marigolds and sunflowers. Potatoes are fun to grow, because it is like digging up a treasure at the end of the season. The carrots became home to the blackswallowtail caterpillar and a hornworm was spotted munching on the tomato.

Gardening with your kids encourages their interest in nature and enthusiasm early on in life, and will give them invaluable basic skills and an understanding of how the whole of the eco-system works. Kids learn about nurturing a life and what it takes to keep something alive. They learn about pollination from the bees and butterflies that visit the garden. When kids grow their own food, it helps to encourage healthy eating and teaches them where their food comes from. The garden may only last one season, but the memories will last a lifetime.

Many things grow in the garden that were never sown there. ~Thomas Fuller