Introducing Kids to the Wonderful World of Gardening!

Pockets of warm weather have sprung up around MetroWest Boston. The spring daffodils and crocuses have popped up out of the soil and starting to bloom as the ground thaws and the sunshine warms the earth. It is time to start thinking about that vegetable garden, and getting the kiddos helping out.

Around here, spring brings not only hope of warm sunshine but also ever-changing plans for our vegetable, fruit, and flower beds. Every year, it’s something slightly different. One year we focused purely on vegetables, finding that we had an overabundance of tomatoes, and not enough peppers. Another year, we planted lots of strawberries and quickly found that small critters came to feast before we could! Each year is full of new learnings.

Getting kids involved in planting is such a wonderful thing. I’ve found it has helped taught my daughter about the importance of nature, food
source, and living things. She loves pulling the worms out of the garden beds, then putting them back in the soil, and talking about how they help with nutrients for growing plants. The excitement she has when she gets to harvest the fruits and veggies is such a great feeling! She has been known to go to the garden to grab healthy snacks, and chow down. All things we encourage!

We also have backyard hens who provide nutrient rich soil for the garden. The activity of seeing what she eats in action from beginning to end is something that I believe will stay with her for life. She helps feed the chickens, sees me muck out the chicken coop, and then in the spring take what has composted and put it in the garden beds to mix in with what we already have. Final stages here are planting, harvesting, and then feasting!