Gardening with Children
August is a great month for planting a fall and winter garden with your family.
by Kia Armstrong and Patty McManus, Nash’s Organic Produce
Originally published in Peninsula Families Today, an advertising supplement produced by Peninsula Daily News and Sequim Gazette.
Our unique microclimate on the North Olympic Peninsula allows for the harvest of fresh greens and roots all fall long and for most of the winter, extending access to fresh food for the family, providing a venue for fun outdoor lessons and inspiring a sense of wonder for nature.
Greens, like kale, collards, baby bok choi, arugula, mizuna, spinach, parsley and cilantro, as well as root veggies, like carrots, beets, parsnips and sunchokes can grow well outside a greenhouse if you get seedlings and transplants in the ground now, so that they have time to get established before the weather shifts.
Now is also a great time to think about what parts of your garden you might want to “put to bed” under a blanket of cover crop so the soil can rest. Cover crops of rye, vetch or fava beans help reduce erosion during the rainy months, while fixing nitrogen to the soil as they grow, and stifling weeds. They can be tilled under come spring, to add organic matter to your soil as you prepare for spring planting.
Your children can participate in all these activities! Engaging them in the garden helps them learn about where their food actually comes from, encourages them to eat what they have planted, creates a feeling of wonder and magic as they see the plants emerge from the soil, and builds self-esteem as they help put food on the family’s table.
Tips for Gardening with Children
- Don’t get too attached to anything in particular. Assume that your kids will, at some point, step on, “weed,” or otherwise destroy something you have planted. Although it’s important to try and teach proper care and respect for the living plants and soil, kids are kids. If you want the garden to be fun place for exploration and learning, be flexible and patient about how they participate.
- Stay one step ahead, so they always have somewhere to “help.” Kia’s son Spencer has a special area that moves around as the garden progresses. He gets to be a rototiller with his toy tractors and dig random holes and do whatever he wants to a bed while it’s being prepped, but once it’s finally planted and mulched, he’s not allowed to dig there anymore. However, Mom and Dad always make sure there is another spot in the garden ready for him to dig up so he can still be fully engaged at his two-year-old level.
- Provide some simple tools for your children, such as kids’ scissors, trowels, harvest buckets, sprinklers, small shovels and mini-wheelbarrows. Teach them how to use the tools, and how to care them, too, by putting them away or cleaning them as needed. The kids’ scissors are perfect for safely cutting lettuce leaves and herbs.
- Fill up a 5-gallon bucket with water and give your children small watering cans to dunk and water the plants. This will also help keep them cool on hot days.
- As you pull weeds, let your children load them into a wagon and carry them to the compost pile.
- Set a good example for health. Munch your way through fresh greens, peas and herbs in the garden while you’re working. Demonstrate that eating fresh greens is crunchy and delicious! Even if they don’t take to it right away, make a simple rule that if they want to help pick it, they should also eat it, even if it’s just one little bite. This will help broaden your child’s palette and willingness to try new foods.
- Slow down in the garden. Back off the to-do list once in a while, and just sit and observe the garden with your child. Watching bees and other pollinators, observing birds and slugs, and tracking changes to plants as they grow connects children to the natural wonders of nature and growing food.
- Share the wealth! Your child will get immense pride sharing what they have helped grow with friends and neighbors. It also helps build a supportive network that positively reinforces the importance of growing your own food and taking responsibility for your health.
Let Your Children Help in the Kitchen
Cook simple meals together to extend the lessons from the garden right into the kitchen and on to your family’s plates. Giving kids a chance to actively participate in meal preparation sets the foundation for valuable life-long skills.
- Kids can use their scissors to trim herbs from the garden or a container on the deck and then snip them into soups or stir-fries.
- Harvest fresh salad greens with them right into the salad spinner, and then let them help rinse and spin-spin-spin the salad.
- Even butter knives are “sharp” enough to cut asparagus, zucchini or string beans, so give your kid some tools and their own cutting board and let them go to town.
- Enjoy your meal as a family, without electronic distractions. Be sure to comment on how good the food tastes and thank your helpers!