KIDS + GARDENS = AMAZING COMBO | PART ONE

We're going to cover a lot of ~ground~ in these posts.  Make sure you hit up all 3 parts!:

• Why kids + gardens are amazing (Part 1)
• Good plant choices for littles (Part 1)
• Basic how-tos of gardening (Part 2)
• Tips and tricks for including the kids at any age (Part 2)
• BONUS: Mini STEM lessons you can incorporate (Part 3)
  
  

1. Reasons Why Gardening with Kids is SO GOOD.
   
   ​​- Planting veggies with your kids gives them a vested interest in naturally healthy foods.  Many kids who wouldn't dream of touching a cherry tomato on their own terms will happily grab one to munch from a plant they've grown themselves.
   - Kids will often expand their own palate through curiosity.  My little one was eating cilantro by the handful the other day.  He didn't start there, but he's been sampling things from our backyard for years now and he's a fairly broad eater.    
   - Like any chore, having responsibility (watering, helping dig the hole, etc) builds confidence and character. 
   - There are LOTS of natural STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) lessons to be found in the garden (See Part 3).  Most of them happen with little or no planning (yay!).  
   
   
2. Good Kid-Friendly Plant Choices (especially for beginners) 
   
   Veggies ​
   Veggies are my FAVORITE things to plant.  I grew up largely in suburbia, and the fact that I can grow my own food is MAGICAL to me.  (I can hear all of the rural farm kids are snickering...I'm ok with it..HA).  It took our small-town farmer's market in college to open my eyes to the joys of growing food.  There is an amazing variety of plants out there that you've never heard of if you get your produce exclusively from the grocery store.  
   
   Good choices: I am a big believer in planting things that kids can go out and grab from the garden and eat on the spot.  Here are some of our favorite varieties...
   Tomatoes (need full sun - 8+ hours a day - plant in early May):
   - I LOVE the "Sweet 100" or "Sweet Million" variety of grape/cherry tomatoes.  They taste amazing, grow like crazy, and produce lots of tomatoes.  (Good for when my little goes on a picking frenzy and pulls every single one off before I notice him).  These are fairly easy to find at garden centers like Suburban Lawn and Garden or Family Tree.  
   - We like big ("slicer") varieties of tomatoes too, but they can be a bit more fickle.  If you're starting out, I would strongly suggest a grape/cherry variety because they're more forgiving.  Sometimes you wait for weeks and weeks for one big tomato to be ready, only to find a bug made it home right before it was ready. Plants with small tomatoes produce a larger number of tomatoes, so you have better odds.  
   
   Peppers (need full sun - 8+ hours a day - plant in early May): 
   - We really enjoy the lunchbox varieties of small peppers.  These are sweet peppers that grow a few inches long and are easy to pick and eat for little ones.  These are also easy to find in garden centers and come in a variety of fun colors. 
   - Bell peppers are also a fickle crop in Kansas City.  They are hard to grow for beginners, and never seem to turn out like the ones in the store.  If you're a bell pepper expert, send me your tips!    
   
   Cucumbers (need full sun - 8+ hours a day - plant in early May):
   - Cucumbers are happiest when they have lots of space to climb.  They are a vine that can grow wonderfully if given the space.  
   - We don't have a specific favorite variety, but we tend to look for ones labelled "burpless" and "spineless." Some cucumbers grow with little spines on them (weird!).  I brush them off with a towel, but they can be off-putting to little hands. 
   - The birds and the bees - You can help pollinate your own cucumbers!  After a vine gets big enough, it starts to produce flowers.  There are two kinds: male and female.  If you peek under the yellow flowers, the female flowers are attached to a tiny baby cucumber.  The male flowers are not.  If you take a Q-tip in the morning or early afternoon (before the flowers close up), you can transfer pollen from the males to the females by gently rubbing the Q-tip on the yellow, pollen-covered, dusty looking stigma from the male and then gently onto the same part of the female.  This is especially great for brand new gardens where the local pollinators (bees and other bugs) haven't established a presence.  What a great introduction to that big talk you're going to have in a few years!  
   
   Radishes (need full sun or part shade - 6+ hours a day - plant in early April or once things start to cool down again in late September): 
   - Ok, I know that radishes aren't the most popular little veggie because they're kind of peppery.  Hear me out though...radishes can go from seed to plate in less than a month.  For kids, waiting can be the hardest part of gardening, so this can be an awesome plant to use to show the progression of how things grow from seed. 
   - If eating whole radishes isn't your thing, take a page from the French.  They eat them for breakfast sliced thin on a piece of good bread with butter and salt.  
   - Unless your little is a spice-lover, read the back of seed packs to find one that is described as "mild" or "sweet." 
   - These are better planted in the cooler months.  Spring and Fall are your best bets.  You can only find these in seed packs.  They generally aren't available as seedlings (small plants already starting to grow). 
   
   Sugar Snap Peas (need full sun - 8+ hours a day - plant in mid-April):
   - These are another pick-and-eat favorite of ours.  They are great to eat whole.  My kids also refer to them as "treasure peas" because you can split the pod open and find the sweet "treasure" inside.  We love that added little bonus.
   - These plants vine.  Plant them in a sunny spot along a fence, or with something they can climb up (like a trellis).  
   - Some amazing pinteresty parents build tee-peas where the peas climb a tee-pee frame and you have an instant spring playhouse.  So fun! 
   - Make sure you get "sugar snap peas" instead of "sweet peas" if you want to be able to eat the pod (easier for very little children).  The sweet peas are also delightful, but the pods are tough and fibrous and not good to eat. 
   
   Sweet Potatoes (need full sun - 8+ hours a day - plant in mid May):
   -These are good if you have an in-ground garden or a raised bed.  They're fairly easy to grow, but take a bit of preparation and space.  They don't seem to show up at garden centers until May. 
   -The BIG bonus of these is that kids LOVE digging them up in the fall.  It's a real-life treasure hunt.  Do a bit of reading on these babies, and got for it if you have the space!  We've basically planted them and forgotten about them, only to dig up 40lbs of sweet potatoes in the fall from a 3x3ft raised bed.  Yay!
   
   Other Veggies
   Of course, there are TONS of other amazing veggies to discover.  Each has their own preferred amount of sun and time of year to be planted.  I TOTALLY encourage exploration, but make sure you read up on how to treat each plant well.  Through lots of trial and error (mostly error), I've finally started paying full attention to those little plastic plant markers that they stick in the pot with the plant.      
   
   Herbs
   We LOVE herbs.  This is the original sensory play!  Even if you don't use them much to cook, they are SO wonderful for kids!  My little ones love to go out and pick the leaves and smell them.  They even eat some of their favorites straight off the plant from time to time.   
   -ALSO, these are great if you don't have dedicated yard space for a garden.  Herbs grow really well in pots, so these are a great choice if there's no place for a garden. 
   FYI:
   Annual: means you plant it at the beginning of the season and it dies at the end of the season
   Perennial: means it comes back perennially.  Given good care, this plant will re-grow every year.  Many herbs are perennials. 
   
   Favorite varieties (Check the tags...some need full sun but others are ok with some shade):
   - Basil (annual) - SO easy to find a cooking use for this.  Our favorite thing to do is to make a dinner of crusty bread, fresh mozzarella, good balsamic (it's sweeter than they cheaper versions), olive oil, fresh tomatoes, fresh basil, salt and pepper (a.k.a. caprese salad).  It is, hands down, one of our kids' top five favorite meals. 
   - Mint (SUCH a perennial) - This smells SO good, and you can make your own tea and a variety of other drinks with it.  It grows PROLIFICALLY, so it's very easy to care for.  That's also it's downside.  It will absolutely take over whatever area you plant it in.  You've been warned.  My strong recommendation is that you plant this in a pot and not in your yard.  Also, be on the lookout for creative varieties.  You can find lemon mint, orange mint, pineapple mint, and even chocolate mint.  These are really fun for kids!    
   - Stevia (annual) - Our kids call this "sugar leaf."  Yes, it's the same stevia that is in your favorite low-sugar treats, and yes, you can make your own stevia drops with it (look online for recipes).  My kids love eating this and sharing it with their friends.  It is SUPER sweet and has the same mild aftertaste that stevia sweeteners have. 
   - Lavender (perennial) - This one just smells nice.  You can harvest the pretty purple flowers for a variety of baking/home/bath product uses.  It is fairly easy to grow. 
   - Any other herbs! - Seriously, most any herb you find will be a winner.  Go to a quality nursery (not a big box, though those are fine) for the biggest variety and let your little pick their favorites!
   
   Flowers
   There is SUCH a variety of flowers that I'm not going to go into many specifics of which to choose.  Our basic method is to walk into a garden center and pick the ones that look pretty.  You yard is unique, so pick varieties that fit your sun/shade setup. 
   - If you are going to plant in your yard (and not in a pot) and know that you have lots of bunnies around, consider covering the plant with a bit of chicken wire for a while.  I have lost MANY plants to the giant population of bunnies in our neighborhood. 
   - These are a wonderful "instant gratification" choice for kids.  Often they flowers at a garden center are already in bloom, so there's no waiting to enjoy a pretty display. 
   -If you're concerned about ease of caring for your flowers, Go to a nursery (not a big box) and find a worker who will give you recommendations.  I have had great luck with wonderful advice-givers at many of the local KC nurseries.  
   - One final note: a few of the flowers found at local nurseries are beautiful but toxic (like foxglove).  Do a quick internet search on your chosen varieties if your little one is in the stage where they might pick and eat the flowers.  
   
   COMING UP IN PART 2 and PART 3
3. Basic how-tos of gardening (Part 2)
4. Tips and tricks for including the kids at any age (Part 2)
5. BONUS: Mini STEM lessons you can incorporate (Part 3)

That's all for Part 1!  Stay tuned for Part 2 and Part 3 coming soon!