I am so excited to introduce you to Carrie of Chockababy! A mom of 3, Carrie still tries her best to find time for the things she loves: gardening, baking, and crafting, to name a few. Carrie blogs mostly about raising a child with food allergies, babies, and parenting over at Chockababy.com.
kids in the garden: a mini veggie garden
We love our vegetable garden. We plant lettuces, tomatoes, peppers, and squash every year. Once we had children, my husband and I have tried to include them in the gardening. I’ve heard it said that if kids know where their food comes from, and actually touch the dirt it’s grown in, they are more likely to make healthy choices as they grow.
The only problem is, my son likes to play in the garden. Run his trucks, scoop dirt in the diggers, and burrow holes in the dirt. The plants become casualties and our homegrown vegetables never make it to the table. (Editor’s note: I think it’s a boy thing! Mine do it, too!)
But we came up with a solution: a Mini Veggie Garden. This mini garden offers my son the opportunity to pick out plants, prepare the soil, dig holes, and grow his own vegetables. If they get run over and don’t grow, we still have our full garden to harvest and the whole family can enjoy the harvest!
To get the Mini Veggie Garden going, we first had to take a trip to nursery and pick out the plants:
He tends to get distracted. First by flowers:
And then by a friend:
We were able to pick out a few plants for his garden: squash, zucchini, and cucumbers. We then headed home and prepped the mini garden space. First, he turned over the dirt and added water:
After deciding what we would plant in each spot, he got to digging:
And planted:
After the zucchini, squash, and cucumber were in the ground, he was able to sit back and admire:
And then add some more water for good measure:
And no… I don’t know what happened to his shoes during planting…
Whether the plants survive is unknown, but the joy of gardening with my son will last. And we always have our “big” garden to turn back to:
Do you have plans to garden with your kids this year?
More Information on Gardening in general and gardening with kids.
Nice! I’m going to attempt to do hydroponic garden myself! My nephew has done one for 3 years and tells me (a brown thumb) it’s easy, and I think the kids will love it! We’re starting with herbs, then lettuce, just have to decide which herbs 🙂
Gina Badalaty recently posted..Review: Everest Nutrition Krill Oil
My daughter so wants her own garden. I am too slow on doing it. Thanks for the ideas how you did it. I am inspired, thanks Carrie.
Sherry recently posted..American Girl Doll Picture Frame
Let her take the lead. Since I’m only planting half of our garden this year, I gave my kids each a bed to take care of. They planted seeds, and next week, I’ll be picking up plants at Glick’s Greenhouse with Lauryn and Becky.
So fun! Nothing better than watching kids dig in the dirt. 🙂
My sons love digging in the dirt… and they keep losing their shoes also 🙂
Thanks for the ideas! I will have to try it!
Haha I love the no shoes! Great idea for a mini garden! The next question is will he eat what he planted! We just planted a garden and I am sure my son who helped will eat about 25% of it!
Steph recently posted..Color By Amber
My kids LOVE gardening and they sure love playing in the dirt too:) I can’t wait to see how your garden grows over the summer!
Lauryn recently posted..VTech® InnoTab® 2 Baby {Review}
Thanks for sharing, Barb! I’m glad to see other Moms trying to garden with their kids too! I HOPE he will eat his veggies. He’s obsessed with cucumbers right now so I can count on a win there if they grow 🙂
carrie recently posted..A Nautical Baby Shower and Giveaway!
You know I serve real food including lots of veggies, and we still have some veggie issues. I think part of it is the taste. My teenager was more open to trying veggies after his taste buds changed.