Last year I started a garden for the first time which was quite a fun journey. I have actually wanted to start one ever since I became a homeowner (about 7 years ago) but I just never got around to it. There seemed to be so many different things to learn and I just never could find the time.
Then I had my first daughter and thought once she was a little older maybe we could do it together. Two years ago I was so determined, however I also had a newborn at the beginning of spring. Needless to say I put it off yet again. Last year I told myself 'no excuses!' and over the long Memorial day weekend with the help of my husband and my oldest daughter we finally put together our garden.
It was a lot of work for sure between prepping the ground, figuring out which plants to grow, where the best location would be and building our raised garden box. It was totally worth all of that though and I'm so glad we did it. Every time we left the house my daughter had to run to the backyard and check on our tomatoes to see if there were any red ones. It's so cute seeing how much she cares about it and watching her put in the effort to take care of a garden.
Through the entire process of building and managing a garden I noticed something major. It wasn't just a patch of land that grew food, it was a valuable teaching tool and experience for my child. There are many things that the garden taught my daughter and I'm so glad we broke down and finally planted it.
Recipe ideas for fresh produce:
Here are some of the important life lessons that planting a garden taught my daughter:
Patience
Gardening and watching plants grow takes a lot of patience. To a young child it can seem to take ages for anything to happen. However gardening taught my daughter that she must be patient and wait.
Even when weeks would go by without seeing any changes she learned that we had to keep taking care of the plants and watch over them. It was tough at times because especially for a young child they can get bored with having to wait. However I feel like it really helped her learn the importance of patience.
Responsibility
Just like taking care of a pet, a garden has to be cared for. You have to water it, make sure it's getting enough sunlight, fertilize the plants and protect them from animals and bugs. There are a lot of things to think about and to take care of to ensure you have a successful garden.
If you skip watering your garden your plants will start to wilt and show signs of distress. So taking care of a garden does a great job of teaching how important it is to stay focused and do not neglect your responsibilities.
Problem Solving Skills
Since we were new to gardening there were many things we did not know. As I said earlier we figured some tips and tricks out as we went along and do some research. We had several issues pop up that we had to figure out a solution for including squirrels and birds eating our food, slug problems and also gnats hurting some of our plants.
Each time we had an issue we had to look up possible solutions and how to fix it. Even though my daughter cannot navigate a Google search session just yet she still tried to come up with solutions to help our garden. We put up a net over the garden to help with the animals and used some natural home-made mixtures to spray on the plants for the bugs. When we had a solution she was right there helping to fix it and protect our plants.
Disappointment Happens
When we started our garden we planned on growing three vegetables to start: tomatoes, kale and zucchini. All three of those veggies are favorites at our house so it made the most sense. Well not too long after we planted everything we started to get some sprouts! It was so exciting to see those tiny green specs popping out of the ground and my daughter was so happy.
After just a few weeks we had some pretty large tomato plants and big leafy kale that started but not a single zucchini sprout. We waited another week and still nothing. Then once we finally started to get tomatoes we had an issue with animals eating some of them. Needless to say we were both pretty disappointed.
We put in so much time and effort to get nothing. It was a great opportunity though to explain to my daughter that sometimes you are not going to get what you expect and that's alright. Even if you try really hard things may not happen the way that you want them to.
Hard Work Can Pay Off
Even though we were disappointed that not a single zucchini grew, is was still very rewarding to have our other plants flourish. It seemed like every week we would walk out and see our garden grow bigger and bigger. My daughter just loved watching the plants grow from tiny sprouts to tall plants that were as tall as her.
Then once we actually started to get vegetables growing it was that much better. Her hard work paid off and she had something to show for it. I think that is a really important lesson that applies to all aspects of life. Although things may not always turn out the way you want, hard work can still pay off in the long run.
If you are still unsure if a planting and managing a garden is right for you, try starting one on a smaller scale. You do not need to make a giant garden bed or even one that's in-ground like we did. Using large flower-pots are great for many different plants and are perfect if you don't have a lot of space or don't want a ton of commitment. Start with just a few pots and one or two crops to see how it goes. Even a small garden can teach children important lessons and result in some yummy fresh produce.
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