Vegetable Gardening with Your Kids
Most children nowadays spend too much time indoors watching television or browsing the Internet. Experts say such stationary lifestyle caused the rate of overweight children and teens to nearly triple, from 6% to 16%, in twenty years. If your children behave like this, and you’re looking for ways to solve it, vegetable gardening may be the answer.
Vegetable and kids may not go well together, but you can start your children on a more vegetable-oriented diet through vegetable gardening. Growing their own greens can encourage your kids to eat vegetables. This way, vegetable gardening can contribute to both physical and nutritional growth of your kids. Plus, it can serve as a bonding experience for the family. Here are some tips to help you start with your vegetable garden.
Allot a space in your yard for the vegetable plot. An area they can see daily is a good choice. Cultivate the soil together with your child. This may be a good way for you and your kids to bond since this activity requires cooperation from many hands. Help your kids choose the variety of vegetables you’ll grow, and let them help plant the seeds.
]]>
It’s highly advisable to identify the garden as the kids’ own to further encourage them in vegetable gardening. You can make a sign for the whole garden with your child’s name, or mark each plant with a name tag. Some vegetable gardening tips for beginners and kids recommend keeping garden journals to keep the kids interested until the plants come up. They can draw pictures of vegetables, note the plants’ growth, and write what they enjoy best about gardening.
To keep your kids’ enthusiasm growing, allow them to play with dirt and water while you’re doing different gardening tasks. Let them prepare the soil and give them kid-sized tools to make them feel they’re doing actual work. As most gardening websites recommend, plants need to be watered daily, so give your kids a small watering can so they can water the plants on their own. Be sure to show them how to properly use it.
Garden maintenance is also included in gardening tips for beginners. Guide your children in taking care of the vegetable garden. Be patient, let them make their own mistakes, and let them enjoy and take pride in it.
Find More Garden Tips Articles
