14. Children

You have this fabulous greenhouse in the back yard where the kids used to ride their bikes. Now you have been telling both your kids and the neighbor kids to keep away from the greenhouse. Do you know how to involve the kids in your gardening adventure while still teaching them that this is your space? Create adventures for their small hands that also teach them respect for your space and for the delicate plants that grow within the walls of the greenhouse.

Easy methods to get you children involved in gardening:

Get dirty! Spend a Saturday afternoon in or around the greenhouse teaching the kids how to plant, and care for plants. Teaching them how to plant seeds will show them how the life of a plant starts and as the plant takes off and starts to grow, they will have even more love for gardening and how plants grow.

Use this simple game. Using some milk cartons, have the kids either cut them off or you can cut the tops off for them, make tiny holes in the bottoms so that some of the water can drain as needed. Depending on patient your child really is, you might want to pick a bulb or a fast growing seed for their ‘first’ plant. Have them fill their milk carton with just a few rocks, and them add the special mixture of dirt. Plant the seed or the bulb and add a little water. Have them write up their own id stick, with their name, the date and the plant name. When you water once a week, you may want to have your child water their own plant also, so that they know there is time and responsibility involved in starting and growing plants.

As the plant grows your child will learn to respect your treasured plants because they realize what you do to make plants and flowers grow. They will be so proud of their first plant that you may even start to include the children in planting something new every season. This could be a great bonding experience for a child of any age!

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