Gardening with Kids – How to Plan Your First Garden

My husband and I both grew up on a farm and spent a lot of time outside on the farm or in the garden and we wanted our boys to have those same types of experiences.  We don’t live on a farm, but we put in garden boxes for my boys to plant their own vegetables each year.  My boys love planning our garden together and each year they get excited as they watch their gardens grow.  If you are new to gardening with kids, today I’m sharing some of my tips for planning a garden and getting the kids involved.  This post is sponsored by Tree Top Applesauce, which is one of my favorite go-to snacks for my kids.  All opinions are my own.

Tips for Gardening with Kids

We have spent many hours outside in the garden and here are a few of the things I have learned that help get kids excited for gardening.

1. Let Kids Plan Their Garden I let my kids get as creative as they want with their garden and they have fun drawing and designing what they think their garden should look like. Some of the items in their dream garden might not be possible, but let them dream up something awesome. My boys had fun coloring and designing and then we got to start putting their design into place.
2. Let Kids Purchase Their Own Seeds or Starts I then let my children choose their own vegetables to plant and I am always surprised that they will actually EAT the things that they chose when they have grown.   My 3-year-old loves tomatoes, so that is the only thing he wanted to plant.
3. Give Kids their own Garden Space Each of my boys has their own garden box.  We built them a few years ago and they love having their own garden space to take care of.  It teaches them a lot of responsibility because they are in charge of checking the water, pulling weeds and watching for bugs.  Then of course they also get to pick their veggies when they are ready.  That’s the best part!  If you don’t have a place to plant a large garden, look into some smaller containers or buckets and let them plant just one or two things.  They will still love taking care of their garden, regardless of the size.
4. Let them have their own garden tools 

   I always purchased plastic shovels and gardening tools for my littlest boys so that they could be involved without the risk of getting hurt using realy gardening tools.  It makes them feel official to have their own tools. But, as soon as they are able, I let them use some real gardening tools so they feel official. They also love using the watering can to water their plants.
   

5. Use Your Time Gardening with Kids as a Teaching MomentGardening with kids brings up a lot of great teaching moments.  You have the opportunity to teach your kids the essential things that plants need to survive such as the proper amount of sunlight and water and how even getting too much of either can kill the plant.  You also can teach them where their food comes from.  So many kids don’t know how our food gets to our table.  Also, you can teach them patience because if you plant from seeds, your garden will seem like it is taking forever to grow!

And of course we finish any hard day’s work with a healthy snack.  I love that Tree Top Applesauce pouches are easy for my boys to eat and don’t even require a spoon.  I always love to keep a few in my purse or in the car for when we are on the go.

I’m excited to partner with Tree Top Applesauce to share fun gardening tips and resources as well as their Raising Good Apples initiative. For every purchase of Tree Top Apple Sauce Pouches, Tree Top will donate a dollar to KidsGardening.org to help fund community garden projects across the country.  Tree Top is located in the heart of Washington’s apple country and has been a trusted name for over 50 years.

What are your best tips for gardening with kids?

Visit KidsGardening.org for more information on gardening with kids as well as fun activities that your whole family will love.

And, now through May 15th you can enter to win a Gardening Tools set valued at $60.  Information on how to enter is below.  Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

This sponsored post is written by me in behalf of Tree Top.