How to Start a Simple Garden

Teaching kids to grow their own food is essential.  I wish it were taught yearly in schools because we cannot always rely on the weather and that hard working farmer's crops can get to us. 

I love teaching my kiddos how much of an impact farmers have on everyone world wide.  I also love to teach them how easy it can be to grow their own food.

I didn't grow up with gardeners so I relied on watching others, learning from others, and experimenting every year.  So really, what I am trying to say is, no experience is needed to get started!  Just start, learn, and grow!

Whether you have indoor space or outdoor, there is always room for plants and herbs.  Of course there is more room outdoors, but take these simple steps into consideration to get started on planning the perfect plants to have indoors and or outdoors to get a small or large garden started with your kids.

Here are some key points to consider before getting started -

1.  Are you planning for indoor or outdoor space?  How much space do you have and will it be enough for the plants that you would like to start growing?  For example, if you are limited on space it may not be feasible to start a hanging basket of strawberries and a potted tomato plant, but it may work great to have small pots of herbs to use for cooking and micro greens for salads and sandwiches.  On the flip side, if you have a lot of space, maybe squash and zucchini will make for a great start.

2.  What exactly would you like to grow?  To figure this out, make a list of your favorite fruits, veggies, or herbs.  Which ones could you grow for the space that you have?  We love strawberries, so one of our first garden plants were dug up strawberry plants from a good friend.  They reseed and grow year after year without needing to purchase more and kids LOVE them!

3.  Check what zone you are in.  This is dependent on where you live and the weather.  Each seed packet or plant has a preferred zone listed on the tag.  If you are buying perennials, you will want to be sure they are for your zone so they come back the next year and do not die off when the weather cools down.

4.  Decide if you want all annuals or if you would like to start a perrennial garden that continues to return each spring so you do not have to keep purchasing more plants or plant more seeds every year. 

Some examples of plants that return for our zone 4/5 here is Wisconsin that we have in our garden are chamomile, lavender, strawberries, lemon balm, blueberries, marshmallow root, lovage, and violets.

3.  Now that you have an idea of what space you have and what you might want to plant, assess the lighting.  Which plants need full sun and which are okay in a more shady area.

4.  Next, find out if what neighbors your friends prefer.  You can google "companion plants for ________".  Sometimes certain fruits and veggies grown together can change the taste of the fruit or veggie, halt their growth, or they are simply prone to the same pesty bugs so keeping them planted away from each other will benefit the outcome.

5.  Next, dig in!  Teach the kids about the plant before letting them plant it in the soil.  Have them label the plant and be sure to show them a picture of the fruit it will bear.  Kids really do love taking care of their own plants or gardens and will eat more fruits and veggies when they actually get to grow them and pick them.

6.  Make it fun!  Make it a BIG deal when you are out there with your kids and they do a great job weeding or if you find a fruit starting!  Get them excited when a plant flowers so they know they are getting closer to it bearing a fruit or veggie.

Cheers to teaching your kiddos some much needed knowledge, giving them experiences, and offering them homegrown healthy foods.

If you want to take your garden a step further and learn to make herbal teas and infuse oils or see what else you can do with the fruits, veggies, and herbs in your garden... Book a Call Today!

We love to harvest and dry herbs to use over winter for herbal and medicinal teas, infused bone broths, infused nourishing skin oils, and healing salves.  You could learn how to the same so you have the confidence of knowing you have natural medicine or remedies on hand and know exactly what and how to use them!  No store runs required when you plan ahead!

Don't be shy, reach out if you have questions - Click Here to Ask A Question.

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