My, Look How It Grows ~ The Bub Cafe

Filled with year-round fun gardening with your little ones can be a rewarding experience for the entire family. In addition, a small flower or vegetable garden is a great way to start teaching your young ones how plants grow and provides hours of outdoor entertainment.

For the under-three crowd, focus on keeping the garden experience simple. Just a few easy-to-grow plants with showy blooms or delicious fruits will be enough to start your child's garden off and inspire further explorations. Its a great time to teach about organics and good nutrition when children experience planting vegetables for themselves--who knows, it might even get them eating their greens at mealtime!

So how you get started?
Your kiddie garden patch does not need to be big. If you are short on space you could recycle an old washing tub or other bin to plant your garden. If you have more space, consider outlining the area with wooden planks or rows of stones to mark the child's space. This'll make them feel special and take ownership over the space.

Whether you start in the ground or in a tub, it's always a good idea to till the soil and add some composted manure or organic compost to the area. Good, rich soil will give the seeds a great, strong start and help the children learn that all living things need good nutrition to grow big and strong. Just like they do!

Now that your area is prepared, here are some easy to grow plants to start with:

Allium: from the onion family, produces an umbrella of showy, fragrant silver-pink flowers that make a delightful presence for weeks at a time. A kiddie favorite!
Beans: packed with good nutrition with their super easy to handle large seeds, green beans grow fast and will delight the little ones with fresh, crunchy beans within less than 9 weeks.
Capsicum: vibrant red, yellow or green, these sweet fruits change colour as they mature and offer a great chance for children to learn their colours.
Dahlia: produce a small bush of colourful blossoms throughout summer. Planting the large tubers is super easy plus its fun to watch for the first sprouts of leaves.
Gladioli: are another showy bulb that is easy for little hands to plant and produce colourful blooms.
Lettuce & Spinach: are super easy to plant and grow very quickly. You may even get your finicky eater to finally eat her greens if she played a role in growing her own salad.
Lillium (lily): are another easy bulb to plant for kids and produce showy, scented flowers to enjoy.
Marigolds: are the perfect companion plant for the edible garden. The pungent foliage deters pests while the vibrant yellow-orange blossoms are a show-stopper for the toddler set.
Nasturtium: grows from a large pea-like seed and bursts into continuous bloom. The leaves can be used in salads and taste peppery, while the blossoms can be stuffed and are edible.
Peas: juicy peas for shelling usually mature in 65 days and are a garden favorite. Snack off the vine!
Pineapple Sage: herbs offer children the chance to explore scent. This variety of sage adds a yummy, fresh pineapple flavour to cool summer drinks ice-creams and sorbets. Rustle leaves to enjoy the scent.
Poppies: with their big, floppy petals and vibrant shades of red are sure the catch your toddie's eye.
Pumpkin: a classic for kiddie patches with big easy to plant seeds producing large plants and huge fruits. If you have the space try growing one of each of the green, orange or striped varieties.
Strawberries: with their bright red berries and crisp, green leaves are a delight to any child.
Sunflowers: will tower over your kiddies and delight them with their tall stalks of yellow or orange blooms. Come harvest-time, the seeds baked with rock salt make a great, healthy snack!
Tulips: are a super easy to grow and offer a wide variety of colours for children to choose from.

Since this garden is for the children, it is important to remember to allow your child to pick out some of the plants or seed packets when you are purchasing from the above list of flowers or veggies. Your child will be far more likely to take ownership when caring for their own hand-picked plants if they were given the opportunity to choose their own.

Let's get dirty
Now that you are ready to get digging, you'll need to buy your child age appropriate garden tools to work with or you can simply recycle some old kitchen utensils as a makeshift trowel and fork. Armed with the right tools, you can then move on to assist the planting process by helping the children to dig holes, lay the seed in shallow trenches and gently pat around newly placed plants. Walk them through it, but resist the urge to hurry them along or fix mistakes. Most plants or seeds will naturally right themselves once they sprout or take root.

For the children, this time is all about exploration, touch and feel, and experiencing organic nature. Let them play in the dirt for awhile, squish and crumble it in their bare hands, make a mud pie or two. This is not a task...it is the creation of a quiet, special green space just for them. Toddlers naturally use play to understand how things work, so if you're inclined to be a tad impatient, get out a padded kneeler and a cuppa-- let your little ones explore this new space as they see fit. Let them learn without interjecting that dirt tastes 'yuck'. Let them feel for themselves how worms feel squishy and wriggle in your hand, that ladybirds and butterflies fly away when disturbed. Its the experience we're after here. A place to play, explore and experience without rules. Who knows, you may find yourself watching the birth of a little green thumbs on your hands or perhaps a future little scientist!

Article by Emma Lewis. View gardening gear that Bub Cafe Recommends