Between the rising cost of groceries and the long stretch of summer ahead of me, I decided it was time to start a vegetable garden. Most parenting gurus suggest getting kids involved with growing vegetables as a way to teach them about healthy eating choices, as well as a great way to learn about science and nature – all while getting some fresh air and exercise. That all sounded like a good deal to me, so I started plotting my garden plot.
This was not my first attempt at growing something. When my son was two years old many other mothers (and mothers-in-law) told me how much little boys loved to dig and that a garden would keep him busy and exploring for hours. That didn’t happen. Instead, he was off and running everywhere EXCEPT the garden area and I was usually chasing after him. That year all the gardening chores fell to my disgruntled husband.
I skipped the next year due to the arrival of our twins. I think I skipped the year after that as well – I don’t remember much from those doubly sleep-deprived days and nights. Last year we grew a lone tomato plant in a container, and it was somewhat of a success so I thought we were ready for a bigger project (but not too big).
I researched larger container gardens, hoping to avoid back spasms by avoiding too much digging. My first attempt, sunflowers grown on a pallet covered with newspaper and potting soil, were thwarted by my still-disgruntled husband. He didn’t like my placement and didn’t think it would work anyway. I did some more research.
My kids and I decided on a do-able goal of four crops, and then we re-purposed some wood from our pallet as our border. We tilled our four-by-four area (well, I tilled it while my kids played tag and hide-and-go-seek) and then re-tilled when my husband declared it wasn’t deep enough. I think my kids may have actually picked up a shovel or a hoe at some point, so I considered it a victory. After field trips to two different garden stores we had plants, seeds and organic gardening soil and hit the dirt. My oldest dug holes while my youngest carefully urged the plants out of their plastic pots and my daughter stood by with a miniature rake ready to finish the job. We even added some marigolds in the hopes of warding off some insects.
Although the prep work had taken me a few weeks and the actual time we all spent gardening together was only about ten minutes I was still thrilled with our success. My children and I actually worked together to put together a garden! Now every day or so during the summer we will head out before it gets too hot to weed, feed and water our plants as we work toward a harvest – I hope.
