Friendly Reminder
With the sketchy spring weather we are experiencing, don’t forget to cover up those Hydrangeas overnight if you think it might freeze again!
Container Gardening Workshop
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Learn tips and secrets from the Mossy Tree Crew.
Gardening With Kids
We spotted this expression on TLC.HowStuffWorks.com: “Garden activities for kids unlock the magic of growing plants, provide keys to the mysteries of living things, and open the world of beautiful flowers. By sowing seeds or planting gardens, you and your kids can share the wonder of an ever-changing leafy world.”
A garden is the perfect educational platform. For centuries it has inspired poetry, physical activity, conversation, art and many more of the good things in life! We can’t think of a more well rounded classroom for kids.
Many of us have fantasized about working with our kids in the garden, but how can it be achieved? You want young Junior to enjoy gardening as much as you do, but what if he’s just not interested? His short attention span is not that conducive to the time that your flower beds require.
Turn tasks into games. What kid doesn’t want to be pushed around in a wheel barrow? Pick a bouquet of flowers and deliver it to your neighbor. Even weeding is fun if it is placed in the context of a race! Decorate flower pots. Eat the veggies after rinsing them off with the garden hose. Personify the flowers with silly names. There are endless ways to have fun while learning and growing.
Check out this Sunflower Playhouse! Sunflowers grow really tall, really fast, and provide a shady, living structure for your kids.
Do you have a specific landscaping design that needs to be maintained, and that would be compromised by kindergarteners with rakes running willy-nilly every which way? Consider dedicating a certain area to their schemes. If they have the freedom, guided by you of course, to choose which veggies or flowers to grow, and are somewhat responsible to care for that designated square footage, they are a lot more likely to learn and enjoy the process.
Here are a few practical lessons to be learned in your outdoor classroom:
1. What is edible and what is not.
2. The break down of materials in your compost pile.
3. The basic necessities that living things have.
4. How weather conditions affect the plants.
KidsGardening.org points out, “Gardening with your kids or grandkids at home or at a community garden not only provides the tangible benefits of exercise and fresh food, it also fosters communication, builds strong relationships, and offers an opportunity to work towards a common goal.”
10 Reasons To Garden
In case you don’t have 10 of your own, we found this inspiring list on Kathy’s Diggin’ In blog:
1. Gardening provides exercise that seems to be lacking in the American lifestyle. This comes from picking up pots, hoeing, raking, and chores related to tending the garden.
2. Gardening creates an opportunity by which vitamin D can be absorbed. It only takes 15 minutes out in the sun without sunscreen to absorb a daily dose of this vitamin.
3. Gardening provides more control over an individual’s food supply especially for those who are concern with food security.
4. Gardening gives an individual a reason to be outside.
5. Gardening can create social situations where social interaction can occur. Long-term friendships can develop through a common love of gardening.
6. The process of gardening can improve one’s mood and reduce depression. This is believed to happen due to exercise and vitamin D exposure.
7. Gardening is a great hobby that every individual regardless of skill or living environment can do.
8. Gardening is a great way of reducing one’s carbon footprint by cutting back on food transportation cost and increasing foliage on the planet that can trap carbon or become a carbon sink.
9. Gardening is a great way to reduce stress. Getting back to nature and combining this with exercise can help reduce the stress at the end of the day.
10. Vegetable gardening can improve your whole family’s dietary habits by providing the first fast food, which is fresh vegetables and fruits. It has been found that if kids are involved in the gardening process they are more likely to try new foods and eat more vegetables.