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How To Create A Fun Vegetable Garden For Kids
If you are searching for ways to encourage your young ones to eat more vegetables, then it might be worth considering creating a vegetable garden for kids. Growing your vegetables at home is a great way to encourage your children to learn more about where their food comes from.
Curious by nature, children will be overcome with joy planting and then watching their vegetables grow in their vegetable garden. Children enjoy planting seeds, then watching them sprout and eventually being able to harvest the vegetables they have grown.
By taking the time to help children grow and harvest their vegetables, you can help them understand how food is produced. Additionally, this approach also provides them with a sense of responsibility for attending to the vegetables they have planted and a connection to nature by growing their vegetables.
The Health Benefits Of Vegetable Gardening For Kids
Aside from encouraging healthier eating habits, creating a vegetable garden for kids offers other healthy lifestyle benefits such as helping to boost mental health. Gardening is also a great form of exercise. Digging and raking, as well as running back and forth between the garden shed and their vegetable garden, will undoubtedly help to tire them out.
If you are thinking of creating a vegetable garden for your kids to learn and grow, here are a few top tips to help get you started and make the most out of this new family activity.
Make a List of Gardening Tools You Will Need
If you’re starting from scratch you need to research the gardening equipment required to make a useable space. If you do not have space to create a dedicated vegetable patch, that is fine – you can grow vegetables in various situations, from the open ground to pots and containers.
Whether you are growing in the ground or growing in containers, the essential tools you required to help you and your children are hand forks and trowels. If you are growing from the ground, extra tools such as a rake, spade and fork will also be helpful. Also, watering can ensure vegetables stay hydrated when the weather is dry and warm.
With storing your tools, if you have a garden shed or have been considering investing in one, create a space for the children to keep the gardening tools to have easy access.
Choose a Quiet, Sunny and Easily Accessible Spot
When choosing a space to create the vegetable garden or where to place the planters, allow your children to help select a location to have more involvement in the whole process. Ensure that it is in an accessible area that they can reach and visible for visitors to see when they are over.
When it comes to creating a layout for the vegetable garden, allow the kids to use their imagination. If you are using pots, let them choose which ones to include and encourage them to decorate the pots, so they are more personalised.
Research The Best Crops To Grow For Your Space
There are plenty of vegetables to choose from that you and your children can grow together. Like finding a place to grow your vegetables, you must work out which ones will be able to grow in the space available.
For example, if you only have a small space or will only plant and grow in containers, choose small vegetables or ones that can grow to their fullest potential in smaller areas. Alternatively, if you are planting in the shade, avoid vegetables that require a lot of sunlight. For those with more space, plant your seeds in the ground, dig the soil and remove any weeds before adding compost.
Find Fun and Easy To Grow Vegetables
A popular vegetable that many enjoy and also love to grow are potatoes. The most popular vegetables in 2020 are flexible as they can be grown in buckets, planters or a vegetable patch. All you have to do is cover the sprouting seed potatoes with soil followed by water, then wait and watch over time as they get bigger. Then you can pile on more soil around the stems, and before you know it, your children will have grown plenty of potatoes which they can enjoy alongside some of their other homegrown vegetables.
While they may not be a current vegetable favourite for your children, planting and growing, their carrots will help to make them more likely to eat and potentially enjoy them. One of the most enjoyable aspects for kids growing their carrots is digging them up ready to eat. There is also the bonus of growing a variety of carrots they may not have seen before, such as solar yellow or purple haze carrots. In addition to being a vegetable on their dinner plate, carrots can also be cut into slices or sticks and make for a healthy snack the kids (and adults) can enjoy.
Another easy and quick to grow crop is salad leaves since the seeds are a perfect size for small hands to sow. Children can plant them in their vegetable garden patch or the planters they have picked out and decorated. This easy salad plant will keep cropping for weeks, which will keep the little ones busy. It is not just the edible leaves; the flowers which also grow are edible as well, a novelty aspect loved by children.
Although it is not a vegetable, one of the easiest things to grow, which is also the perfect size for a snack and dinner, is tomatoes. Luckily for those with smaller gardens or only have a limited space to grow their produce, tomatoes are a perfect size. You can plant them in pots or even in hanging baskets in the garden. When planted in good, peat-free compost and watered and fed regularly, the tomatoes will grow well and be enjoyed by children as they can pick the juicy, warm fruits straight from the plant.
