I’ve always been of the opinion that kids need to learn how to garden or at least see vegetables growing. Even before I heard of Alice Water and her Edible Schoolyard program, or even heard of the term ‘food literacy,’ it was clear that kids need this as part of their education. Not for some distant, academic reason that may or may not pay off in the future. Kids need to have this connection to the earth to help them make good food choices, build self-sufficiency, feel connected to the earth around them for their mental health and to foster a sense of responsibility for their impact on the environment.

Garden or get off the….dirt

So that’s all fine and good, but all these grand ideas, and I had no idea where to start! I tried to plant container gardens a few times, and each time they did not yield much of anything. I have not been blessed with a green thumb, to say the least. After having kids, I knew that it was time to stop stalling and get moving. It was going to be an education for all of us! Given the current state of the world, it was clear that the time was now and no more waiting on knowing enough or saving enough for all the best equipment and materials, devising the ‘right’ plan or choosing the ‘best’ seeds for our geographical planting zone was time we couldn’t afford to waste. Time to just start the education, pay attention and learn. Analysis paralysis be damned!

Garden Logistics

So begins our family gardening journey! The soil was soft enough to work with by March, so we went ahead and simply built planting boxes 4’x8′ in size from untreated lumber (2×10” with a 2×8” on top to create 18″ of depth for the root systems) and nestled them level into the side of the slope on the side of our back yard that got the most sun during the day. Though untreated lumber will rot more quickly, we didn’t want the chemicals from the treated lumber leeching into the soil and then the food. We’ll be ok with rebuilding the boxes in a few years. For a weed barrier, we lined the bottom of the boxes with newspaper, old paper bags and one with some landscape cloth that we had left over from when I built the sandbox (which I think was a mistake, but we’ll see). We had some organic compost delivered (it cost the same as the mix with loam and sand so I figured why not?! This may also have been a mistake… we will see!), we filled the beds with it and planted our cold tolerant, early seeds (arugula, broccoli, romaine lettuce, green onions and peas).

Before the doing, there was some research of course. I did research when to plant which seeds, which we could plant sequentially to make up for the lack of square feet of planting space, and became quickly overwhelmed at the dramatic variation in the results from the available ‘how much to plant for a family of X number of people’ calculators online so just guessed for the most part on the numbers of plants. Though as I said, in my impatience and enthusiasm to get something in the ground, I did not sufficiently research the type and proportions of soil to put inside the box- we’ll see what happens!

The Plants

We went to town with the graphics [LINK] of which plants to start as seeds indoors 8-10 weeks before your zone’s projected last frost date [LINK], and maxed out the shelf space in the little tented 1.5 x 3 x 5’ greenhouse my mom had gifted us a couple years earlier [LINK]. We did not, however, have nearly enough sunlight to sustain most of them! These poor seedlings… while exciting for the kids to plant and to watch sprout, they were sad and leggy and weak. About a month after planting them, I had to toss most of them and repot the few that we really needed to grow (tomatoes and peppers). I added a tinfoil backdrop and an extra light that I found in our basement as suggested by _____ [LINK]. We planted the rest of the early veggie seeds directly into our newly filled planting beds (April 6th). And the waiting begins!

April

The kids delight in heading out to the garden beds every day and checking on the seeds. Two weeks after putting the seeds in, we have the earliest signs of the arugula and peas poking up through the soil, and my oldest is sooooo excited. We’re still hoping the broccoli, romaine and green onions show up, but for now the kids are contented with seeing something green in the garden.

The current project is installing a fence. We have a simple, beaten up chicken wire fence that we’re using. I dug a trench around the garden and we’re trying to sink the fence into the ground at least a few inches to help keep out digging critters, but we’re mostly trying to keep out our own chickens. Well, our future chickens. We used to have chickens and we’re getting more. We’re currently between chickens, as it were. I’m trying to convince my husband that dairy goats would be the logical next step. He’s not sold. Anyway… We’re still having decently cold weather at night here (our last projected frost date is May 10th, though most veteran gardeners in these parts don’t put anything cold sensitive in before the last weekend in May) so I’m hoping that the little green sprouts won’t be damaged by the frost. Until then, we watch and we water and we wait.

May

The fence is up and garden is still a fabulous daily source of distraction (which has been a blessing given the current state of the world!) and we’re all loving watching the seedlings emerge. In keeping with the seasons, we wanted to observe May Day (May 1st) and so we decorated branches to adorn our garden fence to celebrate our garden and welcome the growing season, make it look pretty, and hopefully scare away some of the critters that would love a bite of our tender greens (in our area, that would be deer, raccoon, squirrels, chipmunks, etc.). The kids really enjoyed making their branches their own and contributing to beautifying our new garden! We even made a little Mother Nature decoration out of a wire coat hanger and some beads 🙂

June

July

August

September