Dig In! (cont.)

This year, Weir River celebrated the first successful season of its two-acre market garden, thanks in large part to families who volunteered to help. On a special plot set aside for children, Connolly and others teach young visitors about the interconnectedness of life.

“They see that the manure that they clean out of the stalls nourishes the soil that we plant in. They help collect weeds to feed to the chickens, to produce more manure. They eat the vegetables to power their bodies to do the work to care for the animals and the garden. It may seem like such a small lesson, but to really understand and appreciate their role in the world, children need to see that as humans we are but one part of a larger picture.” 

Gardening can teach more formal lessons too. Planning a garden plot encourages abstract thinking. Reading seed packets or plant tags and following directions improves language ability; younger children learn to associate pictures with what they’re growing. Spending time close to the ground even demystifies some of those aforementioned creepy-crawlies.

Some programs even use gardening to complement conventional schooling. Students Learning through Urban Gardening (SLUG) is a program launched in 2007 by the Boston Natural Areas Network (BNAN) that works with elementary-school students and teachers in the city’s public schools. BNAN provides training, materials, and support for growing vegetables from seed during the school year. “The activities enhance lesson plans and become additional tools for teachers to meet learning standards in science, math, and the language arts,” says Jo Ann Whitehead of BNAN. Whitehead says one teacher reported that “the reason why kids enjoy SLUG so much is because it’s better than pencil and paper. They connect with the outside when all five senses are involved.”

Sow…How Do I Start?

It’s never too soon, or too late. Some of my earliest memories are of watching my father, an avid and expert gardener, plant and tend his gardens. When I was a little older, I was given the task of watering the flowerboxes and borders. Then, when I was finally included in the selection and “offered” the task of planting some annuals, I knew I’d really made it.

You can gear your activities to your child’s age, interests, and abilities. Just be aware that you might have to do a bit of convincing at the outset – like Tom Sawyer convincing his pals to paint that fence. Make a potential chore seem fun, then make sure it is fun.

Stick toothpicks in all four sides of an avocado pit and then let a child suspend it over the edge of a glass. Keep the glass filled to the point where it just touches the bottom of the seed. Soon, roots will form, the seed will crack open (how dramatic!), and
leaves will start to emerge. This is the stuff of magic for children. 

In the winter months, nestle a handful of bulbs onto a bed of glass pebbles in a clear container. Before long, the papery bulbs will send out chunky roots and tall leaves. When they finally produce brilliant and aromatic flowers, your whole family can marvel at nature’s wonders.     

At the gardens where I work, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay, we often help children start vegetable and flower patches. One of our most-popular ploys is handing each child a roll of toilet paper with instructions to stretch it out on the ground where the seeds will be planted. It’s practical because it allows these young gardeners to see the seeds and get them in fairly straight rows before they sprinkle on a covering of soil, but of course it also makes them giggle. And giggling gardeners are enthusiastic gardeners. 

Even if you don’t have a garden of your own, you can still get your children excited. As Long Hill’s Zschau says, “Simple lessons are learned by gardening on the kitchen windowsill, the apartment balcony, or in the community garden. The importance of soil and compost, the water cycle, and the greenhouse effect are all demonstrable in very simple, easy-to-understand ways.” (see sidebar on page 5 for more ideas on getting started.)

Anyone who gardens knows that watching something grow – something you started from seed or seedling – is one of life’s great pleasures. Watching children experience that joy is better still. And knowing that they’ll carry that feeling and knowledge with them for years to come, perhaps passing it on to their own children, is what makes us get down on our hands and knees with trowel in hand and point them in the right direction.

My advice: Simply take a child by the hand, lead that child to the garden, and dig in!

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