Five Gardening Ideas
Author: Heather Slee
When you think "spring", you think green: leaves are budding on trees, grass is growing greener, and flowers are sprouting and preparing to blossom. Take advantage of your spring fever and plan to grow something with your family this year.
- Plant a tree. You don't necessarily need to plant a tree at the time of your child's birth or on some specific milestone or holiday. Planting a tree can be an anytime, any age activity. Involve everyone in picking out the type and location where it would be planted. Caring for the tree can also be a family activity. And as your child grows, they can compare their height to the tree!
- Start a vegetable garden. This can be a large undertaking, or a small venture, depending on the amount of space you have available. If you don't have a plot of land, use pots. Let everyone choose a veggie to plant, and they can be in charge of caring for their own: watering, weeding, and harvesting. This is also good for picky eaters; veggies taste much better fresh out of your garden.
- Plant flowers in egg cartons. I found this idea at http://www.parentsconnect.com/do/good_to_grow.jhtml. Pick out a hearty flower seed, like a marigold or a daisy, dirt, and water, and go to it! Place the egg carton garden in a window and watch the sprouts grow.
- "Plant" a rock garden. Sound weird? Take the kids to a park, the beach, or out in the country and tell them to find the coolest rocks they can. Once you have a good amount, take them home and hose them off. Then find a little patch that you want "landscaped" or an edge around a garden or tree and lay them out.
- Use creative gardening containers. I saw this idea at http://tipnut.com/creative-container-gardening-tips-ideas/. Use creative containers to plant flowers, such as old boots, old watering cans, hats, mugs, old toys (like plastic wagons, boats, sand pails, etc.), and more. Your kids will think it's kind of crazy and fun! Then display your wacky gardening art for the world to see.
