Garden Tips: Gardening is a tradition that can be passed through generations

Gardening is a tradition in my family. I have a photo taken in 1935 of my great grandfather standing next to a sunflower he grew that is twice his height. I also fondly remember the beautiful peonies and roses that grew in my grandparents backyard garden. The Peace rose was Grandmother’s favorite. My brother has a bountiful backyard veggie garden in North Carolina that provides him, his family and his neighbors with an abundance of tomatoes and other vegetables.

Now, my 12-year-old granddaughter says she wants to help me build a raised bed for growing strawberries. I am so excited that she has started developing a passion for this part of our family’s heritage. Not only does gardening together create wonderful memories for you and your children — or grandchildren — but there are numerous studies that point out the many benefits that gardening provides to children, such as:

▪ a greater willingness to eat vegetables.

▪ improved confidence and self-esteem.

▪ Better health due to exercise and exposure to sun and fresh air.

▪ Development of analytical skills.

▪ Improved memory and ability to focus.

▪ The relief of stress.

▪ A positive effect on mood, psychological well-being, and social skills.

Start “growing” your children’s garden memories this spring with some fun gardening activities. Here are a few suggestions when gardening with young children:

Make it about fun. If all you let a child do is collect rocks or pull weeds, it is not very enjoyable. Make them part of the process by having them help decide what to plant. In the vegetable garden, have them help pick the types of vegetables to grow. If you have flower pots, let them decide the color of flowers for planting.

Patience is a virtue. Kids have great expectations when planting seeds and need to see rewards sooner rather than later to sustain their interest. Plant some short season crops like lettuce, radishes, carrots and snow peas. However, long season crops come with fun activities too. Plant pumpkin seeds and measure the vines weekly after the seeds emerge, or plant a sunflower and record its height as it grows into a giant.

Busy hands are happy hands. Little hands have a hard time maneuvering adult hand tools. Buy child-sized tools or simply recycle an old serving spoon for digging. It is harder to find gardening gloves for tiny hands, but they are available. There are also digging tools and hoes that have been down-sized for kids, but for the sake of safety I would not advise their use by the youngest gardeners.

A seed is a plant waiting to grow. Little children often lack the manual dexterity needed to manipulate tiny seeds for planting. This can limit what seeds they are able to plant by themselves. Large seeds, such as sunflower, beans and squash, will work well. However, you can also buy pelleted seed of small seeded crops, like carrots and lettuce. The coating around these seeds makes them easier for both little and big hands to plant.

Just a couple weeks ago I presented my 2-year-old grandson with his own gardening gloves, trowel and hand rake. He immediately started digging in the soil. I know gardening with him will be fun for us both, and hopefully it will provide him with cherished memories and a lifetime love of gardening.

This story was originally published April 14, 2018 at 7:18 AM with the headline "Garden Tips: Gardening is a tradition that can be passed through generations."