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Community Corner

Moms Talk: Home Gardens Make Growing a Family Activity

Growing a garden is easy with lots of little hands to help out.

Are you raising plants, children or both?

There's something about the brief bout of warmer temperatures, the final melting of that last bit of snow in the corner of the yard, and the smell of rain on the budding grass that makes us start plotting out our annual garden plan. 

Each year our ambitions seem to grow, and what began as a dug-out corner by the fence has evolved into two separate gardens, an additional bed of strawberries, and numerous containers of herbs and greens lining the sunnier edges of our deck.

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Every year we tweak our personal farm. We trade out cherry tomatoes for heirlooms. We try to get peas to grow up and through our back fence like a trellis.  We drop down to one yellow squash seedling to deal with the inevitable overabundance that accompanies the enthusiastic plant.

We even try out a watermelon, though last year it grew one sole fruit no larger than my foot.

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As Vi grows older, she gets to be more of a part of the growing season.  Last year she helped me to fill the cleaned-out cat litter containers that served as homes for basil, tarragon, and two sturdy strawberry plants. She planted the seeds for our radishes—a total bust, either due to late planting, too much shade, or the lack of proper spacing by toddler hands, and my pregnant, lazy stance on weeding.

Friendly 'Fridley Farmer' Advice
I wasn't sure if, at three and a half, my daughter was really ready to handle much more work in the garden, until I talked with . 

Moore, who blogs at Fridley Farmer, has about 900 feet of garden at his house that he will be maintaining this year with the help of his three young children—plus a plot at the Fridley Community gardens that he will be using as well.

In fact, Moore's eldest son, who is five years old, will have his own 3-foot x 3-foot plot to work on this year, for which he has chosen his own crops: red sweet corn, mint, watermelon, carrots and green bell peppers.

Raising Kids and Vegetables
Even for Moore's two younger children, gardening is a family event. 

"Whenever I'm working out there, I try to make that some dad-and-kid time," Moore told me. "I let them help with digging and raking. My five-year-old is good with a saw and prunes. He cut down two lilac trees."

Moore involves all of his kids when it comes to both harvesting and weeding—although weeding, he said, is best done highly supervised, one parent to one child. "Working one-on-one, I can check and see if they are pulling up vegetables," he advised.

Now Is the Time
Planting and harvesting can be great outdoor time for the entire family, and now is the time to start getting your own gardens prepared.  Moore gets many of his plants off of Craigslist, such as his recent wild strawberries acquisition, but also goes to local area retailers such as Home Depot and for seeds, seedlings and equipment.  Cold weather plants like broccoli and spinach can be planted already, as they are resistant to frost.  You can also buy fruit trees and seedlings online now, and have them delivered in a few weeks when the weather is likely to be more stable.

If this is your first time gardening, especially with children, Moore advised starting with a few simple seedlings—especially tomatoes and cucumbers, vegetables that your family really likes. Planting seedlings that you are enthusiastic about ensures that you will stay committed to the garden the entire season, rather than lose interest part of the way through the summer. 

He confessed that in their first year of gardening his family overplanted, and by mid-summer they didn't want to keep up with the crops. "We should have bitten off less and chosen plants we like more so we kept with it," Moore said.

Planting a garden with your children will not only give you a fun activity to do together, but can help your child be healthier thanks to increased activity and more interest in fruits and vegetables, according to Parent Earth. But get your plan together now—the sooner you start, the better your crops, and your kids, will grow.

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