After reading an article on Yahoo! this week about the shocking ignorance among children regarding where their food comes from, I felt it was time to start showing our boy in a serious manner. So the vegetable garden has begun!
We have already planted basil in little pots in the kitchen (see post when babies become toddlers - practical life activities) but I felt it was time to get things going outside too. Gardening is great for gross and fine motor skills and gets children touching dirt and caring for a living thing, not to mention the fresh air!
Before we got to the garden we selected our potatoes and I talked to him about the process. I know he is too young to understand but it gives him vocabulary and is always nice to tell your child what and why they are doing something.
We got our big planting tub out and had a great half hour filling it with soil. I really just sat back and watched after he got the hang of what he had to do. He and the rabbit enjoyed getting the mud and when he was tired I helped him finish off. Once the tub was full we made the holes and planted our potatoes. We used two large baking potatoes that had just started to sprout. Then we covered them up and had another fun 10 minutes watering them! We also planted an onion that was sprouting although I have read that this may not work but i'm game for a try.
Now his work is to water the plants each day (while I hang out the washing) and watch them grow. The potatoes usually grow large greenery and should be left for around 4 months before harvesting. We will update this post with pictures as our potatoes grow!
What are your best gardening efforts and what have your children enjoyed most? Any ideas are gratefully received.
First update:
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| Onions (left) Potatoes (right) |
Our potatoes have begun sprouting shoots and the onions are really taking off!
Harvest time!
The onions were a disaster and really didn´t grow, but the potatoes were magnificent and really yummy for tea tonight!
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