Plant a Seed, Watch it Grow

“A little seed for me to sow
A little earth to make it grow
A little hole, a little pat,
A little wish, and that is that,
A little sun, a little shower.
A little while –
And then, a flower!”*

It’s Earth Day! A perfect opportunity to get your kids outside, get diggin’ in the dirt, and get to talking about our Earth and why it’s so important for us to take care of it. Starting a garden, planting a tree, cleaning up litter, conserving water, and recycling are all easy ways we can show our kids how to protect our Earth.

The Earth Day Network works to spread the word about the environmental movement and empowers people to take action to preserve and protect our Earth, not just on Earth Day, but EVERY DAY.  How? By encouraging everyone to pledge an “Act of Green“… one small step that YOU can take to help the environment.

What is an “Act of Green”? Sign your name to a global agreement on climate action, reduce the amount of junk mail you receive, eat less meat (by choosing Meatless Monday!), stop using disposable plastic, or buy local produce!  And you can’t get much more local than your own backyard, right?

We’ve had a backyard vegetable garden for many years (thanks to my husband’s handy-man-skills) and this is the first year Em has really been excited to get involved. Not only is it healthier to grow your own vegetables (minimal nutrients are lost from garden to plate, compared to the nutrients lost during a vegetable’s transit from farm to store), you also “reduce the amount of carbon emissions needed to transport your produce from the farm” to the store to your home. Win-win.

What’s more? It can give your child a sense of responsibility – put them in charge of weeding and watering every day! It may encourage them to try new foods – kids are more likely to try a new food they’ve helped prepare…imagine their excitement to try something they’ve grown! And it’s fun!

So, let’s get started!

• Take a walk around the outside of your house or apartment. Where would be a good space to start a garden? How much sunlight would it get? (Keep in mind that most herbs and vegetables need full or nearly-full sun). If you don’t have a yard, consider some large pots or planter boxes on your front steps or back porch, or even a few small pots on your indoor windowsill.
• Take a trip to the garden center to decide what you’d like to grow!  Encourage your kids to choose a new vegetable or herb they’d like to try. You can choose to purchase seeds or starter plants.  We usually choose seeds for things like snap peas, green beans, lettuce, root vegetables, etc. For tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, and herbs, we usually buy starter plants. Don’t forget to pick up some compost to work into the soil in your garden to make it rich with nutrients for your plants (or you could add your own compost!…something I’d like to start doing soon in our house).

• When you get home, grab a piece of paper and plan out where you’re going to plant your seeds/plants. Read (with or to your child) the plant label or the back of the seed packet to figure out what type of sunlight each plant needs, at what depth and how far apart to plant the seeds/plants, how much water each needs, when you can expect to see sprouts, etc.
• When your soil is ready, grab a trowel and dig a small trench or hole for your seeds or starter plants. Cover with soil as directed….and don’t forget to water!  New seeds and plants, especially, need to be watered frequently.  During the hot summer months, watering will likely need to be a daily morning or evening activity.

We’ve only planted the seeds for a few types of hardier plants in our own garden so far, considering Chicago’s unpredictable spring weather…sugar snap peas, buttercrunch lettuce and rainbow beets. Alongside the peas in our garden is the 5-foot-long sweet potato vine that we started from a whole sweet potato in a jar of water back in November when we made Turkey Root Vegetable Pot Pie! Em also chose a packet of Chamomile seeds at the store, so we planted those in a small pot on our back deck…which is already starting to sprout teeny, tiny shoots only three days later. Can’t wait to try making tea with that! As it gets warmer and the threat of frost is gone, we’ll add green beans, tomatoes, basil, parsley, mint, swiss chard and possibly some pepper plants to our garden.  I always like to throw in at least one new plant as well each year…one year it was lemon verbena (smelled AMAZING!) and another year, we tried jalapeños. Any suggestions for this year’s garden?

Whatever you choose, let’s get planting!

*Poem: “Seeds” from the site CanTeach

Disclaimer: As with all of our activities, my suggestions for how kids can get involved are based on what has worked in our home.  Your child may be able to do more or less based on their age and/or ability.  As always, make sure you are properly supervising and engaging with kids in the garden.