How to make a vegetable patch with children so that they can grow and harvest their own food!
Here’s what we did:
On the opposite side of the lawn to the play garden, my wonderful Dad and brother dug out a semi-circular patch from the grass and turned over the soil to loosen it up. We mixed in a whole bag of compost enriched with natural nutrients and turned them over together to mix them.
Next, the girls helped me to dig some little holes around the outside edge and we planted a border of box hedges. These will grow together to create a bushy, neat border if we keep them trimmed, and can even be shaped in a few years time! (Thanks to my wonderfully green-fingered friend Tineke for this lovely idea!)
Then they helped dig some more holes and we planted some vegetable plants that we bought at the garden centre. We planted broad beans, runner beans, peas, gourds and wildflowers. They stuck some bamboo canes into the ground as future supports for the climbers and as they start to grow we will secure them.
Right next to this patch we have a nectarine tree and a Cox’s Orange Pippin apple tree, so those are being treated as part of the same area.
Pop was very enthusiastic and managed to break one of the fragile plants, but she learned along the way and ended up being extremely careful after she realised what had happened. She patted the soil around the tops with a flattened hand and asked for “more, more!”
Once in we set about giving hem a good drink of water. We have a hose pipe ban in the Southern UK at the moment, so we used the watering can instead. Great for problem solving and gross motor co-ordination!
All planted and refreshed, waiting to start growing!
We added some colourful pinwheels to help scare the birds away and also, just to look beautiful! Pop enjoyed blowing them to make them spin.
I drew the other plants that we had planted, including some wild poppies, and we laminated all of the labels and stuck them onto green lolly sticks with tape.
When they were done the girls them stuck them into the ground in the appropriate spots. They are watering their patch each day, taking it in turns to do each row, and patently waiting to see the first fruits of their labours!
If these are successful we will talk about what they want to grow next and try something new!
If you’d like more ideas, Sun Hats and Wellie Boots has a wonderful post about tips for gardening with young kids. Well worth a look!
- knowledge and understanding of the world: growing plants, life cycles, what is needed to keep a plant alive, food comes from plants, edible and non-edible, seeds/roots/shoots/leaves/stem etc
- literacy: use marks and letters to attribute meaning, understand what a label is for, recognise familiar words in the environment
- creativity: drawing from observation
- physical: gross motor skills and co-ordination through digging, watering, patting etc