Garden Project

Planting a garden with your children can be a wonderful thing to incorporate into your homeschool lessons. We have made substantial progress in our garden so far. We should have started planning in January and ordered great seeds in the mail. If you plan ahead, you can get heirloom varieties and hard to find things like garlic and onion sets. However, this didn't happen for me. I got my Burpee seed catalogue and never even opened it. Winter was so long and cold that the prospect of planning for spring seemed to far off to even consider. I waited too long. I didn't wait too long to go buy seeds from a local retailer, however. We spent one day planning our crops and buying seeds. The next day was spent plotting out the garden in the yard itself and beginning the tilling process.

Each seed packet has full instructions on when and what to do. The kids helped sorting out things into the following categories:

• sow into the ground this week
• sow into the ground later
• start indoors

I was able to get peas, swiss chard, lettuce and carrots in the ground on time in the first corner of our garden that we tilled. The next day, we started our seedlings in a tabletop greenhouse that we bought at a big box store. It cost $6 and has 72 plant plugs. That plus the seeds was really affordable.

While we were planting seeds in the vegetable patch, we decided to get some real grass started in the front yard too, and sprinkle a healthy handful of wildflower seeds in the front flower beds. My small children were able to take part in each step. They learned how to plan, procure, ready the soil, plant, and water. Then, we got two exciting moments this week. God sent us rain to help our seeds grow AND we have germinating seeds in two rows in our indoor greenhouse. Not only is this a great science project for the kids, but it will provide us all with exercise, sunshine and delicious fresh vegetables when all is said and done. So, if you have the chance to, consider putting your books away for a day or two in the early spring and learn some things hands on in the garden with your kids.