Kids will eat veggies they grow in garden

#Middlebury #Veggies

“This plant is heavy,” said young school-age neighbor Sylvia to her mom as they each carried a honeyberry plant they had purchased at our local nursery to their backyard garden. “Why did we get two big honeyberry plants instead of one?” she continued. “To grow luscious honeyberries, we need to have both of them so they can pollinate to bear fruit. Mine is a Tundra Honeyberry, and you are carrying a Berry Blue Honeyberry, the important pollinator,” continued her mom, Kari. “If we had only one plant, we wouldn’t get the berries we want to snack on and use for jam or bake into a pie.”

“Lessons in the garden are bountiful,” Kari said to me over the fence. “When we dig our shovels in the dirt and talk about what we’re planting, the kids engage and listen. They ask questions, and best of all, we learn together and relate in the doing.” The adage is true, she continues, “when it comes to growing vegetables, the kids will eat them if they plant, water and harvest them.”

Mom Kari and her school-age kids dig in the dirt planting their summer raised vegetable and berry gardens.

That’s when older brother Anders chimed in and reminded me of the cucumbers he grew and shared with me last summer. “I put 10 seeds in one hole. A big mistake! They all sprouted, grew and took over and strangled the tomato plants,” he said.

This year he is planting his cucumber seeds along the fence. Another lesson learned.

If you have been wanting to garden and grow your own food, do it now! While fun and educational, gardening also is challenging and requires patience. Here are some observations from the pint-size gardeners in the neighborhood you might find helpful.

• Kids may think worms look slimy, and may be icky when they poke their shovels and fingers in the dirt to plant, but tell them that they are very important helpers in mixing the soil and bringing air into it.
• If kids are distracted by the bees buzzing around, say they are vital for all plants to grow. A pollinator-friendly garden can include cheap and cheerful annuals such as zinnias, cosmos, sunflowers, poppies and nasturtiums in addition to your vegetable plants.
• Oh, and those cute, fuzzy and innocent looking bunny rabbits hopping around the neighborhood? They can eat everything you are growing in your veggie plot in one night. Better put a little fence around the emerging green beans and peas before they are nibbled away while you sleep.

Donna Erickson’s award-winning series “Donna’s Day” is airing on public television nationwide. To find more of her creative family recipes and activities, visit www.donnasday.com and link to the NEW Donna’s Day Facebook fan page. Her latest book is “Donna Erickson’s Fabulous Funstuff for Families.”

© 2020 Donna Erickson
Distributed by King Features Synd.