Gardening with Kids: A Treasure Trove of Nature Study

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It never fails that we have at least one early warm spell here in Georgia, and it always seems that my garden catalogs arrive just about exactly then. The combination of spring-like weather and the photos with descriptions of gorgeous flowers gets me dreaming of all the new things I’ll plant. I imagine how great my flower gardens will look, wonder where I might be able to squeeze in another rose bush, and contemplate how to maximize the small space in my veggie garden. It’s an exciting time for this flower-loving girl!

My wonderful husband does most of the hard labor of my gardening (thanks, honey!), and although he does appreciate the flowers and plants, and the overall beautification of our yard, he really doesn’t have a preference about whether we plant daisies or daffodils. I’ve always done all the planning myself, so when I began my garden planning at the end of last winter, I honestly didn’t even think to include my daughter in the process. Last spring and summer, I began to realize what a treasure-trove of nature study we have in our own yard, and allowing Kathryn to step in and help is a year’s worth of science and nature study waiting to happen!

This year, Kathryn and I are sitting down with our plant catalogs and pouring over them together. I’ve been teaching her about USDA zones and how we have to pay attention to how much sun a certain area of our yard gets before we know what plants we can plant there. Ooo! Did you catch that weather and climate study beginning right there? More opportunities for weather study happen all year round, because we need to know when to plant, how often to water, and so on. If we grow a few things from seeds, we’ll have an opportunity to study the entire process of plant reproduction first-hand. We did this last summer with sunflowers, and Kathryn loved it! Studying those sunflowers provided several weeks’ worth of nature studies. We saved some of our sunflower seeds to re-plant again this year. Now that’s a complete plant reproduction cycle!

I had chosen the flowers in my garden because I liked them, rather than for any educational value, but we had quite a few distinctly different types of flowers to choose from when we studied them in depth last spring. The Handbook of Nature Study is a fabulous source of information on many, many varieties of flowers. Our apple trees, though still young, provided a few great opportunities throughout the year, and Kathryn thought it was wonderful when our tomato plants grew taller than her!

Even if you don’t have much space for a garden, or you think you don’t have a “green thumb,” you could just plant a few things in pots on your patio. I have often planted tomatoes in pots, and sometimes even slip in a few veggies right in the middle of my flower garden. Just squeezing in a couple of small pots in a windowsill would provide a “garden” worth studying! Allow your children to be as involved as possible, and they just may come to love those plants. They could choose what to plant (perhaps with a bit of guidance). They can do the actual planting, water when necessary, and keep a close watch for insect visitors. If possible, plant a few veggies they like. I have fond memories of picking cherry tomatoes off the vine as a small child and eating them right there in the garden. I’m still hoping that all this veggie growing will encourage my picky girl to eat the things she has helped grow!

Keeping plants healthy requires that we pay attention to the insects in our garden. Last summer in our flower garden, we studied – from a safe distance – a strange, unidentified insect, and then researched it to find that it was a stink bug which was eating our plants and could cause serious injury to the eyes if it squirted us. (Those stink bugs had to go!) We also studied the much friendlier ladybugs, a garden spider, bees, and several interesting moths and butterflies, which, in turn, led us to identify what they look like as caterpillars, so we’ll recognize them when we see them this spring! Don’t forget how fun it is to dig in the dirt, too. You could study the worms your kids find, and even add in some pedology (a big, new word I learned that means the study of soil!) and geology with the various rocks you may find.

image credit: patryk

Where to start? Check out these great websites:

• KidsGardening.org for lots of great information & ideas for parents/teachers
• Square Foot Gardening to maximize the space you have
• Handbook of Nature Study blog for simple nature studies to get you going
• My First Garden has great suggestions and information on urban gardening

Gardening with kids doesn’t have to be difficult or complicated. Just have fun, and see what happens!

Check out my article on page 6 of the funky flipbook edition of Heart of the Matter Magazine.

Jamie is in her third year of homeschooling, and loving the mostly-Charlotte Mason style she’s chosen. She is a joyfully married wife in a blended family, and knows that absolutely anything good she accomplishes is because of Christ in her. Her days are fueled by the love of her family and many cups of steaming hot tea. Visit her blog Rose Cottage.