Getting Kids into the Garden

Many families are encouraging their kids to get outside into the garden, perhaps inspired by First Lady Michelle Obama who planted the first vegetable garden on White House grounds since Eleanor Roosevelt’s victory garden. Gardening can benefit children’s health and well-being and impact their attitudes towards learning, the environment, nutrition, and so much more.

Gardening has become easier and more accessible for kids, thanks in part to innovative plastic gardening tools and equipment that are readily available at many home or garden stores.

Plastics Make it Possible^SMhas come up with a few ideas to get kids started:

1. Growing Up – No backyard? No problem. Create an urban oasis on virtually any wall with vertical gardening, made possible by innovative plastic products that allow plants to grow above the ground. Known also as “green walls” or “living walls,” vertical gardens consist of a collection of plants that grow up a wall or other vertical surface, both indoors and outdoors. For example, Woolly Pockets are flexible, breathable gardening containers designed for use on just about any wall (as well as floors and tabletops). The felt pockets are made entirely from recycled plastic bottles attached to a moisture barrier made from 60% recycled plastic. Some schools short on space are installing vertical gardens on walls and chain-link fences in only a few hours.

2. Contain Themselves – Even if there’s no room for a garden, kids can still enjoy growing and harvesting fresh vegetables. Container gardens are easy to manage, can be as large or small as space permits and allow experimentation with different plants, soils and environmental conditions, indoors and out. Plastic containers are ideal for this type of gardening –- they are lightweight and easier to move than heavier pots and reusable many times. And in some locations, depending on the local program and kind of container, they can even be recycled. Check out some of these cool examples of container gardens.

3. Feathered Friends – Most kids love wildlife. They can encourage feathered friends to visit the garden for many seasons with an inviting, durable bird house constructed of recycled plastic. It’s also easy to create bird houses from plastic bottles! Reusing and recycling plastics helps reinforce the environmental lessons of gardening.

4. From Mint to Marjoram – Kids can reuse plastic nursery pots and seedling trays to grow herbs year round. Lightweight plastic pots and trays are convenient and easy to move around to capture the sun.

5. And here are some general tips:

Group Effort – Most kids enjoy playing in the dirt with their buddies. Gathering friends to create a garden makes the mess into success, turning dirt time into an educational and fun activity.
Chore Chart – Many children benefit from the structure of regular, meaningful chores. Daily watering? Weekly weeding? Pest patrol? These simple tasks allow kids to play a genuine role in caring for the garden.
Sharing is Caring – A garden takes on special meaning for kids when its fruits can be shared. Sharing a bouquet of flowers with a friend or teacher … planting a row of vegetables specifically for a food pantry or ministry … inviting friends for harvest time … all great ways to cultivate a garden and caring kids.

Sources: http://www.kiddiegardens.com/