growing seeds indoors (1 of 1)-2
avatar by on April 26, 2013   •   18 Comments Gardening Your Home

What gardening is teaching me about raising kids, patience, and faith

This spring when it was still snowing in our little mountain town and the flower blooms were just beginning to show, I began to save egg cartons and comb seed catalogs for veggies we might grow this year.

Because our growing season is short and it’s less expensive than buying starter plants, we grow seeds indoors and enjoy a little green despite the cold weather for several weeks.We’ve been a bit nomadic for the last two years so most of our recent gardening has been in containers. It’s nice to know that we don’t have to leave our cucumbers behind when we move again.

On an uncommonly warm day, my 3-year old son and I searched the garage for my worn garden gloves and tools, in hiding since last fall. He proudly pulled out his red wheelbarrow and we filled it with rich soil. I longed for my compost bin, a casualty of our last move.

In the warmth of the sun, we poked small holes in the egg cartons and added water to the soil. There’s something about putting your hands in soft, warm dirt that is therapeutic. After a tough month, I believe it was just the kind of therapy I needed.
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avatar by on April 6, 2009   •   96 Comments Gardening Your Home

3 easy ways to garden with your kids

kids with gardening tools
Photo by Bruno De Regge

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, our current book club selection, has convicted me that I want to pass on to my children, by the time they leave our household, a foundational knowledge of where food comes from.

They don’t have to be farm-ready, and they don’t even need to like gardening.  But I want them to appreciate the process behind the food staring at them from the plate.  And more importantly, I want them to know what real food is.

I’m a novice gardener, if you can even call it that.  I’m learning, slowly.  But I don’t want that to stop me from taking my children along for the ride as we learn together.

Simple Ways to Garden With Kids

Even if you live in an apartment, you can still garden.  No matter what plot size you have to work with, your family can do something.  Here are a few ideas:

1.  Start an herb garden.

These are great for kids because they’re virtually fool-proof, and they’re great for you because they provide abundant flavor for your family’s meals.  They don’t take much – a bit of soil, lots of sunlight, and watering.

You can easily transplant starters from your local nursery, but you can also start from seeds and use the process as a learning experiment for your kids.  Seeds are tiny, and it’s a great visual lesson at where our food begins.

This weekend, my daughter and I started some herb seeds using a simple toilet paper roll method I learned at You Grow Girl:

toilet paper roll seed starter
We started with some of the easiest herbs – chives and mint.

Once the herbs are ready for containers or beds, simply plop the whole toilet paper roll in the soil – it’ll break down naturally.

2.  Give your kids containers.

My four-year-old daughter is in to all things pink, which means her favorite desserts usually have something to do with strawberries.  So this summer, she’ll oversee a little galvanized bucket of strawberries – hopefully we’ll soon enjoy some good shortcake from her crop.  Strawberries are hardy little guys, and most kids love them.

early strawberry plant
Our baby strawberries.

Another fun kid-friendly idea is a pizza planter.  Pick a frugal, creative container and grow all in one bucket a tomato plant, oregano, basil, thyme peppers, and any other container-friendly pizza topping.  Make homemade pizza every weekend, and your kids will enjoy heading to their own garden for the ingredients.

3.  Try your hand at square-foot gardening.

We hope to try this next month, but Jason at Frugal Dad already wrote about his experience last spring.  Basically, you create a simple raised bed, which can be placed either directly on the ground, or with a bottom layer to rest on balconies and porches.  Divide up the soil in square foot sections, and grow a plant in each section – after harvesting, simply start a new plant.

Give each of your kids a square foot to oversee, and let them pick their plants.


Jason’s square foot garden.

For more inspiration, read up on these gardening sites:

How do you encourage making heatlhy food choices with your kids?  Do you garden as a family?  What are some other ways to instill a value of real food?  And if you’re reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, tell other Simple Mom readers how amazing this book is.

avatar by on January 12, 2009   •   130 Comments Gardening Your Home

Composting bins: benefits, rules, & how to make your own

For a few years, I had been eyeing composting bins for the backyard. I was excited at the thought of turning things that we might normally put into the trash or the garbage disposal into beautiful, rich soil for our garden. I was, however, not excited about the price tags that I was seeing for even the most simple of composting bins.

Since none of our local stores carried composting bins, this also meant that we would be looking at some expensive shipping charges as well. I decided to skip out on a composting bin for a while, even though the reasons for having one sounded so inviting.

Reasons to Compost

· Food and yard waste can be put into the composter, rather than going to the landfill in a plastic bag.

· Soil that is produced is rich in nutrients for your yard (it can be put right onto your grass), garden, or flower beds. It is also much cheaper to make your own compost than to go to the garden store and buy it.

· The soil is a natural fertilizer, and can remove the need to use chemical fertilizers. This is safer for the environment, and can save you money.

· If you have children, it is an excellent educational opportunity for them!

What Can Be Composted?

Not all food and yard wastes can be put into a composting bin. For best results, some of the organic materials to put into your composting bin include:

· Coffee ground and filters
· Fruits and vegetables
· Egg shells
· Grass clipping
· Leaves
· Nut shells
· Shredded newspapers
· Fireplace ashes

Some items not to put into your composting bin include:

· Meat or fish bones
· Yard trimmings that have been treated with chemicals
· Pet waste
· Plants that are diseased (For example, if your garden zucchini plant has had wilt set in, you won’t want to add the plant to your composting bin.)

Be sure to check out the U.S. EPA’s website to read a more extensive listing (including what not to add to your compost bin).

Making Your Own Composting Bin

Frustrated that I couldn’t find a less expensive composting bin, I set out to make my own. This project ran me around $15, and it was completed in less than five minutes.

Materials Needed:

· Large trash can with lid that locks on
· Platform of some sort (I used a wooden plant stand on wheels)
· Screws (to attach platform to trash can)
· Drill with large drill bit

Directions:

1. Using your drill, make holes along the sides of your trash can, as well as on the lid and on the bottom of the trash can. Our trash can turned composting bin has approximately 20 – 25 holes total.

2. Again using your drill, attach the platform to the bottom of your bin. Make sure that you do not cover up the holes that you have made on the bottom of the bin. (Or, if you need to, just drill a few more holes in the bottom.) This platform will help to allow drainage from the composting bin, as well as to save the grass underneath your bin.

3. Collect some of the items on the approved list, and start composting!

4. Every couple of days, go out to the yard and put your trash can on its side. Roll it around the yard for a couple of minutes.

5. Add more items from the approved list, as you produce them.

6. When desired, use the rich, dark soil that has been produced!

By the end of summer, we were able to supplement a new portion of our garden with the summer’s worth of “trash” that would have found itself in the landfill, if it hadn’t been for our $15 investment.

Do you compost?  Have any composting tips you’d like to share?