When we moved into our house with my very own backyard, I knew I would want to have a little garden. I never expected to become an actual gardener.
One of my favorite aspects of gardening is how much time I spend outside and because of that how much time my son spends outside with me. Even if he is just playing with his trucks next to me, I prefer that to hearing, “I’m bored” on repeat inside all day.
Year one: What’s growing on here?!
We started out small during that first spring in our new house. I mainly wanted to see what was already growing back there before adding to it. I inherited some beautiful daylilies, tulips, daffodils and my personal favorite, milkweed. It’s my favorite because it is the host plant to monarch butterflies which are frequent visitors to our garden. Don’t worry – they’ll be a separate feature on our healing butterfly garden!
Year two: World’s biggest zucchini
Our second spring in the new house happened to be the start of the pandemic. Because we were mainly confined to our house and backyard, we spent a lot of time experimenting with gardening.
We took out any plants we didn’t want (including a dying tree, a ridiculous amount of ground cover and bushes galore.) I went to Home Depot and picked out some petunias, a rose bush and some lavender. My son helped me pick them out and decide where we should plant them.
We chose mostly perennial plants that come back every year. If I had known then what I know about gardening now, I would have made a long-term garden plan, but I will just blame that lapse of judgment on COVID-19.
Next, we decided to try some vegetables and herbs. My mother-in-law gifted me with some basil and mint she grew, and we added parsley to our herb collection. We then picked out a few vegetables including one soon-to-be giant zucchini, tomatoes and cucumbers.
Last summer there was a tornado in our area. After the clouds cleared up and the sun came out, I ran out from the basement to check on my garden. My gigantic zucchini plant toppled over and it was hashgacha pratis (divine providence) because underneath the plant was a zucchini over two feet long! Apparently, if you let one vegetable get too big, the plant will focus all its energy there and not produce more. Once I picked my massive zucchini, the plant gave us a steady supply of zucchini until early fall.
There are so many fun (and helpful!) ways to include kids in gardening. My son’s favorite gardening activity is adding mulch to the garden. I gave him a bucket and he filled it up and spread mulch all over the garden last year and this year.
I ordered some kids gardening gloves off of Amazon and bought an inexpensive kid-sized shovel at Harbor Freight.
Year three: “When life hands you dirt, plant seeds.” -Matshona Dhliwayo
Fast-forward to this year, we decided to take gardening to the next level. We went to the store and picked out some seeds, potting soil and an indoor greenhouse kit. It sounds fancier than it is, but really just consists of some cells and a tray for the plants-to-be.
My son filled the cells with soil, poked a hole and dropped each seed in. Then we made sure to water them whenever they looked dry. The biggest challenge for us was that we started in freezing February and I didn’t buy a grow lamp or heating pad so it took longer for the seeds to germinate.
Once they finally sprouted, my son and I would check on them every day and it was so exciting watching them grow. We had one unexpected setback. Due to construction on our kitchen, one of my seedling trays toppled over. In a beautiful life lesson in resilience, many of the plants survived. I did lose quite a few and in case you were wondering, I cried actual tears over my plants.
As soon as they were big enough (and it was warm enough here in Chicago) we transplanted them outside. My son dug most of the holes for them and we suddenly had a garden! It isn’t the most glamorous garden, but it’s ours and we love it.
Step-by-step I researched (mainly on YouTube) what to do. I used the Old Farmer’s Almanac to find out what I can plant and when it can be planted in my region. This year I was a little overly ambitious with how much I planted at the same time. It would have been much more manageable to start with growing one or two vegetables and herbs from seed rather than all at once.
Now that all our plants are in the ground, my son helps me water them every few days and is very excited that we have our first pea pods almost ready to pick. I’m so grateful that I get to share in this hobby with him, bonding every step of the way, and hopefully, he’ll actually be inspired to try more vegetables because he grew them.
Getting the garden started
I recently had a friend who wanted to start gardening with her kids, but wasn’t sure where to start. I recommended she start with one or two plants and learn how to properly tend to them by watching helpful YouTube tutorials. Get kids involved by having them perform little tasks like watering, raking, digging holes, dropping seeds in or even using a toy truck to smooth out the soil.
My son started with those tasks, and now at five years old knows how to identify most plants, properly water our garden, prune tomato plants, pick the right weeds and his favorite task, adding mulch using toy buckets. I could go on and on about how beneficial gardening is for my physical and emotional well-being. It can be a lot of hard work, but is so unbelievably rewarding, especially to share with kids!
Last week, my neighbor had a playdate over for her daughter and near the end she was starting to get a little homesick. She brought her over to my garden, my son gave her a tour of all the vegetables and butterflies, and it kept her calm until her parent arrived.
Watching plants grow, especially from seeds is so special, and there is nothing like eating garden-fresh vegetables. I spend hours in my garden picking weeds, tending to my plants and just enjoying my own little urban slice of nature. I find it incredibly calming and look forward to spending a lot more time in my happy place this summer!
Almost ready to harvest! (7/9/21) From left to right: carrots, onions, garlic, pole beans, beets, tomatoes, basil, broccoli, cucumbers, zucchini, eggplant and assorted flowers + native plants!
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