Gardening is something I do well.  Being a mom is also something I’m pretty good at.  Gardening with kids seems like something that shouldn’t be too far removed from natural for me.  Sort of like cooking with my child.

I am the proud mama of one very cute 4 year old.  However, teaching my curious child to garden has been a bit of a trick.

I always knew I would teach my children to garden.  It’s part of who I am.  All of my friends thought that instead of English being my child’s first language it would be Latin.  Sadly, he has yet to memorize binomial nomenclature.  When my son was 2 I thought it would be fun for us to plant some flowers together.  The thought of putting his hands in the soil was like asking him to run out in the street and get hit by a car.  Most recently he has developed a strange fear of Douglas fir cones.  I believe he thinks they are bugs.  Worms were the enemy.  He picked up weeds I had pulled with two fingers to throw them toward the bucket.  But like every child he loved flowers.  Every day he wanted to pick me a little bouquet of pansies.  What’s more, he couldn’t be bothered with dandelions.  He wanted the pretty colors and interesting shapes.  That’s my boy.  I saw that he liked plants.  I just had to foster that.

It has taken two long years of dragging my child out into he landscape to find the beauty in getting dirty, but they were two years well spent.  This year my son is taking an active roll in planting our vegetable garden.  He helped me build my greenhouse, he helps plant the seeds and he asks every day if we can go check on our squares to see if anything is coming up.  Success!

How exactly did I get from point a to point b?  Perseverance.  That and a little bit of “you are going to do this”.  Only at his pace though.  If he was done digging or raking he was free to roam about the garden at will.  I also exposed him to all kinds of fun activities.  We visited nurseries, gardens and I even hauled him to the Northwest Flower and Garden Show this year.  Much like a well producing asparagus patch I’ve cultivated my own little gardener.

In the end it is paying off, for him and me.  He gets the benefit of fresh air, learning about how plants grow and spending time with mama.  I get to see a new little gardener take shape and get help outside.  It’s a win win for everyone.

This year I’m really taking off with my gardening efforts with my child.  Like I mentioned, he helped me build my greenhouse and is slowly helping me fill it with pots of seedlings.  He is responsible for his share of the garden space and we’ll be creating a few special containers just for his plants.  Of course I’ll keep you updated on how you can become more involved in the garden with your child.  It doesn’t take much to pique their curiosity.

As you can see, he’s overcome his fear of worms.