He looked at me with pleading eyes ...

“Please mom can we buy some baby flowers?”  

I looked into his beautiful baby blues and thought it over.  There was so much work involved in gardening, but on the other hand, there were so many great things he could learn from it.  Teaching my son to nurture through one of the oldest ways known to mankind sure beat a baby doll any old day.  

We stopped and bought a couple of flats of beautiful purple pansies and some tiny white creepers to fill the long empty window box that I had.  We spent the afternoon in the warm sun, a breeze gliding over us.  Getting dirty and making a new home for our ‘babies’ and as we planted, I spoke softly to my son.  “It is a big responsibility to grow something, son.”  

He looked at me seriously and asked me what the word responsibility meant.  I explained that it meant it was a very important job, one that if we did not do correctly, would cause our baby flowers to die.  He looked at me solemnly and nodded.  We finished planting together and continued learning that the sun and water made them grow big and strong just like he did when he ate.  After we were done, we sat back looking at our beautiful mini garden and life was perfect.

He never forgot, even if I did, to water his ‘babies’.  It was a special time for us.  Every night when the sun was sinking down and the day was cooling, we would sit for a while and pull weeds and water our little garden.   We could never walk into the house without inspecting the progress of them.  We laughed together and cried when one of them died and talked about the life cycle.  We learned together and life was perfect in those moments.

There are so many things that children learn through gardening and all of the sites and articles that address these topics seem to agree on some basic lessons that are taught.  Gardening fosters skills like responsibility, patience, and perseverance, as children become solely responsible for the survival of a living thing.  It increases self-esteem, build positive attitudes, and self-sufficiency and they gain the sense of teamwork when working with others.  Patience, and pride are also leaned as a result from gardening.  

It teaches them about science and the environment, that plants need water, food, and nurturing in order to grow, just as they do.  It will help them understand the biology of plants and more about the environment. Remind the children when they eat the produce that they have grown, that the process started from a seed and that the seeds can be found again in the vegetables. The plant completes a circle, ensuring its survival.

There are many ways to make gardening fun and not a chore.  It can be a wonderful learning experience as well as a great time to bond with your little ones.

I found some great fun gardening ideas from Roberta McQuaid in her article Growing Up Gardening.  These ideas provide a unique perspective on ways to make the experience unique and fulfilling

• A heart−shaped plot

• A square, divided into equal sections, each with a different herbal theme.

• A butterfly garden

• If your young child loves the color purple, grow a purple garden featuring only purple flowers and vegetables.            

• On the other hand, what kid doesn’t love pizza? “Pizza gardens” are a big hit! Choose a circular space and plant tomatoes and saucy herbs in triangular “slices.” At harvest, enjoy a homemade pizza dinner for your labors.

There are some items that are easier to grow than others.  Eartheasy.com has a top 10 list of things that are good for beginners. They are sunflowers, lettuce/mescluns, radishes, snow peas, cherry tomatoes, nasturtiums, bush beans, carrots , potatoes and no garden is complete without pumpkins.  Larger seeds are easier for little ones to start with.

Gardening can be soothing to the soul as well as educational.  Those who create with their hands find a satisfaction and freedom in their work.  The end result of seeing the new growth warms the soul.   "To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body, but the soul.  Share the botanical bliss of gardeners through the ages, who have cultivated philosophies to apply to their own - and our own - lives:   Show me your garden and I shall tell you what you are." 

An article I read in the Cordele Dispatch suggests that gardening should not stop in the home either.  Take a field trip to a place like your local zoo to look at the different habitats and point them out to your children.  A botanical garden or a local nursery also provides gardens to examine and lets you talk about beauty and symmetry in nature.

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