Feel like gardening? No I don’t mean that long laborious time in the 95 degree sun. I mean introducing your son to growing things for pleasure and for use. My sons have enjoyed getting out in the dirt and growing things for years. Their desires and tastes have changed over the years but the idea of making something grow to eat or give pleasure has always made them happy.

If you are living in a climate that does not allow you to get to the ground yet, there are many ways you can start your garden in a small space indoors or on a patio until it’s time to put it in a pot or the ground. If you are in a climate, the southwest, west or southeast, now is the time to get things outside and started. Many people say that planting should be done in February, however if you planted in February this year you most likely lost all the plants due to the unseasonal freezes the country has had. If you live in a country other than the U.S. then you know when you should start your plants indoors or outdoors.

Let me give you a few tips when it comes to gardening with children. If it is to be a task, then it is work, then it is not enjoyable. If help your son have a goal for his plantings, then it will be fun and something to look forward to when plants start to sprout and produce. Let’s talk about what kind of gardening or planting you and your son want to do. The age will have a lot to do with your choice of planting. Have an age appropriate conversation with your son about what his likes or dislikes are as far as planting is concerned. Perhaps he wants to grow something pretty in a pot. Perhaps he loves tomatoes and he wants to grow a couple of plants. Maybe he likes green beans and would like a couple of bushes.

Your and his decision will have to be based on a few things. What kind of property do you have? Is it large enough for a small garden? If you do not have any property and live in an apartment with a balcony, tomatoes make fine potted patio plants. If you live in an apartment without a balcony, the indoor plants can range from a cactus garden, bromeliads, or even an orchid (they aren’t as tough to grow as people make them out to be!). Another thing we will have to consider is his age. Younger boys might want to get a large ceramic or terra cotta pot and plant several annuals in it and be responsible for watering and picking off dead blossoms.

If your son is a little older and you have a 5x5 piece of ground that he can have for his own, he can plant pretty flowers or he can raise green beans and tomatoes. I am sure he would take pride in knowing that he is helping in these hard economic times by putting food on the table. I mention tomatoes and bush green beans because their crop yield is big and growing them is easy. It is pretty much no fail and we don’t want our new gardener to fail at his first attempt at growing.

If you are in the climate that requires you growing them inside at this point, you can find a Jiffy Greenhouse in Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowes or any other home improvement store or gardening center. These are wonderful. They are little dirt pellets, 72 in a tray, add water, your seed, put the clear cover on, and POOF! You have sprouts! When it comes time to transplant them, pick the entire plant up and simply put it in the hole you have dug in your garden. The clear cover gives the tray humidity and you can keep an eye on how they are sprouting. People of all ages use these. For the youngsters it is incredibly easy and great to watch the seeds start to sprout. For older kids, they can get several of these and start their whole garden. For adults, it is so much faster and economical to buy seeds, put them in the Jiffy tray and simply put them in the ground. You don’t have to stop to thin the plants; each plant has their own pod. I 100% recommend this type of tray for starting your plants.

If your son is very young, let’s start out with a task that is simple and not overwhelming. If he is in higher end of elementary school then he is ready for his 5x5 garden. If he is in Jr. High School, he is ready to make his own decision about how much he wants to take on for his first garden. My boys long out of high school, but they have always dug up a garden spot in the back of the property that is about 40’x25’ to grow tomatoes, green beans, radishes, peas, corn, green onions, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, cantaloupe, lettuce, broccoli, and what else they decide that year.

I first taught them to grow things when they were little. We started with annual seeds. The next year beside the annual seeds, we added the garden and it was a family event. Over the years the garden got to be the boy’s playground for growing. I would go and harvest and they did the weeding. Yes, the weeding. Please take in mind that there are weeds in the gardens that have to be pulled out!

Chemicals. Let’s not use them. We don’t need to have our boys exposed to them and truly organic growing has been on the rise for many years now. No need to put chemicals on our hands, or to breathe them or to ingest them. I will write an article about organic growing next week so you will feel at ease with the no chemical tomatoes your son is going to grow for you!
Here is a great link to show you what a Jiffy Greenhouse is. You can order them from this site or go to a local retailer. I see that the prices are kind of high here. I bought mine for 6.00 at Wal-Mart. Maybe you can too!

http://www.google.com/products?sourceid=navclient&rlz=1T4TSHB_enUS236US237&q=jiffy+greenhouse&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=-GHBScvfJJiqMvKYtaQN&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&resnum=1&ct=title