A wonderful benefit of growing vegetables, fruit, and flowers is the interaction it allows with children.

The gardeners at Lake Highlands Community Garden are raising a healthy horde of vegetable eaters and young nature lovers.

This month, I'd like to share some gardening tips I've have learned when dealing with the kiddos at the garden.




Check it out:

Gardening with kids is a special endeavor that requires some unique guidelines.

Time: Kids are not on the same clock as adults, who want to stay until the job is done.

So how can you prepare for a happy gardening interaction with a child?

Here are some ideas to keep in mind:

• A good guideline is 5 minutes per year of age, with some other variables.
• For a typical 6 year old, this means they could handle about 30 minutes of gardening time.
• Siblings change the equation.
• In the case of our 6 year-old, subtract 29 minutes (5 min x 6 years) - 29 minutes = 1 minute
• Friends have a more positive influence. Add 15 minutes (5 min x 6 years) + 15 = 45 minutes
• Bring a snack or let them graze in the garden; add 10 minutes
• Ask them to squish cucumber beetles; add 10 minutes
• Ask them to load mulch in the wheelbarrow; subtract 20 minutes
• For every degree over 90 degrees; subtract 5 minutes

The main idea, of course, is to allow for flexibility, which isn’t always easy when you're trying to get through your garden work list.

If you have a big, tedious job, it will be easier to ask your parenting partner to do something else with the kids that day.

Safety: There is a balance between exploration, safety and destruction.

Make sure kids understand the garden rules and are old enough to follow them.

General safety rules to consider include:

• Using lots of sunscreen
• Always wearing closed-toed shoes
• Staying out of neighbors' plots
• Placing tools in the proper place for safety
• Staying within eyesight
• Watching for things like poison ivy areas and fire ants

Fun! Here are some ideas to bring fun to the garden plot:

• Let older kids bring a camera and take pictures of interesting bugs, flowers and plants
• Designate a corner of the garden to digging, planting, watering and other kid exploration
• Keep a bucket and kid-friendly hand tools ready
• Scavenger hunt: make a list of bugs and plants that the kids can find in the garden
• Stop and smell the flowers, or watch the ladybugs, lizards, and other critters
• Take the kids to the nursery, and ask them what they would like to grow
• Assign a plant to each child to help them understand how to care for it
• Eat it as you pick it!