The Great Outdoors - A Children's Garden

Here is my little garden,
Some seeds I’m going to sow.
Here is my rake to rake the ground,
Here is my handy hoe.

Here is the big, round yellow sun;
The sun warms everything.
Here are the rain clouds in the sky;
The birds will start to sing.

Little plants will wake up soon,
And lift their sleepy heads;
Little plants will grow and grow
In their little, warm earth beds.

~ Author Unknown ~

Throughout my teen years, my parents had a very, very large garden. I watched my father till the ground, create an underground irrigation system and make precise raised beds. Then my mother would step in with seeds and seedlings of all kinds of tasty vegetables and lovely flowers. The garden provided us all an understanding of how plants grow and for the younger children a wonderful place to explore and play.

Now, as a mother myself, I want my children to experience the joy of knowing they grew their own food. However, our yard is small so we made a little children's garden.

While Shane (2) dug the holes, Aidan (5) planted the seedlings - Broccoli, eggplant, tomatoes.

After a few minutes, Shane was distracted by his newly found worm friends and Aidan moved on to planting seeds - carrots & zucchini (Both of which broke above the ground within 2 weeks.)

That evening we put up a plastic fence which proved no match for a certain furry neighbor who had a delicious supper of broccoli & eggplant - Oh well, we tried.

Here are a few good picture books about gardens and plants: