Family Garden
At dinner table one evening, my husband came up with the idea of growing a family garden… Well, my kids and I were shell-shocked, as he does not have a green thumb, while my kids and I occasionally indulge in gardening and tending to our plants in our back yard.
He said that it was just an excuse for the whole family to do something to gather outside. Seeing his enthusiasm, we decided to go ahead. We chose a medium sized patch for cultivating our “family garden”. In a family garden, you could be grow vegetables, flowers, arrange or decorate potted plants, water, trim, or even mow the lawn. We chose to grow flowers.
Some points to remember while growing a family garden -
Select the type of garden that everyone in the family would like to grow, flowers, fruits or vegetables. What to plant also depends on the season, type of soil, amount of sunlight, etc? If in doubt, ask the staff at your local garden store for planting advice.
Make it a point to have a plant for each member of the family. If your kid’s plant is not growing well, find out the reason and make necessary changes so that the plant can grow. If possible, you can also replace the dying plant with a new one.
Gardening tasks should be delegated according to age. Kids can water the plants with hose or water can; teenagers can trim the hedges or help in digging the soil. If your small kid wants to help in digging the soil, bring out plastic gardening kit that a spade shovel, water can, bucket, etc.
Dress up while working on growing a garden. Dads / Mom can don gardener’s overalls, wear a sun hat, etc. Kids can wear rain boots, plastic construction hats, etc. Dressing up is fun.
To make your garden look more beautiful, decorate it with painted stones or create designs with broken flowerpot pieces. Paint wooden roods or make a boundary with bricks of different shapes, size and patterns.
Growing a family garden means spending time together. Make it a point to tend to it every day or two. Lastly do not make gardening a chore for kids. Let them enjoy what they do best.
It’s been two months since we started growing our family garden. We can see our plants growing daily and the excitement is unmatched.
