A Raised Garden Bed + Gardening with Kids

This post is sponsored by Harvest Organics. The opinions expressed as 100% my own.

One of our favorite things to do as a family is to work in our garden. Matt usually takes the lead each spring and plots out the logistics of the planters, while Peighton and I decide what we’ll grow. Gardening with kids is not only is it a fun activity for us to as a family, it’s a fantastic teaching tool for the girls. They have the opportunity to learn up close how our food is grown and what work is involved. Each year we’ve learned a little more about the process of gardening and what works for us.

Today I thought I would share some tips for getting your kids involved in gardening.

Tips For Gardening with Kids

1. Decide and design your garden area.

Decide on how much space you want to commit to gardening. When we first started we used 5-gallon buckets to grow tomatoes and peppers. That worked so well for us that we still plant our tomatoes in those same 5-gallon buckets. The container gardens are easily managed and easily accessible to kids. This year, we upgraded our container garden to a raised garden bed that Matt built. While we loved the 5-gallon buckets, they can get a little messy looking if you have more than a couple. The raised bed is the perfect size for us. Peighton pulls up the step stools and checks out the garden daily.

2. Let them take part in the process

Each season, Peighton and I decide together what vegetables we’re going to grow. I like to include a few plants that grow quickly and that are enjoyable to harvest. Peighton loves picking grape tomatoes, green beans, and carrots. We also discuss the seasonality of plants, we decide how many of each plant we’ll grow, and then eventually we plant them together as a family. Both of my girls love getting dirty so we incorporate them into the planting process.

3. Use quality soil

Whether you’re growing flowers or food, you want healthy plants. We like Harvest’s organic soils because they are “clean” dirt, ensuring your gardens grow without added chemicals, pesticides, and preservatives. We use the Organic Raised Bed Mix for our garden bed. Since Earth Day, Peighton has been so interested in helping the Earth. I love that the soil we use not only grows healthy, but we get to do our part in helping reduce landfill waste and improving our planet.

4. Give them responsibility

Children love nothing more than being in charge of something. Peighton’s job is to water the plants (with help from dad), check for new growth, and to search for bugs. She takes each of those responsibilities so seriously. She reports back to us with any new blossom or a slight hint of a new veggie growing. She also loves looking for bugs that have made a home in our garden. She and Matt research together to make sure it’s not invasive or dangerous to our garden. It’s such a great learning opportunity.

Do you have any tips for gardening with kids? We absolutely love this time of year and getting our hands in the soil. It’s so fun to grow our food. It always tastes better when you grow it yourself! Right?
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