by Elan Brown

“Mom was a stay-at-home mother who gardened for financial reasons,” says Danielle Eisenberg, who grew up gardening with her mother in Ft. Lauderdale in the 1970s. “She cleared the land herself, made us go to the beach to get the seaweed, to the stable for the horse manure, and she composted everything from the table to put it back into the soil.”

The Eisenbergs are just one of the many Neapolitan families using gardening as a tool to teach their children everything from science to respect for nature. That it’s also great bonding time is an added bonus.

Now a stay-at-home mom herself, Eisenberg and her children, Rachel and Jason, tend a 10-foot-square “in ground” vegetable garden. “It is the best experience for me as a mom to see the joy on their faces as they experience their seeds growing,” she says.

Eisenberg and her children started their vegetable garden about a year and a half ago, and it’s been largely successful. Just like her mom, she cleared the land and dug the earth by hand. She then took the kids to the store to get them their own tools and choose the seeds. She taught her son and daughter how to trowel and plant the seeds. The family gets coffee grounds from Starbucks and composted cow manure from Lowe’s to enrich the soil.

Because Rachel is just six and Jason is four, Eisenberg weeds the garden alone so they don’t pull out the delicate seedlings along with the weeds. But the children are old enough to enjoy the all the rewards the family is reaping from their little garden. 

Feeding the Family

Kristin Cibelli is another gardening mom who advocates gardening with kids. Her children, Riley, 8, and Dylan, 10, have been gardening for several years. They garden with their grandmother during their summers in Wisconsin. During the school year, they garden at the Village School, and at home they tend a 5-foot in-ground garden. Cibelli wants her children to feel the empowerment that comes from contributing to their family.

“Gardening is the perfect place to let that happen,” she says. “They can see [the process] firsthand, from planting the seeds to the harvest to the kitchen.”

Third-grader Riley says the best part about gardening is “when your pumpkin grows, and harvesting parsley for our family meals. I like to get the carrots. They taste better from the garden than from the store.”

“Our plan this year is to increase our garden size and grow a lot more vegetables,” says Cibelli.

Next year, they will garden in raised-bed containers for a better harvest. A raised bed is an above-ground planter of any size. They are often used because native soils are not as good and can build up nematodes and pests. They also reduce the need for pesticide poisons. Raised beds encourage organic gardening.

Container Gardening with Kids

Mike Edwards began gardening with his two children, Mark, age six, and Sydney, seven, last season. Squeezed for space, the family planted all kinds of herbs and vegetables in containers.

“We took them to the market and let them pick out the seeds they wanted to grow,” says Edwards. “After they had their seeds, they planted their containers and were responsible for their care.”

From seeds, Mark and Sydney sowed basil, oregano, garlic, chives, thyme, rosemary, parsley and cilantro, in pots. They even grew beets, mustard greens, tomatoes and spinach in containers. In addition to what the kids picked out, mom and dad planted cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant and string beans for the family harvest.

“We bought organic soil for the planters as well as the [container] beds. Many of the stores are now carrying it,” Edwards says.

Getting Started

If you’re intrigued by the idea of a family garden, consider starting small, with one or two containers, on a very small patch behind the house, or in a simple, raised bed. Limit yourself to a few easy-to-grow vegetables, herbs and/or flowers so that your children will feel successful and want to continue. Learning the basics is relatively simple, and the rewards are huge. Imagine the smile on your child’s face as they harvest eir first vegetables or make a bouquet with those first flowers.

So, grab the kids, a few gardening tools and some seed packets! It’s time for everyone to get dirty hands and build happy family memories you’ll all cherish for years to come.

Good plant choices for kids:

carrots; potatoes; beets; radishes

pole beans; nasturtiums

cherry, pear and grape tomatoes

blueberries; herb 

Gardening resources:

Driftwood Garden Center on US 41 has quite an array of herbs right now. Cilantro, lavender, dill, fennel, lemon grass, chives, sage, savory, rosemary is just a short list.

For an affordable raised-bed garden system that you can build, look on the Web for sites such as www.seattleoil.com/Flyers/Earthbox.pdf

Seed Sources:

Home Depot, Lowe’s, Food and Thought Market, Seeds of Change, and Echo Farms in Ft. Myers all carry kids’ gardening seeds. 

Elan Brown is the gardening teacher and developer of the Children’s Garden at The Village School in Naples.