gardening with kids

I don't like to grow things in my garden that I can buy at the grocery store.  I have a few exceptions (spinach, lettuces, green onions), but even with those, there are interesting varieties and I tend to gravitate towards the novelty options.  We use the square foot gardening method and have had fantastic results.  With all of that said, though, I have many failings as a gardener.  I forget to water, and we don't have an irrigation system set up.  I am neglectful.  I forget about things.  The plants that do well in my garden tend to thrive on drought-or-flood and neglect, and I appreciate them all the more for that.

I find it helpful, when trying to garden, to try to keep an eye out for my strengths, since my weaknesses are obvious.  I have had more than one person tell me that after watching my garden for a season, they felt inspired to try their own - that even with a pathetic amount of effort, I could still glean something, and they could surely do better than that.  That's sort of a nice compliment.  I am good at cold season veggies and greens, and I do well with an over-wintered garden.  This year I will try to remember to plant for fall/winter in late August, and maybe get two cold season crops out of the garden before sowing for winter.  Right now, my two little raised beds are in full production mode, and I am harvesting as much baby spinach, lettuce, cilantro, arugula, baby yellow and chiogga beets, pea shoots/tendrils, red mustard, chard, and Aztec spinach as we want to eat.  Spencer and I planted most of it together, and while he previously said he hated salad and refused to eat it, he will now scarf it down when I point out that this is food that he planted and helped harvest.  Something about having made it himself makes it tastier, and even though I have always heard that this was the case, it is still surprising to see it in action.  We've also planted sunflowers and baby corn, which is supposed to be ready to harvest 31 days after planting.  We are enjoying how very, very quickly it is sprouting and growing.

One thing that I have had good success with is over-sowing my seeds - that is, I plant much, much more seed than is ok for the actual growing space.  As the seeds sprout, I thin them, but I don't pull the excess plants.  I use kitchen scissors and trim the young plants at the base, leaving all the roots behind.  I think that this is good for the soil, and it doesn't disturb the roots of the seedlings that I am leaving to grow.  The thinnings make fantastic and very nutritious salad greens, and the plants left behind are eventually thinned to the recommended spacing.  (That is, the spacing for a square foot garden, which is sometimes closer than the package directions might indicate.)  This also lets me thin the smallest sprouts, leaving the stronger and taller seedlings to continue to flourish.  Pea shoots make especially fantastic salad greens or braising options - to the point where any peas I may get are just a side bonus.  I mostly grow them for the greens.  (I do like to grow the purple and yellow podded peas, though, for the novelty.)  If I do get any pods, I can then use the pods to enrich stock for an intensely flavored and delicious soup, and that means I have gotten as much out of the lowly pea seed as possible.  This feels oddly satisfying.  (Here's one recipe - there are a lot of others out there!  I like mine with a touch of cream.)

Spence likes to help in the garden - spreading mulch, pulling dandelions, planting seeds, adding compost - and while his "help" is often not that helpful, it keeps him happy and busy and makes him feel useful.  Also, since he loves to water, my plants are enjoying a more consistent watering schedule.  I like the idea of letting him enjoy puttering around outside.  I plan to do a bean teepee a little later in the year, which I am sure will be a hit.  (I'll use royal burgundy beans to make it easy to see where the harvest is.)  I am hoping the bees won't like it too much.  We picked up garden gear last year, and a few new things this year, to make it more fun for him - a froggie kneeling pad, rubber gardening gloves in his size, tiny shovels and rakes and trowels and so on.  We've found great inexpensive gear at Target, and it actually lasts pretty well.  He gets almost as into the gear as the actual work.  (I think he takes after me in that.)