Gardens: They're Fun Stuff!

It's just about Springtime, or it's going to be soon.  (I promise, Boston, it's going to be, soon!)  And springtime around here, means Garden Time!

Seriously, my family loves having a garden.  They love planting, they love watching all those little seedlings poke up through the dirt, they love making yarn-and-stick trellises for beans and peas... okay, they don't totally love weeding, but they don't mind too much.  Many hands make for light work and all that.

We had a great garden in Utah, no garden at all in Massachusetts, and have big plans for one here.  We can't wait!!

No matter where you live, or what your circumstances are, there are endless reasons to grow a garden!

You Will Save Money
Growing your own food can save a lot on your grocery budget.  A single head of lettuce will continue to give leaves all summer long.  For the same price, you can buy either four cucumbers or one cucumber plant that may produce dozens of cucumbers over the next few months.  From a money standpoint, it just makes sense to plant a garden.

It's a Teaching Tool
Planting a garden provides learning opportunities for you children that can't easily be duplicated other places.  Hard work, patience, and the satisfaction of a job well done will be priceless lessons throughout your child's life.  Memories of being out in the sunlight and fresh air with your kids will be way better than those memories you have of sitting on the couch and watching Power Rangers for the six thousandth time.

There are also a lot of very practical lessons to be learned.  A child who watches a seed grow will understand plants better than the child who simply reads about them in a class room.  Younger children can learn skills like counting, color matching, and sorting as the learn to identify which plants are ripe an ready to pick, and which are not.

Most of All: Gardens are FUN!
Free food at your fingertips all summer long, what could be more fun than that?

My little cutie, watering the peppers.

Make sure to plant "snacks" like snap peas, cherry tomatoes, or carrots.  When your kids are playing outside and get hungry, they can simply go get a snack from the garden instead of coming into the house and begging you for a sugary treat.  We always have what we call a "salsa garden" because we'd just go out and pick three kinds of peppers, tomatoes, garlic, onions, and whip up a quick salsa.  Nothing better.

Enjoy!


Kate