The Kids In The Back Yard Garden For Science 101

A garden is a great way to teach children hands-on science! Last year, our family finished something my husband and I had dreamed about even before they were born. In our old house, we had a garden that did quite well. After we moved, my husband had the lawn treated for weeds and we just never could figure out where to put a garden so as not to allow the run-off from the weed killer to filter in. We also didn't want to completely destroy our backyard with a dug up spot of dirt which looks like nothing more than a dug up spot of dirt in winter months. But, we found the right location and built a fence around it. It is at the very top of our back yard hill, where there is no danger of run-off from weed killer or lawn treatments.

This year, we got a late start. But, a couple weeks ago, we planted our seeds for our garden this year. In fact, they're already sprouting in our little home-made greenhouse. The kids have a blast planing the seeds and watching them grow. They even love harvesting them. But, somehow they don't really enjoy the particular veggies I chose last year. So, this year we're hoping for the best with plants I will probably regret planting as they spread. But, it's all in the name of science and love.

We currently have sprouts coming up from the pumpkins, radishes and sweet corn. Much to my children's turned-up noses, I'm hoping the green peppers make it too. Last year, we had a good crop of those. I would also like to get some tomatoes in the ground, but will probably purchase some plant starts for these since we're rather late in starting them from seeds.

There's so much science in a garden. From a pre-school level understanding to a graduate level, there's much to be learned. From the moment your child is big enough to get their hands dirty, they can begin to understand the science of nature and food. There is a study in vitamins and nutrients that come from each particular plant. There is the study of environment and recycling and natural fertilizers. There is the study of molecules and so much more. Watch for the glint in your child's eyes and take it to a full-fledged learning opportunity.

Back yard children garden producing more than a first bloom

Woohoo! We managed to get our garden set up and plants in the ground this year after extremely rainy days last year that prevented us from doing so.

We logged science hours as we got our hands dirty planting seeds in a little tray inside our house in early spring, watering the seedlings, watching them grown & then transferring the seedling plant into the ground inside the garden gate once we thought the last frost had passed.

Today, when the children went out to water, they were so excited to discover a bloom on one of the squash plants. They were jumping up and down and so happy. The fruit of all their work and waiting is starting to show in the form of an orangish yellow flower.

All this reward and excitement over a bloom of a vegetable they won't even eat. It leaves me to wonder how excited they would have been if they liked the taste of squash!

The kid's Recycled Organic Back Yard Garden in a 30 Second Video

We've actually got the seedlings into the ground in the garden and have been watering every day! Here's a 30 second video of our progress:

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

We had a good week in regard to progress on the backyard garden. But, also had our first disappointment. After getting everything in the ground, and watering for a few days, we went out today to find two tomato plants broken off. We have not yet determined if it was due to over zealous children watering them or from a bird or squirrel or such. But, we hope the remaining plants grow.

We used an online program where you can click and drag plants onto a virtual garden to help plan it, along with a book called Good Companions, about what to plant side by side to prevent common pests and help specific vegetables grow. Now, all we need is advice on a lemon tree as that's what my son wants.

In our effort to stay organic and recycle, we used the sides of a plastic milk jug to write the plant names - And, as strange as it sounds, they turned out really cute. I cut the circle section of the sides and then formed a tear drop shape to stake it into the ground.

Once again:

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Going Green with Back Yard Kids Garden Saving Money on the Food Budget

Last year we started a project at our house: A Kids' garden. We thought it would be a great project to not only save money on vegetable expense eventually but also a great Science lesson and learning experience for the kids. We began by painting a fence to go around the garden.

But, last year brought tons and tons of rainy days making it very difficult to get this accomplished let alone get any seedlings into the ground.

We ended up planting our seedlings in containers and watching them grow on our deck. We even managed to get a little corn on the cob out of those containers.


As amazing as this was to watch grow and to even eat a small portion of what was edible, we still wanted to have an actual plot of ground set aside for the kids to have their own piece of the earth to plant things and watch them grow. This year, we started our seedlings which are flourishing in the house by a window and ready to put in the ground.



Meanwhile, we've managed to get the garden almost completely ready for their new plant residence.




We've painted the garden fence and added a screen to, hopefully, keep out rabbits and such.

We also plan on going green completely as we do not plan on using pesticides or weed killers, and we plan on planting specific herbs and flowers to keep away pests such as marigolds to keep dogs away & basil to assist in the growth of our tomatoes. Our hopes is that our children will enjoy this and actually want to eat their green veggies by the end of the season.