4. Plan the Layout
Teach your children measuring and planning skills by mapping the space where they’ll plant. Even in an apartment with a small balcony or rooftop area, you can use containers to create something useful. If you have a small backyard, you can till up a plot of ground and let the kids plan where they’ll put different plants.
Guide them toward successful combinations. For example, adding marigolds around your garden’s perimeter can repel pests. Use planning as a learning tool to teach organic gardening principles.
5. Identify Good Pests
Garden biodiversity helps plants thrive and attracts local wildlife like insects. A roe deer might venture up and nibble your corn if you live in the country. Remember that corn grows well when the weather is hot, so your corn may not thrive during a cooler summer. However, kids love watching the tall stalks shoot up, so it’s worth an attempt.
Teach your children to identify these helpful insect species:
- Marmalade hoverflies pollinate plants.
- Springtails break down organic matter, enriching the soil.
- Ladybirds eat aphids and other harmful insects.
Learning how to grow food with natural pest-control techniques teaches your sons how to protect the local ecosystem while they enjoy eating the fruits and vegetables they harvest.
6. Camp in the Garden
Adding a sunflower grove to your garden provides summer shade and can create the perfect camping spot on a warm night. Looking up at the stars through the stalks of the flowers is an experience that sticks with kids. Depending on their age, you can make it a theme night and project a film onto a nearby wall or blow-up screen.
Sowing Seeds That Last a Lifetime
Gardening with your sons is about more than planting seeds, watering shoots and pulling weeds. Through these lessons, kids learn patience, self-preservation, ecology and responsibility.
Our modern world is full of noise, distractions and chaos. A few quiet moments outdoors give everyone a break from screens and improve family relationships. Gardening with your children builds life skills and memories they’ll cherish forever.
Jane Marsh is the founder and editor-in-chief of Environment.co where she shares practical tips on how to live a greener life.
