Planting vegetables in your and your kids’ garden is a great way to build a connection with their food source. But to get the most out of it, planning is key! Here’s how to effectively plan a family vegetable garden.
The bright illustrations of the seed catalog beckoned us, reminding us of spring among the dreary February slush. The cover featured gnomes frolicking among eggplants and tomatoes. With my older son sitting next to me, I opened it up, my eyes scanning the options.
“What do you want to plant?” I ask him. His mouth twists in thought. “Tomatoes. I want to plant tomatoes.”
“We’ll definitely plant tomatoes,” I say, nodding.
It was garden-planning time once again. Each year, as we find ourselves sick of Washington D.C.’s endless freezing rain, this season comes along to greet us with hope.
Perhaps it’s my background in understanding the connections between things in nature, perhaps it’s my focus on sustainability and minimizing interference after the fact, or maybe it’s just my love of to-do lists, but planning is the most important step of gardening for me. Even though the garden itself often ends up a bit of a mess, I always start with a solid plan.
Planning has become even more important with kids. Thankfully, getting kids involved in planning from the beginning is a great way to introduce them to gardening.
Here’s how we plan our kids garden:
Evaluate your space and family’s abilities
Knowing what resources you have available is the most important part of making your plan. Personally, I find my scarcest resource is time. As parents, it may be yours too!
If you’re planting a garden for the first time, think about what size garden you can handle. The bigger the garden, the more work it is. You’ll plant more, water more, and weed more. If you’re strapped for time, start small. You can always expand the following year.
Even if it’s not your first year, it’s still good to evaluate pressures on your time. If you’re a relatively new parent, some people find the toddler years more stressful and time-consuming than having an infant. Obviously, adding another child to your family can have major impacts as well! The year my younger son was born, my garden provided some serious respite, but was also a bit of a disaster. Even with older kids, Saturday morning sports events or other weekend activities can restrict gardening time.
One thing that can actually increase your resources is having your kids help out. Last summer, my three-year-old did some harvesting, minor weeding, preparation, and a good amount of watering. If kids are willing, even little ones can make substantial contributions!
Beyond time, take a look at your land (or community garden plot). Where is the sun coming from? How much of the day is the spot in shadow? How close is it to a water source? What is the soil like (sandy, clay, good?) Do you have critters nearby who will think your garden is a snackbar? All of these variables can make a major impact on how successful your garden is. Taking them into account now will save you a lot of time and energy later on. You want to work with nature as much as possible instead of against it.
Once you know your resources, you can plan accordingly. In our garden, we have soil heavy with clay and a yard full of weeds. To save a lot of time and effort, we practice lasagna gardening, which supplements the soil and minimizes weed growth. Because our rain barrel is on the other side of our house, my husband ran a hose to the garden. Knowing we have a groundhog that lives under our deck and deer that hang out in the nearby cemetery, we have a fence up around the garden.
Think about what has worked in the past (or not)
If you’ve gardened before, your experience is going to be one of your best resources. We’ve tried growing corn and large tomatoes several times and we’ve never had luck getting more than one or two vegetables. Instead of fighting it, we just get those veggies from our community supported agriculture (CSA) box instead.
Even if a plant grows well, you may not want to plant it again. We grew chard one year. It grew like a weed, but only a few days in, I realized I don’t like eating it. We’ve never grown it again.
Pick what plants you want to grow
This is one of the best roles kids can play in the process! My older son (nicknamed Sprout) loves to look through the colorful seed catalog with me. As a kid, I loved browsing the spinning rack at the garden store with my mom. The possibilities seemed endless!
While most kids won’t normally get excited about vegetables, choosing what to grow really sparks enthusiasm. Pick fruits and vegetables that your kids like to eat and talk about what dishes you might make. If you’ve grown them in the past, discuss why you may (or may not) want to grow them again. This year, Sprout loved remembering the zucchini we grew last year that was almost as big as his little brother.
Choose what varieties work best for you
While not all places will offer a choice of varieties, take advantage of the choice if you can. For us, buying seeds adapted for our region is essential. Summers in Washington D.C. are hot and humid, so having plants that resist bugs and fungus is huge. For the southeast U.S., I’m a big fan of Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. Seedsavers also offers varieties specific to a particular region. Small Footprint Family offers a great list of 10 seed companies focused on sustainability.
Other aspects you may want to consider are if the seeds are organic (the plant they are from was never treated with chemical pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides), heirloom (passed down several generations, often within families), or bred for certain characteristics. Again, anything you can do to work with your conditions instead of against them is going to make your garden more productive and easier to take care of.
Consider what plants work best together and where to plant them
As you’re deciding which plants to grow, think about how well those plants will grow together or not.
It’s best to get plants that will complement each other space-wise. For example, both sweet potatoes and squash are ground-running vegetables that can overtake a garden. If you plant both, put them on opposite sides of the garden. Similarly, cherry tomatoes tend to spread out, so unless you’re religious about trimming them, they’ll wander far from where to plant them. They inevitably overtake other, smaller plants if you aren’t careful.
If you have too many big plants, think outside the garden gate. Maybe you can plant some close to the house or even in a children’s garden. Sprout wants to grow sunflowers this year in the raised bed children’s garden we built the kids last year.
In contrast, some plants grow beautifully together. These are often called “companion plants.” The classic pairing is the Native American “Three Sisters” pairing of corn, beans, and squash. The squash leaves keep down the weeds, the corn stalks give the beans something to grow up, and the beans make nitrogen from the soil accessible to the nitrogen-hungry corn. Check out other companion plants in this great list from Urban Farmer. By combining plants in this way, you can take advantage of their best attributes and save space as well.
Plan out your gardening calendar
Besides your garden’s location, it’s essential to consider when you plant your garden. The key date is your area’s last average frost date – the last day on average that temperatures drop below freezing at night. Plant your seeds or seedlings too early and they’ll freeze and die. Plant them too late and an early hot day can shrivel them before they’ve grown. Plus, the earlier you get plants in, the longer they have to grow and the more produce you can harvest.
One way to get your plants in earlier without putting them in danger is to start seeds inside. There are also some plants that only do well if you start them inside, like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant. If you’re starting seeds, check the back of the package to figure out the right time to start them. Figuring out your planting schedule is a great opportunity to teach younger kids about the calendar and older kids about project planning and management.
Planning out a kids garden can seem like a chore or can offer a world of possibility. With a kid or two by your side, it may be just a bit easier to embrace that vision of opportunity.
For more on gardening with kids, be sure to check out How to Create the Best Low-Maintenance Garden with Kids. If you want to talk to more green-minded parents, join our Green and Sustainable Parenting group on Facebook!