Gardening with Kids

Gardening with children can be so fulfilling, for you and for them. Whether you are a teacher, a friend or a parent, you can enjoy some real quality time with the children that you care for.

There are a few ways to make it fun for them. Remember to have fun, encourage silliness and be open to the children’s ideas. Kids really enjoy getting outside with adults and creating something. Try to include things in the garden that the kids will really enjoy. Have them set up hummingbird feeders, spinning wind catchers, wind chimes, and make vegetable markers or signs. The more colorful and personal they make it, the more they will love it.

Using hummingbird feeders, spinners and chimes will help give the kids some instant gratification. It’s a lot more interesting than simply putting a seed in the dirt and walking away! Set up a craft table in advance and let the kids decorate and design whatever they can think of to stick in the garden. They can use construction paper, index cards, glue, glitter, beads and even seeds to decorate signs. Use some laminating paper or dip in melted paraffin wax to waterproof signs.

Sprouting seeds indoors is fun for kids and lets them see how roots grow towards the water and how leaves open up towards the sun. Simply placing seeds on a wet paper towel and putting them into a sandwich bag will make them sprout rather quickly. Then they can be placed in the dirt and have a better chance of survival than if you had only placed the seeds in the soil.

Kids love the idea of introducing beneficial insects, butterflies, frogs and lizards into the garden. Do a little research about your area and find out which insects are beneficial. Your local nursery can usually provide you with useful information on which insects to introduce and where to get them. Using living creatures to protect the vegetables from invaders is not only fun, but beneficial. Teaching children how to garden organically will not only help them to ingest and absorb less chemicals now, but as they grow and plant their own gardens in the future. Organic gardening is more fun, safer and better for their health.

The fun isn’t over when the garden is planted. Kids love to catch bugs and worms and then introduce them into the garden. They can learn about recycling and composting while adding beneficial compost to their garden soil. It will get richer by the year if you avoid chemical fertilizers. Let them water with interesting containers or spray nozzles for the water hose. Get an automatic hose reel and let them do it all by themselves. One with forward assist and automatic hose retrieval makes it easy for even very young children to feel important and participate in the family fun. Happy gardening!


About the Author: Stacy Pessoney is an award winning author and writer of web content for many different web sites. She is well versed in many different areas, including gardening, hose reel, lawn care and landscaping.

The Organic Gardener

Organic gardeners are notoriously obsessed with their organic garden. After all, it is an endeavor that can take many years to perfect. The organic gardener has most likely spent more time studying about organic gardening than they have cumulatively spent doing it.

The organic gardener is probably very passionate about their compost. Getting that compost to the exact carbon to nitrogen ratio may become an obsession. With exactly the right amount of moisture and air, the compost will become black gold in the organic gardener’s eyes. Composting is almost a requirement for becoming an organic gardener. If you are in the organic gardening circle of discussion, you better know your stuff about composting!

The next major interest of organic gardeners is balancing pest control with leaving beneficial insects alone. Chemicals and man-made materials are strictly forbidden, so do not even think about using that ant killer to get the ants out of your garden. About ninety percent of insects are beneficial to your garden and some organic gardeners decide to let nature take its course and leave the bugs alone. But what if they are eating your vegetables? Then you really have to get serious about crop placement.

Crop placement is everything to the organic gardener. If you have to get rid of the hornworms eating your tomatoes, you would probably plant marigold around it. Garlic can deter Japanese beetles and so forth. If you are serious about being one with nature, then you will gently redirect bugs that inconvenience you with plants that they do not like. This leads up to the need for a garden journal.

The first time you plant an organic garden, you will probably have some catastrophes. You need to keep a journal of problems that you encounter so that you can prevent it the next year. Organic gardening involves a lot of advance planning and prevention of suspected problems. Keep track of the order that you plant your garden in and adjust it as necessary. Garlic, onions, basil, peppers and marigolds are common plants that repel most insects that annoy us or destroy our crops. Figuring out what bugs are annoyances in your area will be something that you need to ask fellow gardeners about or find out the hard way.

Getting your organic garden just how you like it may take you a few years. You will still enjoy the endeavor, the health benefits and the learning experience of going organic. You will not need to purchase fertilizer, pesticides or weed killers ever again. Using nature to support nature is rewarding and fun. Just get that hose from the garden hose reel and water. With a little studying and record keeping, you could have your dream organic garden sooner than you may think.

About the Author: Stacy Pessoney is an award winning author and writer of web content for many different web sites. She is well versed in many different areas, including gardening, hose reel, lawn care and landscaping.

Going Green! Organic Gardening

Organic gardening is all the rage and for good reason. Risks to pets, people and the environment are just beginning to be understood. Becoming an organic farmer takes a little planning. Typical garden problems need to be proactively managed as opposed to correcting them after they happen.

Pesticides and toxic chemicals can build up in your system or have long-term effects on your health. Pesticide exposure has been linked to nerve damage, cancer and birth defects.

Children and infants are at a dramatically increased risk for damage done by chemicals and pesticides. Children have excretory systems that are still developing. This means that they are less able to rid their bodies of chemicals consumed. Chemical damage can alter the biology of their bodies permanently, causing all sorts of problems. Developing organs and tissues can suffer when chemicals block absorption of nutrients.

Needless to say, avoiding chemicals and pesticides in your garden is a good step towards protecting the health and well being of yourself and your family.

To grow an organic garden, you need to anticipate problems that you may encounter. Keep a garden diary to document problems that you encounter and treatments that were effective for you. This way, you can adjust your planting patterns and types of plants each year. Many people find that it takes a bit of research to really have a successful organic garden.

If you have had a garden in your area before, you probably already know what to expect. For example, you may be able to predict that your garden will get fire ants and rabbits will make themselves at home. If you already know what you will be up against, preventing problems will be easier. Talk to your neighbors if you are not sure.

Prevention is key. You really do not have to worry about many bugs. Nature has a good balance of its own and over ninety percent of bugs will not harm your plants. Simple organic solutions can help you keep bugs and animals that you do not want out of your garden.

For example, human hair spread around the garden will keep out rabbits. Lavender and basil deter ants. Rosemary will repel mosquitoes. The way that you arrange your plants can help protect certain vegetables, too. Garlic and peppers planted around tomatoes and squash will help protect them from harmful insects and rodents.

Finding the right balance of beneficial bugs and plants may take a little time and effort, but the fruits of your labor will be well worth it. Once you have the right combination of plants, caring for your organic garden is as simple as watering. Keep your garden hose on a hose reel for quick and easy access. You will love your organic garden and how easy it is to take care of.

About the Author: Stacy Pessoney is an award winning author and writer of web content for many different web sites. She is well versed in many different areas, including gardening, hose reel, lawn care and landscaping.

Organic Garden with Ants

Ants can be a problem in a garden. They eat beneficial bugs, such as ladybugs. They also help aphids to survive. Ants generally do not harm plants, but may inflict painful stings on humans. If you are growing an organic garden, want to control ants, but do not want to use harmful chemicals and pesticides, you are in luck.

First, consider controlling the number of ants, not getting rid of them all together. Ants can aerate soil, keep wasps away and eat larvae of other insects. Caterpillar control is the best reason to keep at least some of the ants! But, they can sometimes spread diseases from one plant to another, encourage aphids and other unwanted insects to come to your garden, and will sometimes kill certain plants. Carpenter ants are the most harmful to vegetable gardens. Most ants, however, only eat sugary nectar or the excrement of aphids and are not harmful to any plant.

Simply watering daily can keep ant numbers down. It is not effective at getting rid of them completely, but it will make them uncomfortable and can help you avoid a real invasion. Soapy water seems to work well, but may also discourage beneficial insects from making a home in your garden. Almost all bugs are beneficial to your garden, so be selective about what you actually eliminate.

If they are truly bothersome to you, consider planting a barrier of plants that ants cannot stand. Any mint, cloves and lavender are best at repelling ants. Mint will spread and will grow back year after year, sometimes taking over an area. So, if you use mint, you may consider growing it in containers instead of directly in the ground.

There are a host of plants and herbs that can take care of most bothersome insects in your organic garden. Some even add nutrients to the soil and make certain vegetables taste better. For example, chives repel pests that usually attack fruit or tomatoes while improving the flavor of your carrots. Garlic is known to repel more pests than any other plant you could put in your garden. Beets and soybeans add nitrogen and magnesium to the soil. Dispersing onions and garlic through your garden can even keep rabbits from eating your vegetables.

If you actually create a planting chart and do a little research, you can encourage the most beneficial insects, such as bees, centipedes and microscopic nematodes. At the same time, you can repel the more damaging insects simply by strategically placing plants in certain areas. Improve your soil, improve the taste and nutrient content of your vegetables and inspire growth simply by planning out where you want each plant to live.

Growing an organic garden is rewarding, but expect it to be a bit of a challenge. Learning about how plants and insects benefit each other is a great place to start. Consider letting nature take its course for the most part. If ants are your only problem, then you are doing very well! You can allow them to make their tunnels, aerate your soil and pollinate your plants. If you really want to keep them off of certain plants, put ground hot peppers, molasses or double-sided tape around the stalks of certain plants. Keep your garden hose reel handy for occasional ant population control and your organic garden will be yours again.

About the Author: Stacy Pessoney is an award winning author and writer of web content for many different web sites. She is well versed in many different areas, including gardening, hose reel, lawn care and landscaping.