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Teaching Kids About Organic Gardening

By: Grace Alexander

Teaching kids about organic gardening can have a lasting and positive impact on their lives. The best way to do this is by starting a small organic garden of your own. If you live in the country, clearing and preparing a small plot is easy. If you live in the city, don't despair: a 4-foot-by-6-foot box made of wood that is lined with heavy plastic and filled with good earth can be a fine little garden.

Choose simple plants

Start with garden plants that are easy to grow, such as lettuces and green onions. If your soil is soft and deep enough, you can grow a cherry tomato plant and a few carrots. Radishes also are easy and fun to grow, as are peppers and sweet snap peas. You want your child's garden to be a success, so be prepared to give reminders about watering and weeding. Pitch in and help when required.

Organic gardening is all about using natural options to keep pests away and to encourage your plants to grow. Explain to your children that pesticides that can be sprayed on to keep bugs away are poisonous, and some of that poison can leach into the food you are growing. Plant a border of marigolds to help drive away some predatory insects, and consider ordering a batch of ladybugs online to control aphids.

Enjoy the harvest

Check the garden daily, hand-picking any loitering bugs and disposing of them. Make sure the garden is getting enough water, but not too much, and show your child how to trim away dead leaves and thin out rows to make sure each plant has room to grow. When it is harvest time, you can carefully pick your vegetables and wash them. Try out some new recipes to demonstrate how great organically grown food can taste.

Teaching kids about organic gardening should begin with fun and end with enjoying the fruits of your labors.

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