Teaching children to garden has benefits that last beyond harvest

Rebekah Boley, Brianna Boley, Nicole Saxton, Christopher Saxton and Jennifer Saxton harvest food to be donated to a local food pantry through the Hidden Lake Gardens Junior Master Gardeners program. Photo by Karen Gentry.

Junior Master Gardeners program

By Sue Van Fleet
GateHouse News Service
Apr 27, 2010

Excerpt:

“Kids love to play in the dirt,” says Stephen Boley. “At least my children love to play in the dirt.”

And once spring hits, many an adult is ready to do the same, as they prepare garden beds, visit greenhouses and get ready to enjoy one of America’s favorite pastimes.

But involving children in gardening can be more of a challenge, says Karen Gentry, education coordinator and horticulture educator at Hidden Lake Gardens in Tipton, Mich. Part of her mission is to get kids less focused on technology and more tuned to nature. The benefits can extend beyond better nutrition and exercise, she says, as they often grow up to be good stewards of the land.

Boley and his wife, Kathleen, of Fairfield, Mich., have seven children ranging in age from 1 to 12, and “all of them are out there” in the garden, he says. “They all want to help.”

The most helpful, perhaps, are their two eldest, Brianna and Rebekah, who have gone through the Junior Master Gardener Program at Hidden Lake Gardens.

Brianna, 12, enjoys the planting and harvesting.

“It’s a chance to get away from the house and get outside,” she says. “It’s fun to do — to plant things and go to the store and pick out what you’re going to plant.”

Involving kids in choosing their own seeds or plants is one of Gentry’s tips for getting them interested in gardening. She also suggests providing them with their own designated space for a garden and guiding them toward plants like carrots and radishes that grow quickly.

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