Plant A Seed. Eat Your Garden

SUSTAINABLE LIVING | by DEBRA PRINZING

OPEN AN ENVELOPE OF RADISH OR CARROT SEEDS, pour a few tiny grains into your child’s hands, and encourage him or her to sprinkle those seeds onto the soil. Within a few weeks, young leaves will emerge, soon followed by harvest time — when crops of veggies can be picked, washed and eaten straight from the garden. Your kids will have the healthiest snacks around.

SOURCE: iSTOCKPHOTO.COM

Gardening can be any parent’s secret agenda to teach children that vegetables and fruits don’t always come pre-cut and shrink-wrapped from the supermarket. My boys, now 13 and 17, learned to garden in a postage-stamp-sized city backyard where two 4-by-8-foot raised beds yielded organic raspberries, strawberries, heirloom apples, sugar peas, carrots and beans. While playing outdoors the boys were free to graze on fruit, vegetables, herbs and salad greens. Since we used organic practices, it was safe to eat straight from the pea patch.

Here are some more kid-friendly ideas:

• Make it colorful. Plant playful varieties of seeds, such as ‘Thumbelina’ carrots (2 to 3 inches long, they’re ideal for shallow or poor soil); ‘Easter Egg’ radishes in a colorful array of red, white, purple and pink; and ‘Bright Lights’ Swiss chard, with neon yellow, hot pink and vibrant orange stems (delicious and colorful in stir-fries and soups).
• Grow in small places. Plant all the ingredients for a delicious and fresh-from-the garden salad in a sunny window box. Even a single cherry tomato plant in a container will yield a menu-enhancing crop.
• Make room for herbs. Tuck basil, parsley, thyme and mint plants around the edges of larger containers or planting beds. Ask your children to assist you in the kitchen — send them out to pick the aromatic leaves to season a pot of soup or garnish the chicken. They’ll enjoy helping!