As gardeners, it’s important to encourage the next generation of nature-lovers. Perhaps you have a few kids at home who prefer video games to playing in the dirt, or maybe your 5-year-old next-door neighbor visits to chat while you weed the garden. No matter whether the kids in your life love worms or need a gentle push to get their hands dirty, National Kids’ Gardening Month offers a great opportunity to introduce your favorite young people to the joys of growing.
To get kids interested in gardening, here’s a tip: make it fun! Instead of using them as free labor to pull weeds or rake leaves, plan a few special projects that they’ll love to create, allowing them to take pride in their accomplishments. If you have a dirt-adverse child, start slowly by playing a few games in the garden. A nature treasure hunt, garden bingo, or even a walk through the garden to spot birds creates a sense of outdoor pleasure. Once you’ve pried the Nintendo controller out of their hands and gotten them to admit that nature is pretty cool, move on to stage two: getting their hands dirty!
Some kids will be all in, wanting their own space in the garden to plant. Give it to them—and let them go wild. (The hardest part? Offering encouragement without micromanaging their garden efforts.) Let them decide the kind of garden they want: veggie, herb, flower, pollinator—or a great combination of all! Then, help them select what to grow based on the garden space. Talk to them about how different plants have different needs, focusing on light, water, and soil requirements, and then let them take the lead. Take them to visit your local Master Nursery® Garden Center to wander through the plants, letting the kids pick out plants and seeds that they love. Make sure to pick up some Master Nursery® Bumper Crop® Organic Soil Builder [Eastern & Midwestern Regions | Western Region] to give your garden soil a boost.
If you want to start smaller, or if your child needs a little more encouragement to enjoy gardening, make a container fairy garden with them. An easy, appealing project that marries gardening with kids’ imaginations, a fairy garden offers a great opportunity for kids to express their creativity while playing in the dirt.
A fairy garden creates an escape where imaginations run wild. The minuscule plot includes live plants, tiny statues, and other fun accessories, like a house, furniture, swing, or path. Some fairies like to live under a tree or shrub, while others prefer living where the action is: on a patio, porch, or balcony. Creating a fairy garden in a container offers the perfect environment for kids to place the garden wherever their hearts desire.
Making a fairy garden doesn’t need to be pricey. It can be as basic or fancy as your budget allows. A simple, wide container with a drainage hole, good potting soil, plants, and decorations are all you need. Look around your home, or visit your local Master Nursery® Garden Center to find a wide selection of containers, miniature decorations, plants, and, of course, Master Nursery® Bumper Crop® Potting Soil [Eastern & Midwestern Regions | Western Region].
To make a fairy garden, you’ll want:
- Wide container with drainage hole
- Master Nursery® Bumper Crop® Potting Soil
- Small plants that grow well together. Consider planting all succulents in the fairy garden, or use petite plants, like creeping thyme, violas, creeping phlox, cranesbill, hens and chicks, Irish moss, or any petite plants that prefer similar light, water, and soil conditions. Try adding miniature juniper or dwarf mugo pine as small “trees” in the fairy garden.
- Accessories, like a fairy house and miniature furniture. There are plenty of pre-made options available, or you can create your own. An unfinished bird house gives kids a chance to decorate the fairy house to their preferences.
- Pebbles, marbles, sticks, acorn caps—all make great accessories for fairies.
- If your young gardener isn’t a fairy fan, make it a miniature dinosaur, Star Wars, or Lego-themed garden. Your goal is to encourage kids to have fun with gardening, so let their imaginations run wild!
Check out more fun ideas here to encourage the next generation of gardeners.
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