Teaching a Child to Garden with a Greenhouse

A friend of mine spent some time last year in Colorado with his grandson over the summer. One of the things they did was plant a small garden. They started by going out and looking to see where the best place among the flowerbeds would be for a garden to be located. He explained that for the region he lived in, you would need a place that would get sun most of the day.

After that important decision, they got on their knees and tilled up a small plot in the flower bed of choice with a couple of garden hand shovels. Once they finished this job, his grandson wiped his brow and stated, "Papa, this is hard work." The garden was about 4ft x 3 ft in size.

My friend had to laugh and explained to the boy that he has a rather large garden, 20 ft x 20 ft, at home that he turns with a shovel and a hoe every spring. It’s something he learned how to do from his grandfather a long time ago. With a great attitude is becomes really easy. Just think about it as good cheap exercise. His grandson was very impressed.

They then went off to the local lawn and garden store to purchase seeds to plant. My buddy showed the boy how he can look at the back of the seed package and see which one of the plants would do the best in the region they were in. They compared the grandson’s region to the one we live in, which is Tennessee to see the differences in growing seasons. By the time they left the store, the young man had a pretty good idea of what and why they were planting what they did. Of course, he also wanted to plant watermelon. After all, he is still a kid.

They got back to the house, planted the seeds according to the package instructions then watered the garden patch and let it grow. By the time my friend had to leave, everything was just starting to break ground. He gave his grandson some last minute instructions and left him on his own.

It seems the young man did a good job and learned a lot that summer. He asked his grandpa for a greenhouse for Christmas so he could grow plants throughout the winter in Colorado. I actually found the one online that my buddy bought his grandson last Christmas and recently asked him how the boy and the greenhouse were doing.

Like all proud grandfather’s he went on and on about how his grandson has mastered growing vegetables and fresh flowers and was already talking about getting another greenhouse to try and expand in his backyard. In seems his son and daughter in law have been able to cut back on their grocery bills because they have fresh produce since their son has done so well growing them. The young man is extremely proud as is his parents and grandparents and gardening has expanded into a family affair.

Since I am a big believer in gardens and the use of greenhouses, I wanted to pass this story on to anyone else who might be thinking about getting a young teenage girl or boy something different and useful for Christmas. I personally cannot wait for my grand kids to get old enough to share my passion for growing my own food.

Litl Propagator Greenhouse
Kid Sized Greenhouse