Every time I look at our garden I’m reminded of how easy and beneficial gardening with kids can be for a family. Children are naturally curious and the garden is a great place to fuel their curiosity.

How to get started
We started our first family garden in 2020, in our backyard. Since I had very little experience with gardening I joined our Community Garden which provided our family with seeds and seedlings at low cost. The community garden also mailed out a growing schedule which I relied on heavily that first year of gardening. Since 2020 we have moved to a new state and no longer have our community garden friends but we’ve picked up some new tips that have made gardening with kids easy and fun regardless of your location.
- Read a few gardening picture books with your children to get them excited about gardening.
- Choose a sunny place outdoors.
- Start small, choose one or two pots for each child. In the Spring you can find cheap pots at dollar stores. You will also find pots in the garden section of hardware stores.
- You will only need 1 bag of indoor/outdoor potting mix for your plants. We like to buy organic potting mix, which is more expensive but it’s choice our family makes.
What should I plant?
If you follow this plan, I can assure you that your kids will be happy with their gardening efforts.
Plant the following
- Something that grows fast! Kids want results and waiting days for a plant to germinate and then grow it’s true leaves is agonizing. Try bush bean varieties. Bush beans are pretty much green beans.
- Grow flowers, flowers take longer to grow but children will can enjoy watching their plants get taller and the buds swell before the bloom. My recommendation is Zinnias, they grow tall, the colors are bright, they attract pollinators and they keep blooming all Summer.
- Grow what you eat. This may sound like a no brainer but sometimes kids grow something that won’t eat, I mean even I’ve grown things that I won’t eat. But what a bummer to wait a few months to harvest your food and then not eat it. Try strawberries (but a plant don’t grow from seeds) or herbs to add to your meals.
So your kids are excited about gardening, you’ve purchased pots, potting mix and seeds. Now you’re kids are ready to start gardening or are they?
Use the back of the seed packages or use USDA website to determine the best planting date for your seeds. In the USA we have something called “Plant hardiness zones”. Essentially that means if you look at a map of the USA you could draw squiggly lines from the West Coast to the East Coast that help you to know when to plant your garden. There are 13 zones and your sunny spot of yard falls into one of them. Do yourself a favor and look at the zone map to find out which hardiness zone you live in. This is also a great job for an older kid who is helps in the garden but needs a little more of a challenge.
Hardiness Zones
Before moving to Florida I didn’t pay any attention to hardiness zones when gardening because I had the community garden resource. If you are like us and don’t have a community garden resource then finding our your hardiness zones is going to be a great benefit for your kids and you in the garden.
Your hardiness zone will determine what can grow where you live.
When your last frost dates (late Winter/Early Spring) and first frost dates (Autumn/Early Winter) will occur. You don’t want to send your kids out to the garden while they ground is still frozen, those poor seeds won’t like being outdoors when it’s that cold.
The type of soil you have, this isn’t really important if you’re growing all your plants in pots. But if your flowers are in ground this may be helpful. Zinnias grow in our Florida sugar sand and my sister’s Missouri clay soil, so they should do just fine wherever you are.
Once you’ve determined your planting dates it’s time to get those seeds in the ground.

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Where should I purchase seeds?
We purchased out Zinnia seeds from Dollar Tree and so did my sister and they are doing phenomenally well.
Plants seeds are available at Walmart, Target and hardware stores, I mentioned that we purchase organically and all of these major retailers carry organic seeds.
If you want to support family businesses then I recommend Baker Creek Seeds, they sell heirloom seeds as well as organic and rare seeds.
What are the Benefits of Gardening with Kids?
Time outdoors, kids will automatically spend more times outdoors watering their plant and looking at it. If they plant a fast growing bush bean they will definitely want to get outside to inspect it daily.
Exposure to the plant life cycle. Watching a seed grow into something with vines, leaves and flowers is better the reading Jack and the Beanstalk. Children will experience life cycle of a plant firsthand, and just you wait, they’ll be so excited to tell everyone they know about their very own garden.
Sharpen observation skills. Kids often see things that adults simply don’t, this may be because we’ve seen it so many times before and are no longer enamored but it or because we can’t see it. Children are typically shorter and see things from a different vantage point. They will notice if something happened to their little garden overnight they will may not catch.
Intrinsic value increases. Your kids will take pride in nurturing their garden. Even if their garden is one potted plant they can take ownership that they are watering and watching it grow. When your child grows zinnias they they can cut the flowers for a display. You talk about a proud moment!
Effort. The garden will take effort, this may not translate for toddlers, but preschool aged kids and older will notice when their garden isn’t doing so well because the gardener forgot to tend it.

Is gardening with kids considered Montessori?
The answer is a resounding YES! Gardening with kids is absolutely Montessori. Maria Montessori included intensive Botany and Zoology lessons for children as young as 3. A garden is a natural classroom that allows children to follow their own interests whether that’s watering, weeding, planting, harvesting or observing.
Kids in a garden have the benefit of movement which is important in the Montessori method. Even a small garden the consists of potted plants involves movement. Your kids will fill their watering can or cup and then walk to the plant to pour the water. The can lift and move their plant to a sunny spot if it isn’t getting enough sun. Larger potted plants can be watered with a hose, which involves several gross (large) motor skills, unwrapping, pulling, tugging, aiming the water and walking around the garden.
Time spent in the garden is time well spent. Gardening with your kids will lead to wealth of benefits beyond the list I included above. Try to prove me wrong if you think I’m bluffing.
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