Planting Seeds for the Future

My mother had five children in her garden. Even when we were infants, she brought us out to her garden in a box while she worked. Therefore, I can honestly say that I have gardened before I could walk!

When we grew older, she designated a small plot for each of us to plant whatever we wanted. She even ordered special kid’s packets from one of the seed companies. To us, these mysterious green envelopes were the best grab bags we could have asked for. My favorite crops were beets and kale. Mom’s precious agricultural lessons have led me to a lifetime love of growing things and she will always be the inspiration for this essay. If you have children, read these reasons to include them in your garden and if you have never gardened, consider giving it a try with your children.

1. Teaching the value of hard work.

There is an old saying that goes, “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.”

Giving children a spade or rake and showing them how to cultivate the earth beneath their feet teaches them that hard work, the digging of soil and the planting of seeds, yields unbeatable rewards.

I can still recall the deep sense of pride that I felt when my giant kohlrabi won the “Giants” class at the county fair! It made all of my sore muscles well worth the enormous prize at harvest time.

2. Teaching about life.

When children plant seeds, they have the opportunity to observe the cycle of life. They are allowed to see when life bursts from tiny seeds, grows to tender seedlings, develops beautiful flowers, matures into the harvest, and finally fades in the fall.

In watching this process take place, they can begin to understand that all life goes through a similar cycle, that all living things are born, reproduce and finally die. Some of my greatest memories are of running out to my little garden to see if any fresh green sprouts had appeared overnight.

3. Growing healthy children.

Why grow just a garden, when making your children a part of it, not only feeds their souls but also feeds their growing bodies with the very best kind of nourishment? My siblings and I spent many hours “grazing” in our garden. There can be nothing fresher or indeed more pure than plucking a snap pea or a cherry tomato right off the plant.

4. Creating their favorite place.

In this increasingly disturbing world, all children need a safe zone, a sanctuary. The garden offers that, with its unrelenting life, beauty and quiet restfulness. At the age of fourteen, I wrote in my diary that my favorite places were my garden and my room. I loved to sit among the growing plants and just absorb the peace that surrounded me.

5. Giving them control.

Children need a place of their own, a space that they can manipulate and control the shape of. In their busy lives filled with school and sports dictated by grown-ups, it gives them a little power and influence of their own to have that little piece of earth that they and they alone can safely make their own.

My Mom gave us almost unlimited control of the design and content of our little plots. We were given the power to choose which seeds we wanted to plant, where we wanted to put decorative rocks and signs and how to lay out the carefully tamped footpaths and little white fences that we erected around the perimeters to keep out siblings and pets.

Of course not everyone has an acre for a garden, but every child can grow things with just a pot, some soil and a seed. Grow where you are planted. Grow what you can plant.

My Mom knew the value of the garden. She knew that a portion of soil, whether it housed small houseplant in a pot or an entire acre of corn, squash and potatoes it was worth more than gold. She knew the fundamental power of dirt and a seed. Her garden had the power to feed us, teach us, empower us, protect us and fulfill us. What other entity on earth could make such a claim?