It’s springtime and Earth Day is around the corner so what better time to start a garden with your family than now! Whether you live in a city apartment or on several acres of land, or even in a neighborhood with a small backyard, you can grow a garden.
Gardening is an easy activity to do, with a little practice and a few tips and tricks. You’ll reap more than just delicious fruits and vegetables. Stress relief, family bonding, and healthy food are just a few of the benefits of growing a garden with your family.
Gardening is one of my passions as a health coach and I love to help my clients start their own gardens. I have been a Master Gardener in the state of Indiana through Purdue University since 2007, teaching aeroponic and traditional gardening and healing through food in our community.
Like I said, I’ve got a green thumb. But, even if you don’t you can still grow a garden. It’s easier than you think and so worth it, for your own health and your family!
What Are The Health Benefits of Gardening?
Gardening has mental, physical, and emotional benefits. In holistic health, we focus on the body, mind, and spirit, and gardening hits all of those sectors.
When you work in your garden outside your skin uses sunlight to make one of the body’s vital nutrients: vitamin D. Studies show that being out in the sun can reduce your risk of certain cancers. Plus, if your vitamin D levels are low you’re at a higher risk of developing insulin resistance and lower immunity. A little bit of sunlight goes a long way.
For more information on Vitamin D, go check out this article on the website “How Vitamin D Affects the Heart.”
Not to mention, gardening is exercise. Raking, cutting grass, digging, and hoeing are all normal garden activities that get your muscles moving and your heart rate up. That’s exercise, friends.
Other research shows that gardening helps your brain. Analysts found that horticultural therapy, or using gardening to improve mental health, may be an effective treatment for people with dementia. It’s also a mood booster and is often used in the treatment of depression and anxiety and rehabilitation programs.
A family garden is a great way to teach responsibility and good habits to your kids. Teach your child to store the tools away after use. Show them how to work hard, be organized, and be responsible.
Why Start a Family Garden?
In addition to all the health benefits, there are specific reasons you should start a family garden. Let’s talk about a few of those reasons.
First off, it gets your kids moving. You can promote more activity for your child by asking them to bring you various tools, such as a bucket, shovel, or hose. It also gets them outdoors. Children are prone to spending a lot of time indoors, which can negatively affect their behavior and health. Research indicates that time spent in nature offers significant mental health benefits for children.
All of the above reasons also contribute to better sleep. If you have young kids I know sleep can be a sore subject. Physical activity, stress relief, and being outside all help everyone sleep better. All the more reason to start a family garden, right?
To top it off, gardening is a great family bonding activity. Planning, sowing, and tending a family garden offers a shared purpose for everyone. Working together on a meaningful project strengthens and reinforces your bonds and promotes family health.
Gardening has mental, physical, and emotional benefits. In holistic health, we focus on the body, mind, and spirit, and gardening hits all of those sectors.
10 Tips and Tricks to Help You Grow a Garden With Your Family
You’re ready to get your family outside and start gardening. Here are ten tips and tricks that will help make it a success!
Start Small
I know, you just read all the blogs on how to start a garden and probably picked up a few packets of seeds from the store. Before you go digging up your entire backyard, let me give you a tip. Start small. Gardening is fun and easy, but there is a learning curve. If this is your first time gardening, start with a few plants in a small plot. Keep it manageable as you and your family learn the ins and outs of gardening.
Choose High-Interest Plants
When you first tell your kids you’re going to start a family garden, they may be jazzed. Or, they may not…
A great way to build excitement is to choose high-interest plants. For example, do your kids have a favorite vegetable? Choose to plan that one even if it may be more challenging. The joy and delight your children will experience are well worth it.
Plant a Cut-Flower Garden
This is another great way to build excitement about the garden, especially if you have girls. Who doesn’t like to put a bouquet of cut flowers on the kitchen table? It’s even more meaningful if it comes from the garden that the whole family has worked and cultivated.
Who doesn’t like to put a bouquet of cut flowers on the kitchen table? It’s even more meaningful if it comes from the garden that the whole family has worked and cultivated.
Use the Right Tools
Every gardener needs a set of high-quality tools and gardening gloves, and children are no exception. Give your budding green thumb a child-size shovel and hoe, along with a durable pair of gloves.
Cultivate Good Habits
Like many areas of life, gardening success has more to do with consistency than any type of luck or skill. A family garden is a great way to teach responsibility and good habits to your kids. Teach your child to store the tools away after use. Show them how to work hard, be organized, and be responsible.
Give the Kids Garden Chores
Another way to teach kids good habits is to give them garden chores. Set aside 15 to 20 minutes once or twice a week to tend the garden. Show your child how to pull weeds and water the garden. These experiences offer bite-size lessons in responsibility and organization.
Get Creative
Gardening can be fun, especially if you get creative. A few ideas you can incorporate include turning your plastic milk jug into a watering can, using coffee grounds in your soil, regrowing vegetables from kitchen scraps, and transforming old tea tins into little planters.
Eat the Fruits of Your Labor
When you eat the fruits of your labor your children see firsthand the food cycle. They get a better understanding of all that goes into the food on their plate. It teaches them all about healthy food. You can even donate your surplus vegetables to a food pantry and show your kids how to give back.
RELATED: HOW TO CREATE HEALTHY FAMILY HABITS THAT LAST A LIFETIME
Visit Farmer’s Markets
When your kids garden, they begin to understand where food comes from. A visit to a farm or farmer’s market helps them connect the dots even further and fosters an understanding of and appreciation for the earth and the farmers who work hard to bring us food.
Educate Yourself and the Family
You may fail at your first family garden. Some plants may die and some may get eaten by pests. I know, I know that’s not encouraging. BUT, it’s a great metaphor for life and you can teach your kids that if you fail at first, try again. There are always new things to learn about gardening. Continue to educate yourself and your family and you’ll be sure to find success.
Interested in More Health Tips and Tricks?
As a certified Holistic Health Coach, I love to educate my audience on all things holistic health. In addition to serving my one-on-one clients, I share integrative health tips and tricks through my email newsletter. When you sign up you’ll receive weekly insight into what I’m researching and sharing in the holistic health space. We would love to have you join us!
Mandy Patterson
