Back when I was just a young kid, around the age of 5 or 6, I remember being out in the back yard with my dad as he turned over the soil, buried his food waste (which I later learned was a great way to add nutrients to the soil), and got the ground ready for the upcoming gardening season. It was a ritual that compares to professional athletes training for an upcoming season. My dad took it that seriously.
Little did I know then that the lessons he would teach about gardening would stay with me to this day. In fact I have adopted the same getting ready ritual that he had. My dad has since stopped his gardening practice for health related reasons, but I feel that I carry on that tradition that he learned from his father (my grandfather).
By watching my dad, listening to what he had to say, I learned a variety of things about gardening, that you just won抰 learn in a high school classroom (at least in NJ anyway).
For starters he taught me about composting; long before composting was associated with going green. Most people have what is called a composting pile, but for my dad抯 garden he kept it simple, by digging a 1 to 2 foot hole and burying his food waste. Worms (and other micro organisms) find the food, eat it and their castings create the best nutrients your soil can have.
He taught about aerating the soil and turning it over to give the ground proper drainage as well as the many other benefits that go into keeping the ground loose.
From watering techniques, to rotating crops and any other lesson you can learn all tied into one basic lesson and that was a father spending time with his son teaching him valuable lessons about the environment on the small scale of home gardening.
I have since modified the process a bit by starting my gardening practices inside the house long before the cold weather breaks. I do this because today, through many of the home and garden centers out there you can buy greenhouse kits for less than $7.00. This gives me the opportunity to get my son involved in gardening before the warm weather hits. There is nothing more exciting than teaching your children, and then watching their eyes glow as that first seed you plant finally breaks through the soil producing a plant that will eventually yield vegetables.
Whether you are a novice at gardening or far more experienced than me, gardening provides a way for you to connect with children that you might not get with sporting activities.
Take up gardening today and work with your kids in teaching them this great environmental activity. Who knows, you may learn something about yourself along the way.
