Pumpkin Planting
Saturday, October 27th
10:30 am

Plant your favorite fall flowers in a pumpkin!
Ages 5 and up $3 Fee

Scarecrow Stuffing
Saturday, Sept. 22nd
10:30 am
We provide the frame & straw, you bring the clothes (long-sleeved shirts & pants are recommended)
Ages 5-12 $5 fee
Be sure to sign up to reserve a spot!

Mini-Moss Basket Event
Saturday, June 16th
10:30 am

Get your hands dirty while making a mini-moss basket!

A free event for children ages 3 and up.
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Fairy Garden
Saturday, July 28th
10:30 am

Explore the world of miniature-sized gardening. Create a garden fit for a fairy by using mini-plants and bonsai.

Ages 5 and up. $10 fee
Be sure to sign up to reserve a spot!
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Water Garden
Saturday, August 18th
10:30 am

Take a fish home in style! Make a fish habitat and water garden by using water plants and decorative rocks.

Ages 5 and up. $10 Fee
Be sure to sign up to reserve a spot!
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Make a Windsock for Mom
Saturday, May 12th
10:30 am & 12:00

A free event
Ages 5 - 12

Join us for our traditional
Easter Egg Hunt
Saturday, April 7th

Make a bunny bag for your goodies

Craft project at 10:30 am
Egg Hunt at 11:00 am
A free event for children of all ages!

Plant a Mini-Greenhouse
Saturday, March 24th
10:30 am & 12:00 pm

Ages 5 - 12
$5.00 Fee
Call to reserve a spot!

A lot of families will be going out for this Memorial Day Weekend, to beaches, parks, and BBQs, but many families will dedicate at least one day of their extended weekend to stepping out and digging in to their gardens. Finally getting those summer annuals and vegetables cleaned up, or in the ground even. Don’t let this be a “Dad chore”, let the whole family, especially the kiddos go outside and get down and dirty.

Someday I want to buy a house. I don’t have a clear picture in my mind of the house itself, but the garden I can see perfectly. The most important part of my dream garden is the vegetable patch. I think this comes from so many summers, so many loving hours spent outside with my grandmother planting and tending her vegetable patch. There were zucchini, carrots, radishes, one year we even had corn, and always there were the sweetest strawberries I have ever had in my life. Coming outside to pick the little red jewels on summer mornings to pop into my mouth with juicy fingers... I want to do that again. I want my daughter to be able to do that. There were the great “Tomato Worm Hunts” trying to spy the fat green rascal out of the greener tomato leaves. There were the lady bugs, and butterflies, and the birds. There was the rhythm of nature felt in the bones that gets lost to us as we get older and stay indoors more.

Gardening is a gift that you can give to your children. It’s time spent learning hands-on about how the world works, time spent hand-in-hand with you. There is not much as satisfying to a young mind as plucking a huge zucchini from the vine that you planted and watered yourself... that you protected from the snails (those buggers!). Don’t get caught up in the “chore” of gardening. Remember it’s not a chore, it’s a rich and grounding experience. Don’t deny that experience to your kids. Get them their own little gardening gloves and watering cans and send them out smiling. They’ll thank you for it.

For more on this topic see this article in The People (UK), and at Kids Gardening and Gardening with Children.

Ic Berkshire has an excellent article on Introducing Kids to Gardening. There as some great ideas for fun projects, especially as most parents still have a month to go before school starts. Got to find something to keep them busy!

This is a fun project that takes very little work, and only requires the investment in some packets of Sunflower and Pea Seeds.