EARTH DAY GARDENING - An Economical Way To Feed Your Family and Teach Your Kids Where There Food Comes From
With the approach of Earth Day, all thoughts turn to the outdoors and what we can do to improve our environment. Since I am always thinking about food, my first thought in this regard is gardening - specifically, growing things to eat. I wouldn't call myself a gardener in the true sense, but I do love to garden. Really though, the draw for me is the easy access to fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs that I know were grown organically. I pick what I will consume and the rest just hangs out on the plant until I need some more. I don't have a bunch of tomatoes or basil leftover rotting in my kitchen because I couldn't use it all. The plants look beautiful, feed my family and more importantly, improve the environment. You just can't go wrong.
I have had my share of dead plants and outright failures, but I guess you have to suffer some loss to learn success. The more I garden, the more fearless I become too. If a seedling dies, I'm fine with it because the only thing I lost was the cost of the seed. It's amazing to me how much food you can grow with a little packet of seeds that costs a few dollars. Actually, there are so many seeds in the packet, you can split them with friends.
This year I decided to order my seeds online from Hudson Valley Seed Library. Many of their seeds have been time-tested in New York. Since I am planting in New York, I expect my plants to thrive. I can hope, anyway...
I have two ways of getting my seeds started. The first one is more traditional and the second is, well, my fearless side coming out.
The first way was the one I shared with my class. First I made sure they knew what they were planting. We had bunches of fresh herbs to smell and taste, cucumbers and sugar snaps to snack on while they planted. They each had to bring egg cartons into class which we would recycle into little "growing beds". The plastic egg cartons work the best, but the foam and paper ones are manageable. Small cups work as well. I actually left a note asking my neighbors to leave me their egg cartons on the trash room door and before I knew it, I had enough to hold my seedlings. I cut off the flat top of the egg container to serve as a watering tray, put holes in the bottom of the egg cups and used the other side of the egg cups as a top (like a roof) which held in the moisture.
I purchased peat pods which fit into the egg cups quite well. All you have to do is add water and they puff up into little dirt mounds encased in a netting that can go into the ground when they're ready. Each peat pod gets about 3 seeds and each seed is a plant. The egg cups were labeled with the seeds that they were to hold. We used small funnels and chopsticks to poke holes (an inch is good) into the peat pods, then slid the seeds down the slope of the funnel and into their dirt beds. We brushed some of the dirt over the seeds tucking them in, pulled the cover over, watered and waited.
Within a few days, things like cucumbers started to peek out of the dirt. The parsley took another week. After 2-3 weeks, the little seedlings were ready to go into their lifelong containers (no smaller than 12 inch pots). I hear that the kids' plants are doing well. Mine are very happy - except for a couple days ago when I had to bring the tomatoes inside because it was just too cold.
sugarsnaps foreground and cukes in back
Now my fearless side. The way I do some of my planting is this - open up the seed packet, pour the seeds into my hand, stand over a container of potting soil and SPRINKLE. It's not the most foolproof way of gardening, but if its warm enough, the plants will grow. I did this with watercress, arugula, kale, salad greens and verbena. I also put zucchini and sunflower seeds an inch directly under the soil in the containers. All of them are growing. I was surprised, but really excited.
kale and arugula seeds "sprinkled" in dirt
sunflower seed "sprinkled" in dirt with seed attached
It will be time to harvest in about a month for the salad and a bit longer for some of the others. The best part is that the kids get to see where our food comes from and we can "shop" for it right outside the door.
Try it yourself. You might be surprised at how easy it is. You'll end up eating healthier too - for very little outlay.
Sugar Snap Pea Snacks
A fantastic after-school snack or side dish.
1 lb. sugar snap peas
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. soy sauce
Pick the ends of each snap pea clean, wash and dry them. The kids like this task. Add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a frying pan over high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the snap peas. Cook while flipping and stirring for 2 minutes - don't overcook them. The snap peas will just begin to wrinkle and get dark spots on them. Turn the heat to low and add two tablespoons of soy sauce. Stir over low heat for 30 seconds. Remove from heat and serve.
Next up - berries. I bought these little plants and they are worth every penny...
Posted by Doughremekids Blog at 4/16/2010 2:38 PM 
Categories: economical gardening, vegetables, sugar snap peas, spring, Earth Day, projects for kids, herbs, activities for kids, seed planting, snack recipe
Tags: activities vegetables herbs economical snack Earth Day spring gardening seeds kids planting recipe sugar snap peas
Categories: economical gardening, vegetables, sugar snap peas, spring, Earth Day, projects for kids, herbs, activities for kids, seed planting, snack recipe
Tags: activities vegetables herbs economical snack Earth Day spring gardening seeds kids planting recipe sugar snap peas
It is nice to see the children being involved in some environmental activities. We should always encourage them to take care of our nature, so that; they will grow living in green life.
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