Flower Beds

[mamamanda]

I don't have space for a garden this year, but I'd love to put in a couple small flower beds that the kids could tend to. What kind of rules/routine do you have with the kids & gardening? I'm picturing the rows of flowers being ripped out as soon as they bloom. :: I'd like to have some firm boundaries with it but still let them do most of the work/enjoying it. Any tips? I have a 6 yo who will be home for the summer & loves planting/tending, but the rest of my crew is under 4.

[mamamanda]

Don't know if I should give them each a smaller area or have them work together in a slightly larger area.

[Blackcat31]

We have two raised garden beds.
We plant tomatoes and peppers.

Tending the garden is done as a group.
Kids are not allowed to touch the gardens alone or outside of the group time.

WHO picks weeds, waters and harvests any veggies is decided upon circle time that morning when we assign the other daily chores/jobs. This helps alot so there aren't a lot of kids all trying to weed and pick at the same time and have chaos....it helps the plants stay alive. ::

The kids like the process and are proud of their efforts so it's a fun thing to do in the summer time.

I thought about doing flowers but there wasn't a lot of lesson content that I could get from that so we did veggies instead. This year I am thinking of adding carrots.

[Ariana]

We had fruits and veggies last year and this year my plan is wildflowers that come back every year to attract butterflies and bees which we talk about a lot. For some reason (probably animals) my fruits didn’t do well and everyone would fight over that one strawberry that grew!

I have a 12x6 raised garden bed and I have watering cans for everyone. I fill the water table with water and they use it to water the garden and fill the bird bath and of course for mud play.

[Ariana]

Was also thinking of doing a planter garden with herbs and a potato planter. I saw a video online for it and it looks pretty cool!

[KSDC]

Following this thread for ideas. There is an abandoned lot next to my house. The town is setting it up for a community garden - and has offered to let my daycare take part in it!

Last year we grew a "Sunflower House" in our play yard that was a lot of fun and really not much work. Sunflowers pretty much grow themselves an we mulched the area to keep the weeds almost nonexistent.

[Pestle]

I tell the kids "These flowers belong to the bees and the butterflies and the hummingbirds. We love to look at them! We don't touch them. We need the flowers to live and grow." They get to sow the seeds and do the watering, and carry the weeds to the compost pile after I pull the weeds up.

For the littler ones too small to understand and obey "No touch!" I just don't let them get involved in the gardening at all.

[Ariana]

Following this thread for ideas. There is an abandoned lot next to my house. The town is setting it up for a community garden - and has offered to let my daycare take part in it!

Last year we grew a "Sunflower House" in our play yard that was a lot of fun and really not much work. Sunflowers pretty much grow themselves an we mulched the area to keep the weeds almost nonexistent.

Another good idea is to make bean “teepee’s”. Bamboo sticks from the dollar store and beans planted at the base. As the beans grow they climb the sticks to make a cool place to play!

[JohnyW]

What is mean flower beds for kids?
I`m new in this forum.Not yet accustomed.
Thanks in advance

[Cat Herder]

What is mean flower beds for kids?
I`m new in this forum.Not yet accustomed.
Thanks in advance

A classroom garden that kids are allowed to work themselves. See below.

[JohnyW]

A classroom garden that kids are allowed to work themselves. See below.

Oh,got it.Did not see, thanks for the clarification on about garden

[CalCare]

I have a ton of fruits and veggies growing and I don't really have rules. I do tell them not to pick green strawberries or tomatoes, "only red!". I did have to train them to not walk on the garden where the seeds were planted, oh and not to dig there again, after we dug and planted! They live to water constantly, I like to man the hose and refill watering cans one by one!