04/16/99

Snackin' Off the Vine

"Mom, can we have lunch in the garden?" "Sure, boys. Just leave some ripe treats for your sister. She's bringing a friend over for lunch, too."

Alex and David scampered down the hill to the family garden, opened the chicken wire gate and began snacking on plump strawberries, lettuce and sugar snap peas right off the vine. No mother could complain about the sugar content in those munchies!

Planning our snackin' garden was great fun. We found a level, sunny patch of ground next to some birch trees at the edge of our backyard, away from the swings and sandbox. After hauling some old railroad ties down there to establish the perimeter of our plot, we started to dig. Clank! And dig some more. Clank! New England soil, we discovered, has more rock than dirt. Removing all the grass and rocks as we turned over the soil was the hardest part of the whole project. It took five of us, 2 adults and 3 children, two whole days of digging and raking before the dirt was ready for its special fertilizer -- several wheelbarrow loads of aged horse manure from our neighbor's shed. We mixed it into the soil thoroughly.

At first the kids wanted to plant one of every edible plant they saw in the seed catalog, but our garden was too small, so they settled on foods they could eat raw. That eliminated a few, like corn and squash. They love carrots so included a row of those, even though they take a bit of cleaning and peeling before eating. They added bush beans to their list, and strawberries, blueberries, lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and sugar snap peas, the kind you can eat right off the vine, pod and all.

We showed the kids how to plant shallow rows of seeds and cover them with about an inch of soil. They poked a stick through the end of each seed packet and stuck it in the ground to identify each row's crop. We bought two flats of strawberry plants that had already rooted and arranged them over several raised dirt mounds in one corner of the garden. Two small blueberry bushes occupied another corner. I secretly buried a few "surprise" seeds, just for fun.

Finding volunteers to water the garden regularly was never a problem, because the child with the hose not only doused the fruit and vegetable plants, but also sprayed every other plant and person in sight, to a chorus of squeals and laughter.

We didn't have to wait long. The soil in that garden was so enriched by the horse manure, seedlings nearly burst from the ground overnight! The strawberry plants produced fruit first, because we had started them from established plants. The kids, their friends and every passing bird tasted those bright red, juicy berries. Unfortunately, little critters nibbled away the spinach leaves as soon as they broke ground, but everything else grew in lush and delicious. We all snacked in the garden all summer long. Isn't it about time to plan your summer garden?

Unh-oh, I almost forgot to show you what the "surprise" seeds grew. Holy zucchini!

For gardening with kids on the Internet, check out these sites:

All about kids fascination with seeds and dirt

Little Sprouts ? Gardening and your kids

Links to kids' gardening sites ? lots of ideas!

Please send questions or comments to bbruno@snet.net.