Take a kid gardening for spring break
By By Steve Strong / area horticulture agent
March 12, 2003
The older I get, the more often I find myself relying on the phrase that "Wisdom is Wasted on the Young."
Lately I'm reminded, though, that the statement could not be more wrong when it comes to gardening.
So many folks over the years have contacted the county agent's office with some kind of problem many times the same situation again and again with disappointing results.
Failed gardeners have the frustrated conclusion that they simply have a "black thumb" when it comes to growing plants, all the while recanting a story about how their granny or paw-paw could raise tomatoes like Jesus on the third day.
The connection got lost somewhere along the way. Mom and dad went to college and moved to the big city for good jobs and a better life for their kids. The family spent less and less time returning to visit the old farm place, and it only took a generation or two to lose some of that gardening know-how.
Knowledge about when to plant certain things, how often to lime and what to use for fertilizer became a thing of the past as modern society replaced backyard veggie patches with chain store groceries.
Flower gardening and landscaping became a chore for the local lawn and maintenance firm, and pretty soon home horticulture was as much of a mystery to most urbanites as rocket science.
I realize this scenario seems a bit extreme, but it does help one realize how easy it is to forget your roots and how important they are to your quality of life and piece of mind.
Adults have a responsibility to pass on the wisdom of the garden, with just as much value placed on the knowledge as with computer science, higher math or literature.
What makes gardening with youth so interesting is the chance to pique their interest, challenging them to utilize other knowledge bases to relate to plants and the ecosystem.
Tasks as simple as counting seeds, gauging planting depth and measuring the correct distance for plant spacing are just a few examples. And how about the limitless teaching resource of flower/fruit colors and shapes at harvest time.
Then there are the other elements that come into play, soil critters like earthworms and beetle grubs, birds and butterflies all the little things that connect us to the earth from whence we came.
The sights, sounds, smells and feels that a garden provides teach lessons that can last a lifetime, even from something as basic as the nurturing chore of watering.
Get over the fear that horticulture is something that only others can practice with success, and forget about embarrassing yourself in front of your children or grandchildren.
Remember that you are a genius in the eyes of a child. And for that small lack of information you may require to develop your own "green thumb," there is always the Extension Service.
National studies show that if you first take a kid fishing by the age of 9, the chances are greater than 90 percent that he or she will enjoy the art of angling for a lifetime. Giving a kid a fish can feed him for a day, teaching him how to catch his own feeds him for a lifetime.
It's the same with gardening.
Have fun this week by taking a child to the garden, or to the pond wherever you are most comfortable planting a seed. The enjoyment comes from the experience itself, regardless of the outcome, and you may create a legacy that one day becomes a family "fish tale" or garden storytelling. Just don't let the tale end with the one that got away.
