MacGregors Garden

This is a fun garden to grow and even more fun to eat. You will need the following supplies:

Seeds of lettuce, kale, Swiss chard, onions, parsley, carrots and radishes. Several small flower pots or containers, potting soil and a watering can. Have mom or dad take you to a discount store to buy the pots or planters. Stores like the Dollar Tree or Family Dollar sometimes have seeds and garden supplies on sale this time of year.

Fill each container or pot with potting soil, wet the soil, let the water drain away, and then sprinkle a few seeds on top of the soil. Don’t cover the seeds.

You will want to mark each container, so you will know what is planted. Here’s a good idea. Use white plastic forks and write the name of each vegetable on the handles of the forks. Use a permanent Magic Marker so the writing does not fade. After you have sown the seeds, gently place the fork teeth into the soil making sure the handle is pointing up out of the soil. Place the pots in a sunny area. Be sure to water them once a week.

MacGregors Garden can also be planted in a regular garden space. Ask your parents or grandparents if you can have a small corner of the garden all to yourself.

Sharing Seeds: Ask a few of your friends would they be interested in gardening with you. Flower and vegetables seed packets have so many seeds, more than enough to share. If four of your friends had gardens, you could swap seeds with each other. Trading and dividing seeds would be a neat way to end up with different varieties.

When school starts, ask your teacher could you start some seeds in paper cups for the class. Most schools have big windows, with wide sills, and you could line the cups up so they would receive sunlight. This could be a class project, and everyone could bring a few seeds from home. Easy to grow seeds would be lettuce, carrots, parsley, chives and basil.

Another cool idea is a sweet potato vine growing in water. You’ll need a wide mouth mason jar and a big sweet potato. Fill the jar half way with water and insert the potato. Place the jar in a sunny window. In about 2 weeks you’ll see roots form on the part in the water, and the part out of the water will have green shoots on it. Keep the jar half filled with water and in the sun. In no time, the vines will grow along the window sill, and you’ll like the pretty green leaves.

You can also plant an ordinary onion in a container of potting soil. Just place the onion pointed end up in a small flower pot and cover it half way with soil. Keep the soil moist and place the pot in a sunny area or window. In about 2 weeks, green shoots will emerge. These shoots are delicious in salads or omelets.

Happy Gardening Little People.

~ Meadow Walker