Monday 18 April 2011

Plant seeds

One of the most important things that I have been learning about is food security. Namely, growing as much food as I can on the land that I have available. A great way to teach children about this idea is to help them plant seeds, or if they are older, help them plan out a section of garden that they will be responsible for.

This time of year in Calgary, good seeds to plant include: herbs, lettuce, squash, cucumbers, and any other plant that needs to be started about 6 weeks before the last frost. Young children would benefit most from quickly sprouting seeds like lettuce that can be grown to eating size in your window in about 3 weeks.

Be sure to plant in a container with drainage holes and use organic potting soil with compost or worm castings mixed in. Have your child mist the seeds each day.
Micro green mix planted in a spinach container with holes poked in the bottom and the top cover used as a drip tray.

In 3 weeks, we had a beautiful salad mix to eat for pennies.

Let me know what you plant with your children this week!

1 comment:

  1. Congratulations Sara!

    I think what you are doing is fantastic. Teaching our children about food and where it comes from is the best thing we could be doing with our education system. Good luck with your endeavors!

    Jester Suzuki

    www.sustainableurbanfoodfarms.com

    ReplyDelete