Small Space Gardening for Kids
Earlier this year, Adam and I both read The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis, and felt inspired to make changes to the way we live our lives here at the cottage according to what we learned from the book. As part of that lifestyle shift, we decided to grow much of our own produce here at home. So we began converting our sunny 8’ porch into a tiny grow zone.
I’ve shared the following quote before, but I’m doing so again because it was this particular passage that helped me visualize exactly how I wanted to start our growing efforts:
“Every vacant lot, every grimy unused alley, has been repurposed and turned into a shady grove. Every rooftop has been converted to either a vegetable or floral garden. Windowless buildings that were once scrawled with graffiti are instead carpeted with verdant vines… Things that used to be done individually are now done communally— growing vegetables, capturing rainwater, and composting… In community gardens, on rooftops, at schools, and even hanging from vertical gardens on balconies, food sometimes seems to be growing everywhere.” - The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis
That passage made me feel like every space — no matter how small — is an opportunity to plant and nurture something green and good, both for the planet and for our bodies.
As discussed in a recent post, we got two 6’ tall Farmstand growstands from Lettuce Grow (which we are absolutely loving). But we also wanted to create some raised garden beds so that all three of us could tackle growing fruit and vegetables in containers in our compact outdoor space in this big city.
I’ll share our hack for creating the raised beds in the near future. But first we started out by getting some seedlings going in compostable egg cartons.
We’re attempting to grow several different plants on our little porch, from carrots to tomatoes to squash. We’re expecting plenty of failures, of course, but we’re hoping for some successes as well. To experiment, we’re trying a mix of soil types— some enriched with compost, some peppered with small doses of rinsed coffee grounds, and some sprinkled with fragments of nutrient-rich soil amendment courtesy of our FoodCycler.
West has been helping with it all, planting seeds and tending to the Farmstands. But we also got him a Root Viewer, so he could plant radishes, onions, and carrots and then watch them grow downward over time.
This family activity has been productive and entertaining as we shelter at home during the pandemic. I’ll share more from our experience soon, as this is just the beginning of our greener journey together.
