From Wayne Parker,
Your Guide to Fatherhood.
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Gardening is a big deal with many families. Not only does it respond to a father’s natural desire to help his family be self-sufficient, but it connects us with nature and our natural environment. Whether your garden is an acre or more, or whether it is in a window box, gardening can be a real plus for families.

And gardening is a great way for dads to spend productive time with their children and to teach them some important concepts. These might include our reliance on nature, the fragile nature of our environment, the “law of the harvest” and the importance of work and personal responsibility.

Here are a few ideas for growing a garden with your kids, and helping grow kids in the process.

Getting Started

Know Your Soil and Climate. A good garden starts with a careful plan. Answering a few questions about your garden area will help.

• What about soil? Is your soil sandy or is it more clay? If the soil in your garden area is too dense, it will be hard to succeed with a garden. You will need to take some steps to improve soil quality such as mixing in sand, soil with more loam, or you can create a raised bed garden and import all the good soil you need.
  
• How about climate? Does your climate support a long-term or a short-term garden? In some locations, the growing season will be eight months or more. In other locations, you may only have three or four months. You will need to select plants that will germinate and produce within your growing season.
  
• What about location? Is the garden spot in full sun, in partial sun or in the shade most of the time? Different garden plants require varying degrees of sun and shade. Make sure you take these factors into account when planning the garden.
  
• Access to water? Do you have access to water and in enough quantities to succeed? If your area is experiencing drought-induced water restrictions, you may need to choose some drought resistant varieties of plants.

Create a Plan. Whatever your gardening conditions, you need to start with a plan. Draw a scaled diagram of your garden spot, noting the sun/shade combination for most of the typical day. Understand how your chosen spot will operate.

Select Plants. Based on these factors, choose some plants that will work. Make sure if you are growing vegetables, you pick those your family will eat. If you can’t handle beets, don’t grow them even if they meet your soil conditions. Some of the easier plants to grow in vegetable gardens include tomatoes, squash and carrots. Remember that if you are involving your kids, they want a stake in the outcome. If your growing season is long enough, consider home growing pumpkins for Halloween jack o lanterns. If your children love tomatoes, consider planting a couple of cherry tomato plants. Plan ahead for the outcome to be fun.