The garden is one of the best places to learn about grace. There is no room for impatience in a garden. The slow process of growing food from seed is an excellent way for everyone to learn the gift of grace and living in the moment. Accepting each harvest with grace and a hope for the future is an important skill that can apply to many different areas of our lives. I know that I now live in the moment and can patiently wait for the future because of this garden gift.
Grace is one of the life lessons I am proud to have been able to give my children. By allowing them to experience the joys and successes of a garden first, it allowed them to have more grace when the garden didn’t produce what they wanted. This is an important idea to keep in mind as a parent, we want our children to know that success is possible and worth striving for, so that when a mistake occurs they try again, knowing that success is just around the corner. So, how do you create this success in the garden while still allowing the kids to feel that the garden is their own?
When teaching my kids life lessons in the garden, I wanted to make sure that they were owning the process. This wouldn’t have worked if I was bringing them to my garden, so, we created a garden all their own. To ensure that they had the opportunity to succeed in their own garden, I kept the garden bed small, at the most 4×8 feet, I also planted easy to grow vegetables and helped them to grow in a High Performance Garden System. By doing this, they learned grace by being patient for the harvest, this grace prepared them for the future years when one of their growing experiments didn’t go as well. They now live in the moment, thanks to the garden.
The plants that will give you and your kids the most grace to grow are –
- Tomatoes
- Cucumbers
- Lettuce
- Green beans
- Kale
- Swiss chard
- Zucchini squash
- Summer squash
- Butternut squash
- Pumpkin
In the 3 Kid Garden Plans to Try This Summer article, I detail how to plan a kids garden for best results alongside three easy to follow gardening plans, this should help you with keeping your bed small.
The final part to having a successful garden that can teach your child how to have grace in the garden is growing in a productive garden system. There are many different ways to garden out there. Many of those include weeds, pests, and low production. No wonder many kids don’t like gardening! The secret to success with this project is to set them up so that the majority of their time is spent planting and harvesting. The High Performance Garden System I have used with my family is just the system needed for a successful garden.
A High Performance Garden System is easy, fun, productive and always organic. I have found that it averages about 5 pounds of produce per square foot. Now, the average US gardener produces ½ a pound per square foot. Can you imagine boosting your production by so much? And with my family’s secret soil recipe, I have virtually no weeds in the gardens either!
I would love to help you and your family experience the grace that a weed free, productive, and easy organic garden can give you. You can begin learning how to create this garden by visiting the farm, signing up for the free High Performance Garden Show, or enrolling in the Abundance Garden Course. Each of these steps will start you on your way to a grace-filled garden but only the Abundance Garden Course will get you there in one season.
Are you ready to get started? Or maybe curious about whether or not you can begin a garden right now? You will be surprised to find that a garden can begin even today! Read the Planning Your Garden According to Your Region article to find out exactly what you can get started today. Or sign up for the Garden Show for this week’s planting chart.
I look forward to helping you on your High Performance Garden Journey, it would be a joy to have you as a part of the Abundance Garden community!
Until next time, may your garden be easy, fun, productive and always organic!
Lynn
