Planting Seeds with Children
By Marilyn Shy, Kalkaska Conservation District
Planting seeds indoors is a favorite spring activity for both young and old. Preschoolers love to be a part of the process. They are fascinated by the seeds being tucked into the soil, and they take great care of watering them daily, waiting for the seeds to sprout.
You can use all sorts of different containers to sprout the seeds. Paper cups work well. Whatever container you use, be sure to punch holes in the bottom for drainage. If you don’t have good drainage, your seeds may become waterlogged, and they won’t grow.
With youngsters, it is better to pick larger seeds than smaller ones. Good seeds to try include beans, peas, squash, cucumbers, pumpkins, sunflower, and marigolds.
Here’s an easy step-by-step that will enable you to grow like a pro:
Step 1: Fill each of your containers with soil. We are lucky enough to be having an early spring, so take the kids outdoors and let them dig and fill the containers themselves. Purchased potting soil can be used, but is not entirely necessary.
Step 2: Open the seed packets, and compare the seeds. Children will be fascinated with the different shapes and colors. Which is the largest? The smallest? The prettiest?
Step 3: Plant the seeds. It’s a good idea to put 2 seeds in each container in case one doesn’t make it. Have the children use a finger to poke a hole in the soil. Not too deep! Try for 1/2 to 1 inch deep depending on the size of the seeds. A good rule of thumb is to plant the seeds as deep as they are big. The back of the seed package will also give you a lot of good information, including how deep to plant them. Drop one seed in each hole, and then gently push some soil on top of each one, tucking them in like a blanket.
Step 4: Water the newly planted seeds. It’s nice to have a spray mister to water, duplicating a gentle rain. But if you don’t have a mister, a measuring cup with a spout also works well. You will need a saucer under each plant, as water will likely come out of the drainage hole.
Step 5: Be sure to label your pots so you won’t forget what kind of seeds are planted in each!
The seeds don’t need light to sprout, but they do like it warm. If you have a warm, sunny windowsill, that is a good spot. But any place warm will do, like the top of a refrigerator, or near a wood stove.
At this point, water the seeds daily, and keep the soil moist.
As soon as the seeds sprout, they need light. If the new plants don’t get enough light, they will quickly get leggy and fall over. Full sun in a south-facing or west-facing window is good, or you can use a fluorescent light positioned 2-3 inches above the foliage. If your seedlings are growing on a windowsill, rotate the containers each day to keep the plants from reaching toward the light source.
Most vegetable and flower plants with large seeds are not very cold-tolerant, so you won’t be able to plant them outdoors until all danger of frost is past. For our area, that’s usually toward the end of May. And before you do so, you will need to get them acclimated from the warm and windless conditions inside, to the variable temps and windy conditions outside. You do this with a process called “hardening off”. It means taking your plants in and out for a few days before planting them in the ground. For their first outing, find a shady, sheltered spot, and leave them outdoors for about an hour. Then bring them back inside. Increase their time outdoors a little longer each day, and after a few days, try putting them in the sun. If the plants look distressed at any time during this process, just bring them inside, and slow it down a bit. After a week, they should be ready to move outdoors for good.
There are many benefits to gardening with children. They will develop a connection to the earth and to nature; they will learn patience while waiting for their seeds to sprout; they gain responsibility as they take care of their plants, and they learn about the growth process and what plants need to grow, that is, soil, water, and light. And most importantly, it’s just so much fun! Give it a try. You’ll be glad you did!
These are some of our best growers! Peas enjoy the cooler temps of spring and sunflowers will dazzle us in late summer with beautiful blooms!
Baby tomato plants reaching up towards the grow light, before long they’ll be ready to transplant into larger growing cells. Not a necessary step for all plants, but tomatoes do love to be planted deep (almost up to the first set of leaves!) and they like lots of room to grow. They’ll quickly outgrow this space if left in these trays until spring planting.