One of my favourite plants for kids to grow is yummy strawberries. Who doesn’t love these delicious little fruits, with their bright red colour, sweet smell and their naturally sweet juicy taste, and secretly full of vitamins and minerals.
Strawberries are loved by kids, and are most delighted when they can pick their own fresh,
healthy strawberries from their garden box, and eat them in the warm sunshine.
Strawberries is a great way to start kids growing in their garden, they’re one of the easiest fruits to grow. By helping kids with the planting, growing and harvesting of their own fruit or veggie, we are teaching them the responsibility and an appreciation for gardening and guiding them to eat healthier.
What is wonderful about strawberries is that kids can grow them just about anywhere.
It does not matter if its a garden patch, a creative garden box they have made, or a pot sitting on a patio, the idea is to get them planting and caring for their own plants.
A little bit of simple strawberry growing points for kids is that these plants are warm weather plants and love the sunny weather; they need about 6 - 8 hours of sun a day, they don’t quite appreciate the shade, so find them a great sunny spot to bloom.
This is when we want our kids to get dirty by digging in the compost bag and giving the new plant handfuls of soil. A delight all on its own, bringing smiles of fun.
Water the plants daily by wetting the soil, try avoid watering the leaves too much, which I know, may be a challenge when the watering can is being waved around in all directions - but it will survive, they versatile little plants, and we need to let kids be kids.
A good idea is to put mulch around the plants, this helps keep the soil moist, especially for our hot days, it also reduces unsightly and unwanted weeds. By adding this also keeps the fruit raised off the soil to keep clean and away from little bugs - this is handy as the fruit often gets plucked and eaten straight away.
When planting, keep a bit of space between them, so that the runners can spread to make new plants. The roots need to be covered by the soil, but when your little one is not looking, quickly make sure that the center growing bud (crown) is out of the soil and is able to get light and fresh air. If you cover this, the plant can rot.
Strawberries have shallow roots, so they are perfect, pretty plants for garden boxes. We keep ours close to our front door, for a couple of reasons - on our manic days we don’t forget to water them as they in close eyesight, they attractive and give off a sweet scent and easy picking for little fingers (and not so little fingers).
Such wonder when you get to see the little white flowers budding, as you know the fruit will soon be ready to pick and enjoy. Oh and maintenance of these plants is little - that's why they perfectly easy for kids...
- Watering
- Pinching off dead leaves & extra runners
- Harvest Strawberries in the cool morning
- Refrigerate them right away(unless they have been munched)
- Only wash before eating, wet berries spoil quickly
We do love eating strawberries straight from the garden, they are so much more delicious than buying from the shops, and the enjoyment that comes with it.....
Happy Growing
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