Although I have dreams of a huge farm like garden where I can grow all my own food, we have a regular suburb size property AND live in the woods which means not enough sun for anything to grow to its full producing potential. Our gardening is for the enjoyment and beauty, the science and the snacks. We do a mix of flowers and vegetables, from seed and store bought potted plants, hand me downs and cuttings, and offshoots. Whatever works, or doesn't for that matter. We have had many disappointments along that way and that is a lesson in itself. When picking vegetables I try to pick ones that the kids can snack off of like cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, peas, as opposed to things that have to be cooked to eat. They like the instant gratification from plant to mouth. I wish we could do everything from seed but without great sun things just grow too slow or not at all to satisfy us on seeds alone so I end up with some vegetables each year bought in the pot. But I still use seeds so the kids, and I for that matter, can see how things really grow from the beginning, including collecting seeds from the plants we have and planting them the following year. It often takes 2 years for flowers we plant by seed to FINALLY grow a flower. We plant seeds from fruits and vegetables we buy at the store too. We have apple trees, an almond tree and avocado tree from store bought produce. I am sure none of them will ever produce fruit, but we are watching them grow anyway.
Keeping the kids interest. I have learned to realize that even if they like gardening, my son more than my daughter, they are still kids with less patience. They love the digging in the dirt, using the garden tools, finding worms, putting in seeds or potted plants, but only for a certain amount of time. I could do it for hours on end, but have to either let them stop when they are done and I keep going while they play and/or I stop too and pick it up another day when they are ready again. And although they will happily tell anyone they help mommy with the whole garden even if they only water one plant, I think they are more engaged if they feel that they do "own" at least one specific plant. They are more excited to see a few specific plants grow than me who can walk around the garden every day to see each minute amount of growth on everything. This year my daughter picked a tomato plant as hers and my son a hot pepper. They love checking in on their plant, but not every day. Often they even forget it exits and I remind them when i see a new flower or the flower finally turning into its food.
I have not usually done science with the garden in a formal way. I talk about things as we go, how to water, following instructions on the seed packets of how deep to plant, choosing ones that work better with our amount of sunlight, etc. No specific structured lesson planned ahead, just telling them what comes to mind about what/why I am doing or having them do something, and admitting that I don't always know everything either and we will learn together. And the hardest part is letting them make mistakes, like planting seeds deeper than recommended and they might not grow, watering the top of a plant and it might mold or get sunburned, picking the food before it is at its ripest for best flavor. I am still learning a ton about gardening each year by trial and error but learned a love of gardening from my mom too and her encouraging us kids to help and help eat right out of the garden, including my brother that didn't even rinse the dirt off the radishes.
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