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As a mother and garden educator, I know that gardening creates a perfect opportunity to engage
children in meaningful learning activities at home.

Digging into rich garden soil, searching for signs of life, nurturing seedlings, and tasting the bounty of one’s harvest all provide connections to our health, sense of place and educational development. 

The Urban Harvest Grow Kit Program equips individuals and families with the materials necessary to start a small container garden at home. Whether in a large yard or patio; container gardening is an effective way of growing a lot of food in a small space. Each grow kit comes with a 5 or a 10 – gallon fabric planting pot, enriched garden soil, seasonal seeds, live plants, planting instructions, and decorate your own plant labels.

Kids of all ages can be a part of the process. As you begin to fill the bag with soil, get the little ones involved allowing them to transfer soil with shovels, buckets, or their bare hands. Assist in transferring the delicate plants from their containers, allowing small hands to free the tiny tangled roots by tickling them gently before placing them in the pot. 

Create shallow indentations in the soil allowing young ones to count as they place each seed in its rightful place, lightly covering it, and speaking positivity into each one. Finally, the plants require a large sip of water. Allow children to take turns watering the planting pot deeply and create a watering schedule until plants become well established. 

Check out the following video on Urban Harvest’s Youtube channel for a planting demonstration to get started:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YEpWhcs4PA&t=11s. 

 Have fun creating memories!

Kanisha Hagans is a Youth Garden Educator with Urban Harvest. She has two daughters who love to explore the garden with her.