You read that title, looked outside and laughed didn’t you?  Believe it or not, spring is just a few weeks away.   While the snow may still be thickly covering our yards and doorways, the gardening community of Connecticut is getting ready for the growing season.

Over the years, I have found gardening to be a personally rewarding hobby, but since having children, gardening has become so much more to our family.  When you plant vegetables with your child, in a garden or even a small planter that you put on the window sill, you are engaging them in a multitude of ways.  First, you are teaching them the patience it takes to wait for the seed to germinate and rise out of the soil.  Second, you are teaching your child the persistence it takes to keep the plant watered and healthy.  Third, you are teaching him or her the precision it takes to know just when the fruit or leaves are at their most ripe.  These are all lessons that will help children as they grow.  Additionally, you are teaching children healthy eating habits.  As one of my favorite speakers, Ron Finely likes to say, “If kids grow kale, then kids will eat kale!”  This is so true.  One of my favorite memories in the garden was when my son and I were out picking some vegetables and he asked if he could have some lettuce.  I told him it was fine and without hesitation, he bent down and took a bite out of a leaf on one of our lettuce plants.

Often people see gardening as some huge, involved process with fences and trellises and the like, but really, a potted tomato plant can be just as much fun and rewarding.  Follow this link to find a helpful chart that some approximate sowing and planting times for Connecticut.  With all the snow, we may be a little delayed, but as you can see on the chart, March is a busy month for gardeners.  If you can, take the time to plan even just one vegetable with your child this spring, I assure you, it will be an activity that rewards the gardeners throughout the year.