Indoor Gardening

Winter has descended on Minnesota and any hopes of outdoor gardening are only in my imagination. The seed catalogs are piling up into a teetering mountain of papers with glossy photos. It won't be long until my 2 year-old daughter has them strewn all over the house. My fingers are itching for some planting and green things growing, but it is too early to start my seedlings. What should we do? Garden indoors?

The stores are bursting at the seams with Christmas gifts ideas such as Chia pets and the nurseries are full of Christmas trees, poinsettias, tulip bulbs (for forcing), Amaryllis, and Paperwhites. There is also the usual collection of cactus and houseplants as well. This can give us some inspiration. What can we think up for indoor gardening with kids?

Lawn grass - Grass seed can be used for several different things. It is trendy to grow grass in pots lately to resemble little patches of lawn. If you have pets, growing a pot of grass can provide a bit of 'salad" for their diet. Perhaps you could get creative and fill a cake pan (the disposable aluminum foil kind works well or recycle the large deli containers lids from veggie platters or cakes) with either cotton batting or potting soil. Then the kids could plant their name or a design with grass seed, alfalfa seed, or similar. Later they will see their names or designs emerging in fresh green sprouts.

Another idea would be to have the kids decorate small terracotta pots or styrofoam cups with faces made of ink, paint, or craft felt pieces glued on, Fill the containers with potting soil and sprinkle grass seed on top. Grass seed should be around at the nurseries, but if not, you can find it at the pet stores - they sell it for growing for cats to eat, etc. As the grass grows, it looks like hair for the face and the kids can give it a trim with a child's scissors. It's a great project for those little barbers!

Forcing Bulbs - I recommend going the easy way with this. Buy either an Amaryllis or Paperwhite bulbs. These are often available with a kit that contains everything you need. If you choose against the kits, just fill a container with potting soil (gravel or aquarium works for the Paperwhites as long as the pot doesn't drain). Place the bottom quarter to third of the bulb into the planting medium and water (if using gravel or rock, the water should just touch the bottom of the bulbs). The kids will enjoy watching the bulbs sprout and grow leaves, stems, and finally buds and flowers.

The copyright of the article Indoor Gardening in Gardening with Children is owned by Linda Mazar. Permission to republish Indoor Gardening in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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