Want to keep your kids busy this summer? Get them out in the garden! Here are 3 simple kids garden plan designs to try…

School is out for the summer, and the kids are already bugging you for things to do. Why not involve them in the garden with you this summer? Gardening is a great activity for kids, with many benefits – both physical and emotional.

Depending on the age(s) of your children, there are many different activities they can do in the garden. Below are a few ideas for easy and fun garden plans that your kids will enjoy planting and watching grow!

Be sure to keep your climate and growing zone in mind when planning, so that you will know what to plant (and when) according to the length of your growing season. Once you have a good idea of what grows well in your climate, talk to your child and discuss what he or she might like to grow.

The article below, by Lynn Gillespie, of the High Performance Garden Show, provides a great list of some of the easiest and most kid friendly vegetables to grow, as well as some fun kids garden plans to try.

The best vegetables to grow in a kid garden are –

• Tomatoes
• Cucumbers
• Lettuce
• Green beans
• Kale
• Swiss chard
• Zucchini squash
• Summer squash
• Butternut squash
• Pumpkin

When looking at these gardening plans it is very important that your child has ownership of the project. This is their garden. Involve them in all of the planning and in the garden chores. It will make a garden victory that much more exciting when they have earned it themselves. To make sure that they don’t feel overwhelmed by the garden, keep it to 4 feet by 8 feet.  It is big enough to grow 5 different plants but not so big that they grow tired taking care of it.

This video from the free High Performance Garden Show has extra tips and tricks for working with your kids in the garden from a fellow parent and gardener.

Looking for an easy garden plan? Here are a few that I have loved to grow with my kids. They have taught them to love their vegetables in ways I never thought possible.

Kids Garden Plan #1

In this garden plan the greens are the main focus. This is a very forgiving first garden plan. For the summer squash you can easily swap out for winter squash varieties if your growing season will allow it.

Kids’ Garden Plan #2

It’s a smiley face garden! 🙂 To get the best results from your tomatoes and cucumbers, we would recommend building an easy trellis. Our no tools instructions are easy to put up and will give you excellent yields.

Kids Garden Plan #3

This basic garden plan is great for a kids garden plan. There are lots of colored vegetables that are sure to inspire them to eat their veggies.

Now that you have an idea of a plan, I want you to know the most critical step in developing your child’s garden. It’s finding an easy, fun and successful growing system.

You need a system that is productive and takes little effort. There are gardening systems that are easy and systems that are hard.  You want to get your kids into the easy gardening system.  I start all my kids in a High Performance Garden System.  This system is easy for parents who don’t have any gardening skills either. This is a container garden system that starts with the perfect soil for vegetable plants, it is organic, weed free and requires no rototiller.

I want to see this type of garden in every backyard. It has freed me and my kids to love gardening, because it’s only the harvesting and planting we ever do! Join me in the free High Performance Garden Show and follow one of these super productive gardens through an entire growing season. Trust me, you won’t want to miss out on this one of a kind education. You and your garden will thank me later!

Watch the garden show by clicking the link below. And this summer, may your garden be easy, fun, productive and always organic!

Click Here to Watch the Garden Show for Free!