Welcome to Kids Post, the newest item on the Buncombe County Master Gardener blog! Our hope is to help you interest children in the wonders of gardening. This year we will be showing you easy, inexpensive activities to do with a child. You won’t necessarily need a lot of space, think shoebox salads. How about letting the children chose vegetables they want to grow, maybe a pizza garden or taco garden? We will help you teach kids how and why gardening is an important job. We hope to educate and have some fun with kid-friendly crafts and plantings for the garden.
Whose mother or grandmother did not have a sweet potato vine on the window over the kitchen sink? This easy, quick and fun idea is a good way to introduce gardening and how plants grow. You will need a raw sweet potato, a glass or plastic jar a little bigger than the potato, 5 or 6 toothpicks, water and a sunny window. Stick the toothpicks around the middle of the potatoes to hold the top of the potato out of the water. Fill the jar half way with water and place your potato in the jar or glass so the bottom of the potato is covered in water. Move to a sunny windowsill where you can watch it sprout. Add water every few days to keep the bottom underwater. The potato will soon sprout thin white roots, then green stems with leaves will grow out of the top. If you want to plant it outside in the spring, pick a sunny spot. It will also grow in a 5 gallon bucket filled with potting soil. Remember to drill a few holes for drainage in the bucket.
Have fun!