The Importance of Gardening

I love gardening and attempting to grow things. I say attempting because for me gardening is just one experiment after another. Sometimes, it goes brilliantly, and sometimes, you learn what not to do again. Gardening leads to problem-solving, caring for something outside of oneself, responsibility, and—most of all—exploration.  

Gardening offers a place where children not only can dig, prune, and weed, but also can acquire both scientific and practical vocabulary. It allows them to continue to develop their hands, using both gross and fine motor skills. 

“Movement of the hand is essential. Little children revealed that the development of the mind is stimulated by the movement of the hands. The hand is the instrument of the intelligence. The child needs to manipulate objects and to gain experience by touching and handling.” (Maria Montessori, The 1946 London Lectures, p. 36)

When children grow and harvest vegetables, it ignites something within them. Given the opportunity to use age-appropriate materials and tools, they tend to see their harvest in a different light. As we cleaned tomatoes from our garden one year, a little girl looked at me and asked with such excitement, “Now what will we do with them?” This led me to respond, “What should we do with them?” It opened a door of possibilities and flavors that she had never experienced. We left some to have for snack (plain). We wrapped the rest with mozzarella and greens—before drizzling them with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and then adding a pinch of salt on top. It was the entire process—from planting to consumption—that really did it for me. I saw it with my own eyes. The children absolutely loved it! 

Another year in our school garden we grew a variety of lettuce that I had never seen before. We harvested lettuce and when it was offered to the children every single child tried it. Did they ALL fall in love with lettuce? Indeed not, but so many of them talked about how much they enjoyed it and some even asked for seconds (and thirds). It created a newfound excitement for food and trying something out of their comfort zone! It furthered their grace and courtesy development and gave us time to socialize/share a meal with each other. 

In 1995, chef Alice Waters founded the Edible Schoolyard Project in Berkley, California. Combining her perspectives as a trained Montessori teacher, political activist, chef, and champion of sustainable agriculture, she developed a program that integrates academics with growing, cooking, and sharing wholesome, delicious food. Imagine with me what could be accomplished if we took a page out of Water’s book and fostered it for our children to enjoy: 

“It became many things at once, the Edible Schoolyard, including a garden where children join their science teachers in growing and harvesting Brandywine tomatoes and golden raspberries along the way to learning about biology, ecology, and chemistry. Inside its working kitchen, a teacher might explain ancient history through the hand grinding of wheat berries into flour, and the baking of bread. And it has a communal dining table where many of our students eat the only shared meal of the day, and where the civilizing rituals of the table have become part of the larger curriculum. By the time a young girl has finished a delicious meal and returned her table scraps to the garden soil, and gone back to planting and harvesting with her science class, she is well on her way to understanding the cycle of life, from seed to table and back again—absorbing almost by osmosis the relationship between the health of our bodies, our communities, and the natural world.” (Alice Waters, Edible Schoolyard: A Universal Idea, p. 10).

I also see gardening as a stress reliever and a way to spend time outside, which can be life-changing for young children. It reminds us to slow down. Children develop patience and waiting skills while learning that a process can take time (along with repetition and care). Nothing compares to sitting outside in the dirt on a sunny day, with a slight breeze wafting around you. And not much can beat the smell of freshly cut herbs, making a flower arrangement from your own garden bed, or even observing the creatures that hide within your garden. Nature is truly a miracle, one that we often overlook in our day-to-day lives. So, let’s remember to pause and enjoy the beauty of a garden with our children every now and then. “The Land is where our roots are. The children must be taught to feel and live in harmony with the earth.” (Maria Montessori).