Gardening 101

Periodically over the next few months, Homeschool Skills will highlight different lessons that can be taught through gardening. This is the first of that series.

Seize the opportunity this summer to plant a garden as part of your homeschool curriculum. Gardens provide enormous cross-curriculum opportunities for learning. Science and math have obvious applications, but gardens can also be tied into literature, geography, and history. In addition to curriculum applications, gardening provides children with a beneficial life skill--and it can help save money on groceries!

Worried about space? A full-scale garden is not necessary for these lessons. Plant a few items in a small garden box, a window box or even in cleaned out trash cans! If you will be growing your garden in containers, review this helpful article.

Some plants can be grown upside down. For more information on what plants can be grown in these conditions, read this. Other plants can be trained to climb poles, posts or fences.


The first step of gardening is planning. Plan the location, size and contents of the garden.

Choose a convenient locaton that recieves six to eight hours of sunlight every day. Ensure that there is adequate drainage and that the soil will not become waterlogged. If the soil is excessively wet. the plants will not grow properly. If the soil is inadequate, build raised beds and purchase better-quality soil. (Science -- Experiment to find the areas in your yard that have the best sunlight and soil.)


If you are planting in raised beds, outline the area where the bed

will be. Raised beds are usually built in rectangles so that all areas are easily reached. (Math -- Measurements.)

Determine the material that you will use to outline the raised beds. Wood, bricks, and stones are all excellent choices. However, pressure treated wood should never be used because the chemicals used to treat the wood can affect the soil and plants. (Science -- Experiment to find out what materials work best. Math -- determine the measurements for the required materials and the total area of the garden.)


Fill the raised beds with commercial soil or with a soil-compost mix. Raised beds are more vulnerable to extreme temperatures and dryness than other gardens, so be sure to water regularly.  (Science -- learn about composting and fertilization. Perhaps you want to create several different, smaller garden areas to create a season-long growing experiment using different types of soil, compost, watering schedules, etc?) More information on raised garden beds here.

Select seeds that will grow well in your area and within the limitations of the garden you are planting. You don't want to plant something that spreads, like pumpkins, if your entire garden is only 2 or 3 feet square... unless, of course, you want to train the pumpkin plants to climb up a nearby shed, fence, or other surface. For more information on that, look at this page.


Taller plants should be planted on the north end of the garden so that they don't cast

shadows over the shorter plants.


Add some history to your garden by Introducing a traditional Native American gardening combination called 'the three sisters' to your garden. Plant corn closely together in a clump and plant climbing beans around the edges. The beans will grow up and around the corn stalks. Plant pumpkin around the edge of the beans, so that the vines will creep in and around these plants and keep the weeds away.

Focus on cultures you will be studying by growing culture or region-specific produce. If you are studying Mexico, grow a variety of peppers, tomatoes, and onions and celebrate the end-of-season harvest with a fresh homemade salsa. Irish studies can be augmented by growing onions, potatoes, carrots, cabbage and green beans, which can later be used to create this Irish recipe.