What’s not to love about gardening?  There’s plenty of fresh air, sunshine and the sounds of nature – plus it’s a great opportunity to get creative.  If you have a kid are like mine, he loves every opportunity to be outdoors and to get dirty. Throw in a garden hose and you have every kids dream playground.  This time of year, we love to get our hands dirty.  My son and I always plant flats of flowers in the flower beds and in garden pots located around the house.  Every year we try new some combinations – this year we have yellow daisies, red salvia and purple petunias in a couple of containers.

 

The first step in trying to getting your kids excited about gardening is to let them pick a few plants and then let them take care of those plants as they start to grow.  We also plant a few seeds too. It’s fun to see the kids check on them every day until they pop through the ground.

My seven year old son loves to help – from picking the plants to watering them.  He is a great little gardener!  Last year we grew a zucchini plant in the flower bed and were rewarded with one little round zucchini! Such excitement! This year we decided to try growing herbs in an old copper window box – sounds easy enough.

Before we got started though, we had some prep work to do.  Lucky for us, our city offers free compost for its residents.  We headed over to the compost bin first to get a few buckets of nitrogen rich compost to fill our containers.  While we were there, we decided to check out the community garden plots that were nearby.  Turns out there are nearly 100 plots rented out by residents that were full of sprouting plants – it was a sight to see.  It really got us inspired to get going on our planting project.

Last year we had a terrible problem with Japanese beetles eating our plants – they feasted on our petunias and morning glories.  That won’t be the case this year – we have prepared ourselves by stopping by Walmart and purchasing a spray bottle of Garden Tech® Worry-Free®

Here are a couple of reasons why I liked this product:

 

  • With a special formulation that contains pyrethrins, a botanical insecticide naturally-derived from Chrysanthemum flowers, GardenTech® Worry Free® Brand Insecticides are ideally suited to protect fruits, vegetables and ornamentals.

    * The line of specialized insecticides provide fast-acting, effective control of more than 250 crawling and flying insects, including ants, caterpillars, mites and Japanese beetles.

 

For information on Worry Free Insecticide you can visit their website https://m.worryfreebrand.com

 

 

Now we’re ready to head out to buy the plants we need to finish our gardening project.  We will report back in a few days on how it went and show you our finished project.

 

In the mean-time one of our lucky readers will win a $50 Walmart gift card to help kick off  the 2012 gardening season!

Win It!

A $50 Walmart Gift Card

Entry Requirements

Leave us a comment below telling us what you like to plant in the garden.

The Fine Print

No purchase necessary to enter.  Open to legal residents of USA, must be least 18 years of age to enter. Winner will be selected randomly through https://random.org. Detroit Mommies writers and contributors are ineligible to participate. Entries that do not follow all of the entry requirements will not be considered. The gift card fulfillment will be handled by a third party. Detroit Mommies is not responsible for products shipped from outside vendors or sponsors.  The contest will close on Tuesday, June 19, 2012 @ 11:59:59 p.m. EST and winners selected on Wednesday, June 20, 2012. Winners must respond to Detroit Mommies within 24 hours or an alternate winner will be selected.

Disclosure:  Central Garden & Pet partnered with bloggers such as me to help educate us all about their Worry Free® products. As part of this program, I received compensation. They did not tell me what to purchase or what to say about the use of the products. All views and opinions are my own. Central Garden & Pet believes that consumers and bloggers are free to form their own opinions and share them in their own words. Central Garden & Pet’s policies align with WOMMA Ethics Code, FTC guidelines and social media engagement recommendations.  

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cristina i.
cristina i.
11 years ago

I love to grow herbs, tomatoes , zuchini and green beans. As early as April , we plant onion , radishes and letuce which are enjoyed until it is time to plant other vegetables.

Jackie @ freeismylife
11 years ago

Growing up, my parents always had a garden, actually the had 3 – one in our backyard, one in the neighbor’s yard next door and one at my Great Aunt’s house. I remember the big tomatos that my mom would grow and I would love to plant some of my own.

Rachel Tiller
11 years ago

I would love to plant watermelon!! YUM! And peppers, squash. The list goes on.

Neisha
Neisha
11 years ago

Tomatoes

Michelle
Michelle
11 years ago

Mmmm tomatoes. And lettuce and Swiss chard and basil and squash. It’s all good!

Jen
Jen
11 years ago

WOW – you have quite the garden! We love to plant tomatoes and herbs. We also love to plant flowers. But all of our plants are in pots on the porch because otherwise the deer eat them!

BenSpark
11 years ago

We actually have a garden area and we are part of a CSA (Community Sourced/Sponsored Agriculture). Through that we got some tomato seedlings and some herbs. I think we’ll finally get to our garden for fall plants. Not sure though. New House. So we would plant Tomatos.

Andrea Kruse
11 years ago

We love planting a variety of lettuce, tomatoes, chard and herbs.

Sarah Hirsch
Sarah Hirsch
11 years ago

I am not knowledgeable about flower and plant species names, but I like plants with pretty pink or purple flowers. I also prefer whatever requires the least maintenance.

Carly
Carly
11 years ago

Tomatoes

Ashley
Ashley
11 years ago

Squash and Okra our 2 favorites! thanks!
ashleygatewood1(AT)gmail.com

Barbara Platt
11 years ago

tomatoes are #1

lisa Bell
lisa Bell
11 years ago

This is the first year that we are going to try to plant some vegetables. My daughter Sydney loves tomatoes as I did as a child. I remember going out to my parents garden and snacking on cherry tomatoes, picking peas right out of the pod. We are hoping to also plant cucumbers and carrots my son’s favorite vegetables. I need to buy the cage or wire netting so my new vegetables won’t get eaten by the local deer. Here’s hoping all the planned vegetables will grow once i plant them.

Lori
Lori
11 years ago

I love to plant zinnias and bells of ireland.

Kay
Kay
11 years ago

We have tomatoes and bell peppers every year. We also love squash (crook-necked and zucchini), spinach, and kale!

Melissa Lawler
11 years ago

I love a salsa garden!

Melissa
11 years ago

We plant everything! We planted a huge veggie garden, strawberries and a TON of flowers all around the yard.

Margaret
11 years ago

We love to plant herbs, tomatoes, green onions, zucchini and string beans!

Teresa
Teresa
11 years ago

I like to plant cucumbers, peppers, and green beans.

Jessie C.
Jessie C.
11 years ago

I’d like parsley and green turnips.

Nina M.
Nina M.
11 years ago

We are beginners so we are doing herbs & peas.

Shaina
Shaina
11 years ago

Our favorite is also tomatoes. The kids love eating them off the vine!

Laura Meils
Laura Meils
11 years ago

I love to plant tomatoes in my garden. Nothing is better than a homegrown tomatoe.