Kids and potatoes...they mix

Potatoes aplenty from my garden.

Face it. Kids love white food. The starchier the better. And potato recipes from au gratin to French fries to mashed are always a hit.

So, why not take on a project that kids are bound to adore? That is growing potatoes. Home-grown potatoes are really tasty and quite easy to grow. It's perfect for kids aged 6-12 in particular. You just need to use certified seed potatoes and avoid planting them in the same place two years in a row. Potatoes are prone to soil borne diseases, so by using certified seed potatoes you reduce the risk of pests and ensure they are disease free to start with.

I grow some each year. One year, we got the whole neighborhood involved in planting them. When it was time to pull them out (about 120 days later) we had a whopper of a crop. Every family that had pitched in to plant them got a bagful of the beauties.

Potatoes were discovered in Peru by the Inca Indians in 200 B.C. In 1537, the Spanish conquistadors discovered them in Peru and brought them back to Europe. The first potatoes arrived in North America in 1621. It's a perfect project to tie into 4th grade study of the history of California as they were planted in missions across California by the missionaries.

Digging them up is the best part.

How to Grow
Potatoes grow best in full sun, and prefer well drained soil. They like a slightly acid soil (ph of 5.8-6.5) so make sure you add some peat moss or some coffee grounds to the soil in addition to plenty of compost or manure. When you plant potatoes, soil should be evenly moist, but not soggy. Extremely heavy, wet soil can cause potatoes to rot. Winter is a great time to plant potatoes in San Diego. Since plants begin to grow when weather is over 45 degrees, we can grow potatoes both in fall and in winter. They also tolerate a light frost. A great time to plant them in Southern California is just after a light rain. They also do well in large oak barrels or even black plastic containers. Gardeners Direct offers potato grow bags which can be reused. However, you must clean the bag when you are done to get ready for the next season.

Get the kids to put potatoes on a kitchen window sill about a week before you plant them. They will begin to sprout and kids will enjoy watching the daily changes. You can cut then cut the certified seed potatoes into smaller chunks that are 1 1/2-2 inch cubes and make sure they each have one-two eyes on them and plant them about. You can grow potatoes in mounds with 6-8 chunks spread within a 2 foot by 2 foot mound or you can grow in rows about 15" apart. Once the potatoes are about 8 inches tall, have the kids mound the soils up around the stems. Then, a few weeks later, do another mounding about half-way up the stems. You will need to water 1 to 2 times a week or less if it rains.

Ensure that the potatoes themselves are covered with soil. Potatoes that are exposed to sunlight can turn green and may become toxic. Also, children should not eat the green potato leaves as they are toxic, so be sure you are doing this project with kids that understand what should and shouldn't go into their mouths.

Dig up the potatoes 2 weeks after the plants finish flowering. You can also have the kids just dig down an pull out a few potatoes without tearing out the whole plant and the potatoes will continue to grow.

A few great places for to buy certified seed potatoes are Wood Prairie, Burpee Seed Co., and Territorial Seed Co.

Why I love kids to draw in the garden

Drawing is fun. I know that I haven't had the chance to do enough of it in my life. It's something I always wish I have the chance to do more of. But drawing is extremely important for kids. It gives them a chance to really think about things in different ways and to stretch their brain into new areas if they care to.

I have been amazed at the uniqueness of children's drawings in the garden. They reflect their own special perceptions of plants and the world around them. I'm amazed that I can look back on the artwork of kids of various grades and see the patterns in how each child handles shapes and approaches their work a little bit differently.

Blimp on a sunny day and Wanda.

One of the signs kids painted in our garden and the rabbit.

Today, I gardened with four children. I had brought my lop bunny to school to share with the kids and after letting the kids pet her and watch her hop around a circle of excited children, she was definitely top of mind. So it was no surprise that my rabbit showed up in the pictures the kids were drawing. But, interestingly, she was not the primary focus. One little boy drew Wanda in her cage and then added a blue blimp up in the sky. I didn't even bring up the idea of flying objects, but having the time outside made him look around him and just brainstorm and relax and this kind of imagery came to his mind.

One little girl drew a sign that the kids had painted in the garden and with my rabbit Wanda in the corner. The kids love these signs. They also really enjoy the stones that they are required to walk on through in the garden. I can't believe what an impact these stones make on them. Yes, it is one of the rules: they must walk only on the stones, but they constantly mention the stones and the signs in letters about the garden to me. It shows they make an impact.

Smaller groups are better for art projects, if possible
It works better to have a small number of kids outside when you're drawing and to do it early in the day when they have a good attention span. Later in the day, they just want to get outside and dig or plant things. The tomato picture that a kindergardener drew a few years ago captures the reality of how this plant looked at the end of the season when the plant had pretty much dried to a wiry stem with the succulent tomato on the end. I'm hoping we picked that beautiful tomato once we finished our drawing.

Tomato plant at the end of the season.

Kids don't need much structure for drawing assignments, but they do tend to fall back into the patterns of line and materials that they are comfortable with using. If you can point out interesting things in the landscape and make they really take a new look at things, you will inspire them to really get creative and explore new shapes and even new drawing tools. They just need a few big pads and a big bin of pens and colored and standard gray pencils to choose from when they work. Also, once they say they're done, get it out of their hands. Kids do have a tendency to overwork things and to keep it fresh, let them move on to a new piece of art if they want, or their next activity.

Why it's fun to garden with kids

I didn't mean to get so attached. I started gardening with kids at Dailard Elementary School in a planter that one other parent had set up irrigation for a few years back and moved on after his child finished that school year in the class next to the garden. With time, the kids and I have landscaped 3 planters (1 dry garden, one low water area that has benches to sit and one area that we irrigate during the school year about 1-2 times per week). My oldest daughter, now 15, was 6 and my youngest spent most of her time on my back in a pack pulling my hair as I'd work with the kids. My youngest is now in 4th grade and the garden is going strong. But now the kids from the darling, fresh-faced kindergarteners to the lumbering fourth grade boys have won me over with their love of new things, their eagerness to interact with nature (dirt in particular) and a desire to use their senses to learn more about the garden. My young charges are my master gardeners, and have taught me a lot. Though I'm not a teacher 9 to 5, but the co-owner of a video production company, I have learned a lot and taught them a lot in return. They always ask me how I learn so much about gardening and I tell them that I read books about gardening and that I learn by practicing in my own garden too. With this blog, I want to share some of the tips I've learned with interested parents and children...So they can grow their own beautiful and tasty environments together. Kids love drama and exaggeration in the garden. What child isn't fascinated by a huge sunflower or a sprawling bush that smells like peppermint? They also love the unexpected. Smelly sage is curious to them. They are eager to learn about the oils in the plants that repel other predators. Unexpected items in the garden like toys or sculptures intrique them and bring them joy. Even an old toy glued to a post can or sunken into grout can generate questions. "Who put that there?" "Can I touch it?" I can't tell you how many times kids have commented on the orange painted rocks one kid brought in about 5 years ago or the tumbled glass stones we glued to rocks that kids find every now and then and ask questions about. It's like they found buried treasure. And I just love this sense of wonder that kids bring to life. I want to amuse, inspire and educate kids and parents with this blog. You never know which kids will really like gardening...I can never predict it myself. But when certain kids like it, they really like it and my aim is to get kids that want to learn more the tools to become lifelong garden lovers. No matter how strong the interest, the garden is a place where kids can learn and exercise and interact with nature in a positive way.