Natural Play Spaces: Children's Veggie Gardens

You guys! It has been the rainiest season in Seattle in the history of ever (literally) but the sun is out today. And – of course – it’s making me want to plant all the things.

If you’re feeling me, here’s a post we did a few summers ago on one of the coolest kinds of gardens out there; the kids’ garden. Enjoy and happy planting!

Now that the bark has been laid, we’ve made one more major addition to our backyard natural play space. But don’t get too excited – I haven’t had a chance to snap any photos yet, which means I’m not quite ready for the big reveal (I know, I’m such a tease). In the meantime, though, I thought we’d take another look at gardening.

Anything that encourages kids to grow things seems like an obvious addition to a natural play space. Last time we talked about play gardens, so this time around I wanted to highlight some of the kid-friendliest veggie gardens I’ve seen.

All of these setups were put together with child accessibility in mind and each of the creators has valuable knowledge to share.

Ready to start browsing?

Dana of MADE recently converted her kids’ sandbox into a vegetable garden, which is a great idea if you’ve got an old box laying around. Even if you don’t, her post is a great introduction to setting up a raised planter bed garden.
How sweet are Rachelle’s little girls raking out their very own garden in their swimsuits? This is a wonderful post on how to use a small patch of dirt to grow not just some veggies, but a couple of pint-sized landscape architects too.
For tips on creating a completely natural garden (no plywood or bricks required), check out this kids’ organic garden which was dug out of the ground and trimmed with boxwoods. There are even some extra cute homemade plant markers.
This “snacking garden” is proof that you don’t need a backyard to cultivate something special for your little one.

Not pictured above, but still worth a look are the aquarium garden and the three sisters garden. The former is a clever way to see your plants grow down into the dirt as well as up and out of it.

The latter is a Native American method of planting that seems perfectly suited for kids. Also, my friend Mariah just posted these super cool wooden crate theme gardens (hooray for eleventh-hour additions!).

And don’t forget, even if you have no outdoor space at all, there are lots of community garden co-ops around. Just up the street from us there’s a church where our family can rent a raised bed planter for the summer. Just $35 gets us the soil and all the water we need.

Do any of you have a particularly green thumb? Any tips you’d like to share with us newbies?

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Natural Play Spaces: Children’s Veggie Gardens

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