How does your garden grow?

I am occasionally amazed at how much you can learn from a garden. I am continually amazed by the little exposure to gardens kids have today... I am convinced that many of life's lesson are hidden within a garden and yet I realize a garden is not always an option for many kids to ever even see! I recently discovered a beautiful garden at Deleware Elementary School. I had my three little kittens out for a stroll and we came across this years creations by the students and staff of the school. I was shocked at how little the kids knew about a garden. Even at ages 9,7 and 4 they had no idea what was growing on that plant or what made it grow other than a textbook response of sun and water... How could they know about the hard work, the sweat, the planning and care, problem solving and love that comes from taking nothing but dirt and seeds and creating something that an be enjoyed, shared and of course eaten! In four whole years how could I have missed introducing this to them! How could they have NEVER seen a real garden in action??? 

Technology is a wonderful thing. Something that is practical and needs to be explored and learned from in order to live in our society. But at times we seem to overlook the basics that we grew up with! I still to this day remember the first carrot that I grew. I remember sitting by the row of seeds and singing to my carrots. I knew that if I really took care of those little seeds in the ground they would grow and my family would be so impressed. As you can imagine that was the Best tasting carrot and no I didn't even bother washing it off before I took a big chomp. I wiped it on my pants and ate it all up. 

So to get to the point, after spending some time showing the kids each plant and them discovering a bud here and a tiny watermelon there we will soon be making a small garden of our own. And of course as soon as I have my first classroom, I will have a garden right outside our room. What better way to learn????