Originally posted in September, 2020

We asked our customers to tell us about their gardening experiences during the pandemic. They sent us great stories - vegetable gardening, gardening for the first time, garden make-overs, and deck and balcony gardening. Over the next few weeks, we are going to share some of these stories. We hope you enjoy them as much as we have. We're starting this week with four stories about gardening with children.

Story #1 - Gardening for a Good Cause

Hi, my name is Clio. I am 7 years old and I live in West Seattle. But I learned gardening from my mom in Washington, D.C. For 3 years, I worked with her in the garden at my school. In the middle of the pandemic we moved here.

Since May, I have been volunteering at New Start Community Garden in Burien, Washington. It's huge. And the food all goes to the White Center Food Bank. :) My job is scrubbing food. I also harvest. I also water the plants and look for bugs and tell jokes.

Want to hear a joke? What did the fast tomato say to the slow tomato? Ketchup!

Being in the garden is so fun! It makes me super happy. It's pretty nice there. If you're wondering, my favorite place is the rain garden. It has a pond of rocks and there's a bridge with berries all around.

By the compost pile, the manure stinks.

Warning: There are yellow jackets. They live underground.

Fact: So far this season we have delivered more than 1,000 pounds of fresh fruit and veggies -- like blackberries, potatoes, carrots, zucchini, salmon berries, chard and lots of lettuce. When we bring fruits and veggies to the food bank people who are hungry can come and get them. -:D

The coolest thing is that your kids can make friends, but only if they wear a facemask. Not only plants grow at the garden, so do friendships.

Story #2 - Take a Look at Our YouTube Channel!

My name is Kim Tien and my son, Long, is 4 years old.

We started our own PNW Kids Gardening Channel on YouTube this Spring. We wanted to share kid's gardening educational videos on how to grow fruit trees in PNW Seattle, WA, zone 8B.

My son signed up for preschool but due to COVID, he will have online classes starting this Fall. And, since we are stuck at home we have been finding comfort in our very own edible garden during the pandemic. Each day we go out to water the trees and check on what fruits are ripening. Its an adventure to find ripe fruits.

I think there is no better time to start gardening than now. Here is a photo of Long and our Desert King Fig harvest.

Please check us out at: https://www.youtube.com/c/KimTien/

Story #3 - Gardening with a 10-Month Old

I took advantage of your great delivery service and also went into the nursery in person to get some gardening supplies and starts for my garden. Occasionally from time to time I’ve grown a tomato plant or two, but I’ve never spent much time tending to a garden before. With all the extra time at home this year though it seemed like a perfect time to try it out.

I was surprised at how much joy it brought me! It’s been such a nice way to spend some time outside and it’s been so rewarding to watch my plants grow! I love giving garden tours to my 10 month old son and letting him touch all the different textured leaves. I’m no master gardener, but I’ve learned a lot along the way this year and definitely want to continue to share this gardening adventure with my son as he grows. Thanks so much!

Nicole S

Story #4 - Creating a Children's Garden

This summer was the first summer at our new house in West Seattle. When we moved in, there were 3 plants/trees total on the huge lot. Needless to say, we had a lot of landscaping to do. In addition to basically filling all our empty spaces with beautiful plants, trees, and shrubs, we also built a large vegetable garden. It has been extremely successful!

An additional highlight has been the children's garden I created for my young daughters. They have their own space to care for and cultivate beautiful and edible plants. This space includes two repurposed benches for a storytime area, and some grass to lay in and look up at the large pine tree. The girls have tended their garden all summer and it has been one of our biggest successes!

During these trying times, I have found refuge in the garden, even just weeding or watering immediately calms me.

Thanks for listening to our story, and happy gardening!

JR

Gardening in the Age of Coronavirus: The Stories