Growing up in rural Idaho on two acres of farmland, I was never a stranger to gardening. I can remember hot summer afternoons resentfully pulling weeds as a teenager in my parents’ garden. And yet, here I am today, happily gardening in Boise.
Isn’t life funny? After around 15 years of backyard experimentation, I can confidently say I love gardening now.
I have also learned through my own trial and error as a gardener. I love nothing more than sharing the calm, peace, and personal satisfaction of gardening with my kids–and today, with you, too.
Gardening in Boise: The Quick Start Guide
Here’s a simple guide to planting your garden in Boise, including all the need-to-know information to get you started. Whether this is your first time pushing seeds into the soil, or your determined tenth attempt after abandoning some crispy crops sometime in July in the past, I hope these tips help you find the joy in gardening alongside your kids.
Boise Hardiness Zone and Planting Schedule
Boise is in USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 7a, so plan your planting schedule around our zone’s first and last frost dates of the year.
If you’re just getting started, I recommend planting only during the height of our growing season here in Boise. In other words, put starts and seeds into the ground after the danger of frost has passed–around May 6th–and harvest before our first anticipated frost around October 8th.
Use the hardiness zone 7a to find specific planting schedules like the one available from VeggieHarvest.com.
Quick Tips Before You Start Gardening
Ready to get your hands dirty? Here’s my Boise-specific starter garden guide.
- Invest in a water timer: Perhaps our biggest foe as Boise gardeners is our dry climate. We are, after all, living in the high desert. I highly recommend investing in some affordable water timers to help you in your starter garden.
- Think early about pests: Squash bugs, aphids, and earwigs, oh my! Rely on your local garden supply store–I recommend Zamzows–-for tailored and organic pest control in your garden. The pests can be a pain, but they shouldn’t stop you from gardening.
- Have fun with it: Every single season, I learn something new, and it’s almost always through failure. Have fun with your garden and don’t be overly connected to the result. I promise you will enjoy yourself much more. Like the best fitness trainers will tell you, you’ll keep up with something when you enjoy yourself, so keep that in mind as you plan your spring garden.
My Recommended Starter Garden
I recommend planting a simple vegetable garden with a little color, some hardy plants that can stand some neglect, and plants that do well in our climate.
The plants I recommend for beginner Boise gardeners are tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, zinnias, pumpkins, and potatoes.
- Tomatoes: I recommend buying these as well-established starts from Zamzow’s and planting them between May 6-15.
- Zucchini: Choose some local seeds from a nursery like Edwards Greenhouse or Zamzows and plop these into the ground around May 6-15. Zucchini are easy to grow, but give them some room: the plants get enormous!
- Squash: A yellow summer squash is a beginning gardener’s best friend–simple, easy to use in your kitchen, and delicious. Plant it the same way you plant your zucchini by seed and harvest regularly all season long.
- Zinnias: I always recommend beginning gardeners add some color and fun to their garden, and you can’t go wrong with zinnias. Choose a local seed packet with your favorite colors and plant them around your tomatoes for added color.
- Pumpkins: Kids love watching pumpkins grow with anticipation as the air cools in September and October. Like squash and zucchini, pumpkins are simple to grow in our climate. Start them from seed in May, and put them on your porch with pride in the fall.
- Potatoes: We’re not the famous potato state for nothing. Potatoes are incredibly simple to grow and such a reward to dig up at the end of the season. Choose some tubers from a local nursery and plant them in June, according to the packet instructions.
If you get stuck, take advantage of local resources like North End Organic Nursery, Edwards Greenhouse, Zamzows, and others who will happily troubleshoot with you and answer your questions.
Get the Kids in the Dirt, Too
While I groaned as a teenager about getting my manicure messy, I’m grateful now for the hours I spent in the garden. And there’s plenty of photographic proof I loved it as a kid, especially in my younger years. Now gardening has become a way to connect with my kids and share a screen-free hobby.
Getting kids involved in the garden is simple: invite them to get dirty. Elementary-aged and younger kids especially seem innately drawn to digging, cutting, pruning, pulling, and watering. Here are my quick tips for getting your kids into the garden with you:
- Don’t take any of it too seriously: You will burn out and get frustrated if you approach your garden–especially your starter garden–with too much seriousness. Let kids be kids, and let your garden get a little wild. One year my youngest–around four at the time–lopped off every stalk of corn I had right at the base because she found my pruners. I was discouraged and angry at first, but now the memory of her cute little apology to me and the hilarity of a four-year-old in the cornfield with pruners makes me giggly and teary-eyed.
- Use kid-friendly tools: One of my favorite tools is a seeding square, perfect for getting kids involved in the planting tasks.
- Spend time there yourself: Our kids have a precious, short season of just wanting to be near us. When you take your Saturday morning coffee into your garden, your kids will likely follow you.
Connection Is the Point
If your crops fail but you’ve connected with your kids, you’ve already won. Spend time with your kids in your little garden and build those memories.
Point out the thriving microclimate your garden has created and admire it together. Identify plants together, connecting them to the food they eat and the earth we rely on. Let them boost their immune systems with vitamin D (yes, the kind from the sun, but also good old dirt).
I hope this quick start guide inspires you to garden with your kids. Here’s to your garden and maybe the spark of a lifelong hobby for your kids, too.
» » » RECOMMENDED READ: Spring Is Here: Cherishing the Seasons of Motherhood « « «
The opinions expressed in this post are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Boise Mom, its executive team, other contributors to the site, its sponsors or partners, or any organizations the aforementioned might be affiliated with.
