Page 12 - Bringing out the Potential In Our Children - Gardeners - Food Producers

If you are growing in pots pick up a good bag of potting soil or you can mix
your own.
Kids love to play in the dirt so now is their chance!

Potting Soil Recipe:

 2 parts coconut coir or peat moss.
 1 part finished, sifted compost or sterilized soil. (Sterilize soil by baking
the soil at 200 degrees in your oven.)
 1 part perlite. Some people also use vermiculite or plain old coarse
sand in place of perlite in homemade potting soil recipes, too.

Directions:
If your coconut coir came in a block, you’ll need to hydrate it by putting it in

a big container of water.
Mix the coir or peat moss and compost or soil. Add more water if you need
too. It is much easier to mix if it is damp.
Add in the perlite, give it a stir, mixing it all together and you’ve got your

homemade potting soil ready to go!
Compost, gardener’s gold, is another great way of improving any soil and

for making soil.
There is a magic in taking your food scraps, waste material and turning it
into rich, nutrient dense soil to grow more food.
There is a wonderful pdf on composting for kids by Aggie-Horticulture at:

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/kindergarden/kidscompost/CompostingForKids.pdf

To make compost you’ll need:
1. Greens (Nitrogen): food scraps, grass clippings, coffee grounds, weeds

that have not seeded.
2. Browns (Carbon): Add dried leaves, newspaper, cardboard or sawdust.
3. Water: added to keep the compost moist.

Use a half and half mixture of greens and browns.
The Waste Management Authorities gives out a free booklet “Do the Rot
Thing” all about compost. It has games and an educational component too.
It even gets into worm composting (vermicomposting) so kids can start their

own worm farm!