How Does Your Garden Grow?

Now is the time to start thinking about planning your summer garden.  How will it grow?  Take a look at some of these new picture books that can teach your youngsters about the growing cycle right outside their door.

If You Plant a Seed
by Kadir Nelson
While planting seeds in their garden, two animals learn the value of kindness and how planting more than one seed can can produce so much more than just a single plant in this sweet story about sharing, kindness, and generosity.

Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt
by Kate Messner
Above the ground, the world is full of green--leaves and sprouts, growing vegetables, ripening fruit. But down below in the dirt there is a busy world of earthworms digging, snakes hunting, skunks burrowing, and all the other animals that make a garden their home. In this exuberant book, discover the wonder and activity that lie hidden between the stalks, under the shade of leaves and down in the dirt.  What I love about this book is that it provides an excellent way to teach kids about the importantant role that animals play in creating and providing nutrients for the soil, which provides the food plants need to grow in a fun and loving way.




Paddington in the Garden
by Michael Bond
In typical Paddington stule, hapless mischief leads to blind luck, and his garden turns out to be a most unique site to behold.  This makes a perfect read for any Paddington fan.

How to Grow a Friend
by Sara Gillingham
This book has dual meanings.  Making a new friend and nurturing that relationship is just like starting a seed in some soil and nurturing the plant as it grows.  Watch a friendship grow as flowers in a pot grow.




And if you need home gardening advice, please contact an Oregon State University Master Gardener at the Washington County Extension Office at 503-821-1150, Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. -- 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m.--4:00 p.m. for sustinable home gardening practices based on scientific horticulture research.