Down the Garden Path; Intergenerational gardening grows much more than vegetables

Gardening is often taught through community connections whether cultivated from our families, neighbors, community group or our chosen families.

Gardening is a life skill because it allows you to grow food for yourself and your family and incorporates many skills, such as math, reading, science and even history.

In recent years, gardening has become a necessity for those communities experiencing food and nutrition insecurities.

Knowledge of gardening is passed down from the teachers in our lives, but teachers are not always in a classroom. They are the people who share their time, skills, and connection with you. When learning something new or spending time outside in the natural world, we do not always realize the full benefits and learning a new skill can become a passion that may impact your life or others in your life.

Intergenerational gardening is the act of older adults passing along plant information, gardening skills and cultural traditions to younger generations. This practice happens in many situations, including volunteers such as Master Gardeners teaching garden classes in their community or families spending time together growing plants.

Gardening benefits have been increasingly documented in recent years. Gardening is most noted for its benefits in improving physical and mental health, reducing stress, influencing fresh produce consumption and positively impacting checkbooks and property values. When teaching is incorporated into gardening, the benefits have lifelong impacts.

Intergenerational gardening cultivates:

· an increased interest in gardening as the younger generation ages,

· builds relationships between elders and children while helping to counteract negative stereotypes,

· improvements in physical and mental well-being and life satisfaction in older participants,

· a safe environment for cultural and life experience sharing, and

· an exploration of skills (reading, math, science, geography, etc.) and life lessons (responsibility, accountability, life/death, patience, etc.)

Everything that grows in a garden is only sometimes a plant. Gardening is one of the many everyday activities where intergenerational transfers can happen. In my experiences as not only the child learning in the garden but also now as a garden educator, learning opportunities happen on both sides and not only those expected from a curriculum.

Biologist Rachel Carson said, “If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in.”

For more information on a volunteer opportunity incorporating much intergenerational education, check out the University of Illinois Extension’s Master Gardener Program at extension.illinois.edu/mg.

Bruce J. Black is the University of Illinois Extension Horticulture Educator serving Carroll, Lee, and Whiteside, & Boone, DeKalb, and Ogle counties. Black’s primary areas of expertise are in fruit and vegetable production, plant propagation, and community and youth garden education.

Have a question for the Master Gardeners? Residents can contact the Kendall County Master Gardener volunteers on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. by calling 630-553-5823, stopping in at 7775B IL Route 47, Yorkville, or emailing uiemg-kendall@illinois.edu. For helpful hints on what to include in your email, please visit go.illinois.edu/HelpDeskMGdkk