WE ALL know picky eaters: a child who eats only hot dogs for months at a time, another who shrieks if anything green touches her plate. The stories go on and on.
It can be challenging to get children to eat enough fruits and vegetables. But maybe we haven't been encouraging them in the right way.
Children who garden at home or school enjoy more fruits and vegetables, according to two recent reports in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
That's good news, because most children (and adults) fall woefully short
The research about gardening provides inexpensive ideas that can be used around the country, both in schools and at home, in the country and the city.
Now is the perfect time to think about planting a garden.
good eating bloomsIn Idaho, sixth-graders who participated in a school garden project for 12 weeks as part of their class work ate double the amount of fruits and vegetables daily after the project was completed. They weren't just eating the literal fruits of their labor, but were apparently also choosing more fruits and vegetables at home and in restaurants.
Their school garden plot was 25 feet square and had strawberries, herbs and fall crops such as potatoes, corn, peas, squash, cantaloupe, broccoli, tomatoes and spinach.
The children helped plant, weed, water and harvest from the garden. They learned to make salsa and did other activities from the book "Nutrition in the Garden."
There are 1,100 school gardens around the country. You can read more details about school garden curriculums at the nonprofit National Gardening Association's site, kidsgardening
The school garden ideas are engaging: science lessons about pollination, environmental lessons about water-wise gardening, social-studies lessons on foods and culture, English lessons on garden-inspired poetry, not to mention nutrition lessons.
Schools and communities can order large amounts of free seeds from the America the Beautiful Fund, online at america-the-beautiful.org, although there is a shipping and handling charge.
bringing it homeGardening at home is just as good as gardening at school.
A survey in rural Missouri showed that preschool children enjoyed eating a greater variety of fruits and vegetables if their families had a garden.
These kids were less likely to grow into dreaded picky eaters, because they were already exposed to a wide variety of homegrown fruits and vegetables.
And they saw their parents eating them, too. Parents are powerful role models.
You don't need to live in a fancy school district or even have a yard to plant a garden.
Many places have community gardens, where people can rent a plot of land for a season. Even apartment dwellers can grow a tomato plant or two in pots on the balcony. Believe it or not, cherry tomatoes look pretty planted with petunias.
If you have room to grow only a few vegetables or fruits, choose the ones that your family loves best or that are expensive to buy. For example, I think there's nothing better than a juicy, sun-warmed tomato picked from my backyard--so fresh it has a tantalizing scent, different from a store-bought tomato.
Other popular choices are green beans, strawberries, blueberries, cantaloupe and watermelon.
You can grow a theme garden, say pizza toppings such as tomatoes, peppers and basil. Or substitute cilantro for the basil, and you have a salsa garden.
If you have children, invite them to get involved. For fun, try writing a child's name in the soil with radish seeds. They sprout in only a few weeks, spelling the child's name in green leaves.
Another fun trick is to plant pumpkins. When the small pumpkins begin to form in the summertime, scratch a child's name on the side with a nail and watch the name grow all summer.
No matter what you grow, fruits and vegetables are packed with vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients. You can't go wrong with a garden.
Jennifer Motl welcomes reader questions via her Web site, brighte ating.com, or mailed to Nutrition, The Free Lance-Star, 616 Amelia St., Fredericksburg, Va. 22401.