The New York Botanical Garden's drop-in Dig! Plant! Grow! program invites young children and their families to roll up their sleeves and help tend the gardens in the Edible Academy. At three hands-on stations — Digging, Planting, and Watering — kids get genuine dirt-under-the-fingernails gardening time in the Ruth Rea Howell Vegetable Garden.
Each themed session introduces seasonal concepts like seed saving, composting, companion planting, and spring preparation. Themes include Wake Up, Garden! (spring composting and planting), The Three Sisters (companion planting of corn, squash, and beans), and Goodnight, Garden! (fall seed saving and harvest). Children often take home a potted seedling or seed packet depending on the session.
The program runs April through November, with guided activities Tuesday–Saturday 1:30–5:00 p.m. and Sundays and Monday holidays 11:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. No registration is required — participation is included with regular garden admission. On Wednesdays, grounds admission is free for NYC residents all day and free for all visitors from 10–11 a.m.