Think kids: think gardening: think fun
If you teach gardening to children it will stay with them for the rest of their lives. So quite simply it’s worth the effort.
You can’t miss the colourful displays of children’s garden tools in the garden centres. If you want to encourage children to do a bit of gardening this is the way to do it. These ranges of mini tools, forks, rakes and spades are specifically made for them to make it more fun.
Make it happen quickly
And remember that children may want to see quick results when they start gardening.
A wide variety of special tools for kids are now available
When it comes to near-instant results, it’s hard to beat the old favourite combination of mustard and cress. Things happen fast enough for the most easily bored child and they’re pretty undemanding in their needs – countless
generations of kids have grown them on wet flannels on their bedroom window-sills over the years.
If you’re looking for a more substantial crop, think about lettuces. Although growing one the size of a small football does take a little while, if you sow a large number of them in a tray or trough and then thin them out as they get bigger, you can harvest them surprisingly quickly – the initial thinnings making a great garnish. Then, as the crop grows and you start to collect bigger leaves, you’ll be able to use them as the basis of a nice salad.
A children’s raised bed?
One great way to get children involved in gardening is to give them their own vegetable patch. One easy way of
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Make gardening fun for kids
doing this is letting them garden their own raised bed. It’s easily done. For example the Local Woodshop - the new name for Timber Reuse Minehead is a small company situated on the West Somerset coast, who specialise in working with locally sourced wood from our regional woodlands. They have
raised beds in suitable sizes for children made from local Western Red Cedar, a relatively soft aromatic timber, reddish brown in colour, fading to silver grey after long exposure to weathering. Ideal for children as there is no need for tanalising or use of horrible chemicals.
Make it fun
Children love to experiment with things like water and there’ll always be insects around which will fascinate them. They’ll get to learn about the importance of nutrition and of things like pollination and to learn about the relationships between things like plants and insects and how certain physical elements and climate conditions affect plant growth. And most kids love getting their hands dirty so setting up a greenhouse with them is an ideal opportunity for them to do that.
Remember, “when in doubt, check it out”. Show the kids what stinging plants look like so they can stay away from them in the garden and elsewhere. Teach kids to be aware of their surroundings, always looking around carefully before touching (or eating) any plant that hasn’t been safely approved by a parent, teacher or other responsible adult.
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Country Gardener
Wood Fuel
The place for locally grown, kiln dried timber and eco joinery
Contact Ian and Carmen at the Local Woodshop 01643 707397 27 Brunel Way Minehead, Somerset, TA24 5BY.
greenpope@btinternet.com
or save £30 on 200kg summer pallet offer!
(ends 01/08/10) ideal for wood burners, Agas, fires, or your summer BBQ’s
Briquettes 10kg - £5 15kg - £7
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