Teach Your Kids How To Garden!
Summer is a wonderful time of year and although the UK sometimes doesn’t get the driest summers in the world, we still get decent weather, not too hot and not too cold. With everything that has happened this year we need to be enjoying the weather whenever it presents itself!
A great hobby for you and your kids to do this summer is to start a garden! Whether you have a big yard or a small one there are so many different ways to create a little garden for you and your family to enjoy.
Children are curious and learn by doing. Working in a garden will teach them how to care for a living thing and will give them the opportunity to experience the satisfaction of watching something they have cared for grow. It is also a great opportunity to teach your children about environmental awareness by exploring the workings of nature.
Tips for planting:
Potted plants and flowers
If you don’t have space to create an actual garden, then put a few pots that can sit outside on your porch or balcony where it will get enough sunlight throughout the day. Ensure there are drainage holes in the base of your pots, then add multi-purpose compost until it’s two-thirds full. Let your kids pick out some plants and flowers from a garden centre and have them plant them. Continue to water regularly over summer and pinch off faded flowers to encourage more to grow.
Choose high-interest plants.
To encourage your child to learn about gardening, let your child help decide which plants to grow, based on his or her interests. Cherry tomatoes make a tasty snack and generally produce fruit earlier than larger tomatoes. Leaf crops, such as lettuce and spinach, grow quickly and can be harvested more than once. Radishes, peas, and carrots can be planted in the spring for an early harvest. How about growing a giant pumpkin for carving or some gorgeous sugar pumpkins for pies? If your child has a yen for flowers, consider quick-blooming annuals, such as snapdragons, marigolds, or petunias.
Grow micro-greens
You don’t need special micro-leaf seeds – just use seeds of any veg with edible leaves, such as basil, broccoli or spinach. Choose any container, from plastic cups, yoghurt pots or biodegradable pots – allow your kids to doctorate their little pots for some added extra fun! Fill your pots almost to the top with compost – just leave a little gap to make watering easier. Scatter the veg or herb seeds thinly across the surface, then cover with a little compost. Water to dampen the compost, then check them regularly to make sure it doesn’t dry out. Then simply place the pots on an indoor windowsill to grow!
Cultivate good habits.
Teach your child to store the tools away after use. Set aside 15 to 20 minutes once or twice a week to tend the garden. Show your child how to pull weeds and water the garden. These experiences offer lessons in responsibility and organisation.
Reuse the Sandbox
If your children are past the use of their sandbox, turn it into their own little garden bed. Allow them to take ownership of their new garden and helping you change it from a sandbox into a garden.
Proper Garden Bed
If you have space, put all into this hobby and make a proper garden bed in your backyard. Show your children it is easy to plant and grow sustainable products in your own back yard! You and your children can learn about creating your own compost and how to create your own little garden of fruit and vegetables.
Garden can be therapeutic not only for you but for your children, and since we have all have a such a weird year, this might be exactly what you and your family are looking for!
Happy gardening,
Dollymix mummy Penelope xx
