Watching Your Children's Garden Grow
By Rondi Hillstrom Davis, Fri Dec 9th
Start some gardening traditions with your kids. Give them theirown garden patch and a spot to dig. Children love getting theirhands dirty and watching things grow.
Be sure to buy good quality, child sized gardening tools.Plastic toy versions just won’t hold up to the task. You willalso need children’s gloves and a watering can.
Mark off the garden area and turn the soil. Kids can help breakup any lumps with their hands. Work in some organic compost.
Choose seeds that will grow quickly. Small children getimpatient if their plants take too long to sprout. Radishes,Snapdragons, Cosmos, and Sunflowers will all germinate quickly.Carrots and strawberries are also easy to grow-- and yummy toeat.
Large seeds like beans and Morning Glories are easy for smallfingers to push into the ground. You can start your seedsindoors in an eggshell carton. When the seedlings are an inchhigh, tear off the egg carton, and leaving the soil intact,transplant the seedlings outside.
Or, try placing beans on a wet paper towel inside a zip top bag.Tape the bag to a sunny window and wait for the seeds togerminate. I can remember, as a child, checking my beans everymorning before school. The first shoots appeared to my delightand we carefully transplanted the beans outdoors.
Make garden markers by painting small rocks. This will help kidskeep track of their selections.
Make it fun! Grow a sunflower house by planting the sunflowersin a circle with a space in the middle big enough for your kidsto hide. Be sure to leave room for a door.
Grow a spaghetti garden. Plant herbs such as basil, oregano,rosemary, and parsley. My kids love to snip fresh herbs. Theystuff their pockets full of scented “spaghetti” herbs.
Share your garden with butterflies and hummingbirds. Zinnias,Verbena, and Cosmos are butterfly favorites. Hummingbirds
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