Gardening magazines and websites are full of suggestions for planting a child’s garden. They suggest buying bamboo poles to erect a “bean-pole teepee” and include plans for “pizza gardens” laid out in slices to grow all the fixings for a homemade pizza. These are great ideas from well-meaning people, but to overwhelmed parents they can feel like one more thing that we just can’t manage! So, let’s explore the intentions behind having a children’s garden and find some reasonable ways to pull it off.
Educators are finding that children may be turned off by too much information about worldwide environmental issues. Abstract lessons about rainforest destruction, oil spills and acid rain may instill a sense of helplessness and dampen students’ desire to experience nature. Many of today’s environmental activists attribute their own commitment to simple play and to many hours spent outdoors in a keenly remembered wild or semi-wild place in childhood or adolescence with an adult who taught them respect for nature.
My grandson beams holding his new purchase with his favorite color – an orange New Guinea impatiens!
Save the Environment by Spending Quality Family Time Outside
Can it be that simple? Can we help save the environment by simply spending responsible time with our children in nature? Now that’s something we can do! And we can probably have an even more positive effect if we just have fun without getting driven about it. So relax and go for the teepees and the pizza gardens if you like, but don’t feel that you must. Both you and your children’s lives can be enriched by things as simple as walking to the bus stop instead of driving the car, or by taking a walk during a rainstorm.
Walk to the library or the store for a change and see the neighborhood from a different point of view. Don’t be in a rush. Go ahead, slow down; it will be good for you! Stop to pick up rocks and pinecones, puffballs and seedpods. Remember maple seeds split open and worn like Pinocchio noses? Kids will love to gather things and display them at home in a Mini-Museum of Natural History – a dish on a shelf works fine.
If you garden, take the kids with you to pick out plants. Allow time for them to explore. Let them pick a plant or two that they’d like to grow. Even if you can’t set up an entire area devoted to a children’s garden, maybe you can give them one corner or a few containers to plant.
Plants Kids Like to Grow
Children love fuzzy things like Lamb’s Ears. They love to watch ferns unfold and snapdragons snap. They love flowers with sunny faces like pansies, daisies, sunflowers and black-eyed Susan’s. They love good-smelling plants like lilacs, lavender, mint and scented geraniums. They love to watch sweet peas, hyacinth beans, morning glories and moonflowers climb. What’s more, children are really intrigued by the fact that morning glories open in the morning and moonflowers open at night.
Kids love to grow things to eat! Cherry tomatoes, sugar snap peas and peppers don’t need much space. Radishes are cute and grow quickly. How about growing bright and colorful nasturtiums, then picking them to eat in a salad! Remember that although nasturtiums are edible, all flowers are not safe to ingest. Also, always use organic fertilizers such as Plant-tone in your child’s garden.
Allow children to add little touches. They may want a stepping stone path. They may add driftwood or seashells gathered from the beach – labeled clamshells make great plant markers. They can paint rocks as a detail or border. No doubt they’ll dream up more possibilities than most adults can even imagine. There’s no limit to a child’s creativity when nature is the source of inspiration. Have fun!
Editor’s Note (4/25/18): We received a lovely email about one of our blog articles from Emily’s mother. Emily wanted to share a link with us about another helpful article on butterfly gardening – https://www.homeadvisor.com/r/how-to-build-backyard-butterfly-garden/. Thanks, Emily! We wish Emily and her mom Hannah, many happy years of gardening!
Editor’s Note (4/29/20): We received an email today from Sarah’s father, Todd. After reading this article and beginning work on their 2020 garden, Sarah found another link to a wonderful article about butterfly gardens with additional resources (links). Thank you to Sarah for the connection to this informative article, and to her father, Todd, for sending the link so we can include it here – https://www.avasflowers.net/a-guide-to-butterfly-gardens. We wish Sarah and her dad, Todd, many wonderful years of gardening together!