Gardening for kids
By Susan Elliot-Wright
Most kids love helping in the garden - raking leaves in the 
winter and watering the plants in the summer. But when they can start growing their own, it becomes a wonderful adventure. Even if you don’t have a garden, they can grow things in window boxes, grow-bags, or even on the windowsill. When choosing what to plant, remember that young children want fast results, so even if it’ll take a while to flower, make sure some green will poke up through the soil fairly quickly.
Ideally, allocate a small patch of ground that they can call their own, and mark it out with stones. Let them have their own gardening tools, such as little forks, spades and watering cans. As long as you supervise, it should be safe for them to help dig over and perhaps sieve the soil in preparation for planting. If you have a patio or balcony, they can fill a tub with prepared soil or use a grow-bag. When they’re ready to plant, visit your local garden centre, taking care to buy for your child, not for yourself!
What to plant
Sunflowers are great because they grow very big, very quickly, and can be measured weekly. Children love to pick flowers, and sweet peas or cornflowers seem to grow better the more they’re picked. Kids also love to eat what they’ve grown. Tomatoes are a good choice because the fruits appear quite quickly even though they take a while to ripen. Or make a wigwam with beanpoles and get them to plant some runner beans (use plants rather than seed). Even two or three plants will give a good yield.
Tub, grow-bag or window box
Strawberries grow well in a tub placed where there is plenty of light, and they’ll love watching the tiny, pale green fruits get bigger and turn red. Dwarf varieties of tomatoes do well in tubs and larger plants thrive in grow-bags. Get them to grow some basil so they can make tomato and basil sandwiches. Lettuces do well in grow bags, as do courgettes, and the lovely orange flowers can be used in salads. Get them to plant some carrots (use a fairly deep tub) and maybe a few salad onions. A window box can be used in much the same way as a patio tub. Ask the garden centre for advice on growing a combination of flowers and herbs, or maybe a miniature tomato plant.
Window sill
Place a few runner beans around some damp cotton wool in a jar so that they can watch the roots forming. All they’ll need to grow mustard and cress is a saucer – just sprinkle seeds onto a moist flannel and it’ll be ready to eat in less than a week. Mustard and cress sandwich taste wonderful to a child who has grown the filling! Mung beans need a little more attention but can also be grown in a week or less.
When gardening with your kids, advise them, but let them do the important bits themselves. If you take over, you’ll deny them the pleasure of nurturing something of their very own. Who knows – you may be raising the next Alan Titchmarsh!
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