Gardening with Children

Home & Garden | Gardening with kids

Grubby, green fingers

Tamara Webster, Horticulturalist and all round outdoor lover shares her top tips for getting kids inspired in the garden with The Little Things Magazine.

Planting is good for the soul.

I know that my love of gardening started young – either helping my Grandma repot her dahlias after winter, or from visiting our neighbour who had the most spectacular cut flower patch (she used to make dried flower arrangements; very 1985!) No matter, there is no doubt in my mind that all young minds have a curiosity about nature, how things grow, bugs and “helping” around the home and garden. Creating a small area in your garden for your children to grow their own food and flowers should provide them with a place they can enjoy and learn from over the summer months.

The Patch

Firstly, you will need a suitable patch. There are many clever vegetable tables available now, but equally some pots, troughs, an old half barrel or even a corner of a flower bed will work just the same. Consider sunlight and aspect – the worst position would be north facing in the shade of a wall so try and position the patch where it will get lots of sunshine.

From the beginning, get your kids to help with every stage including trying to work out which way is north facing! The sun rises in the east…

The most important ingredient is your soil. It is worth investing in the best multi-purpose compost you can buy (or find). Starting with an enriched soil ensures your plants can perform to their best. Fill up your container or mulch the ground and break up all the lumps you can with your fingers, then smooth out. Ensure you have drainage holes if working from a container. It is useful to use a watering can with an upturned rose or hose on sprinkle mode to water the soil before you plant – that way you don’t wash the seeds away after you have sown them.

Time to decide what to grow

My favourites on the salad patch are lettuce and spinach for sowing in rows and can be hand picked about 6 weeks after planting. Simply get a trowel or your hand and create a shallow trench, sprinkle the seed and finely cover with about 1 cm of compost. Remember to label your row! I always put the variety and date and often use a wooden ice lolly stick as a label. Leave 30 cm between rows and you might have to thin the seedlings if too many germinate. You could also opt for some herbs such as basil, oregano and coriander.

Get in and get your hands dirty!

Salad leaves are easy to grow.

For growing vertically you can make a wigwam or obelisk from bamboo canes or bean poles, tied with twine. For climbing foods, you can’t beat sugar snap peas, courgettes or runner beans. Again these can all be started as seeds in a little pot, on a sunny windowsill but you might find plug plants for sale at your market or local garden centre which do give you a head start. Bear in mind climbers do get very tall so only grow if you have enough space. Be sure to research (or read the label to find out) how tall they get so you can make your support tall enough.

Watering is very important, especially if using a container. Also in dry spells, the soil can dry out very quickly. A can or two every evening, again using a gentle rose should do it. You might want to add a capful of liquid tomato fertiliser to the can every two weeks to boost your crops ever further.

Blooms aplenty

Now, why not add some colour? Violas are the dearest little plants and you can eat the petals – they add a pretty touch to every BBQ salad. Pollinating insects love English marigolds which will help to pollinate your courgette flowers (which are also edible). Why not add a few sweet peas to your climbing framework as there is no greater joy than bringing the perfume of sweet peas into your house. If its cut flowers you are after that don’t take up the whole patch try Snapdragons (Antirrhinum majus) or heavely scented Stocks (Matthiola incana).

Slug watch

Watch the YouTube videos and get cunning – don’t wait, put up your slug defences from day one.