I have been updating my website to include a whole new section on Children's Gardening.
I was particularly struck by a comment from a mum saying that she would not know the difference between sweet peas and nasturtiums. It is easy to forget that the popularity of getting children to garden has only been around for a couple of years. Many parents may not have been exposed to such expereince when they were little. So I have tried to include the sort of information someone would want to know if they had not gardened or grown anything before and were now doing so for the first time with their 4 year old.
Whilst looking to see what resources there are already on the web I have found two sites which I think are great for first timers and also contain a few tips for more seasoned gardeners. The first is the BBC Digin site. This has information to help you to plan your growing space and some neat videos on what to do and how to plant. Their newsletter comes out regularly to remind you what you could be planting. Ideal if you are like me and start sowing and planting and then thinkg you have loads of time only to find the days have turned into weeks.
The other site is Eat Seasonably. The site has information on what to grow now, how to grow it and what to eat now all with a slide show explaining things. It has a great interactive guide on what is in season when.
About Me
- Lynda@kidsinthegarden
- This blog has now moved to a new http://www.kidsinthegarden.co.uk.and have a kids garden shop at http://www.kidsinthegardenshop.co.uk. Find me on twitter @kidsandgardens
Hi Lynda, Time does fly, especially now when I feel I'm rushing to get everything sown and planted in time! When sowing, I talk to the children about how long before we see the seeds sprouting and how long before we eat the food. We label and date the seeds, and draw the final plant as that also helps with the long term vision of planting. (PS. glad you liked the drawings that the children did for me in the Veg Patch - thanks for leaving a comment.) Caro
ReplyDeleteCaro
ReplyDeleteI agree the more info children have the more they can understand about the waiting. When explaining to my 5 year old about germination I hesitated before using such a long word thinking he would never remember it. Like exterminating he said! Lynda