Get your Children Involved in Gardening

As it’s National Children’s Gardening Week at the end of the month (28th May – 5th June), this month’s article is all about getting your children or grandchildren involved in your garden.

Even if you don’t have much space, there are still ways to encourage your children using different sized plant pots, raised beds (filled with vegetables or plants – you choose). You could even add a salad or herb garden to a sunny kitchen windowsill.

Benefits of Involving Children in Gardening

There are many benefits to getting your children (or grandchildren) involved in gardening. It can offer them sensory development, mainly through the different scents of plants, the texture of soil, petals and leaves, and through the visual impact of a variety of different coloured flowers, shrubs and trees. Even taste can be explored if you are growing your own fruits and vegetables (and as an added benefit, your children may actually want to eat the vegetables they have helped to grow!)

Gardening can help children with hand eye co-ordination, build physical strength and keep them active. It gets them outside in the fresh air and helps them to bond with nature which has been proven to boost mental health. They can learn how the environment around them works. Aside from the obvious how to look after certain plants, you could also teach them the important role of pollinators, how the seasons change, how the weather system works (and how this affects plants) and where our food comes from.

As an added benefit, gardening helps children learn self-confidence (how rewarding it feels when the seeds you have sown turn into fully grown plants). It helps them learn responsibility for looking after a certain plant and being in charge of watering it. Gardening also helps children to learn to be patient – waiting for a plant to grow takes time!

Growing Cress & Salads

Who doesn’t remember growing cress heads as a kid in school – either in an egg shell or a small plant pot? The beauty of this project is that it doesn’t take long for cress to grow and you really don’t need any space as they grow indoors – you just need a sunny windowsill or table to pop them on and watch them grow! You’ll need – 7cm plant pot or eggshell, cotton wool, cress seeds, kitchen roll, paint and paint brushes and water.

Get your children to decorate the plant pot or eggshell then run a few pieces of kitchen roll under water so they are damp but not soaking and put them at the bottom of the pot or eggshell. Run the piece of cotton wool under water so it is damp too and place that on top of the kitchen roll. Scatter 1 teaspoon per eggshell of cress seeds on top and gently pat them down. Place your pot or eggshell in a sunny spot and shoots should appear within a few days and will be ready to eat in a week. There are a couple of ways to grow salad – you could germinate from seed using a propagator kit or seed kit and start indoors, or you can sow directly outside either in beds or in 20cm plant pots (or larger) when the weather is warmer (check your seed packet for instructions). You can involve your children in sowing the seeds in compost in the propagator tray and look after the seedlings together until they are ready to harden off and plant out. Children love seeing the seedlings start to form as to them it is some kind of magic! Just remember to protect your growing plants if there is a frost forecast and water them often.

Tomatoes, Courgettes, Sunflowers & more gardening fun...

Tomatoes are another great plant to grow with children (and they will taste lovely with your salad leaves above).

They can be grown similarly to salad leaves by starting off indoors, or you can plant them directly outside once the weather is warm enough (check your seed packet for instructions).

The easiest way would be to use a propagator kit or seed kit then once the seedlings are ready to be planted outside, harden them off then plant each plant into a 30cm plant pot and watch them grow! Your tomatoes will be ready to eat in around eight weeks.

Tomato plants will also benefit from a feed every few weeks while growing with a specially formulated tomato feed. Remember to keep them watered often and protect if there is a frost forecast.

You may wish to grow courgette. From seed, again, as above you can choose from a propagator kit or seed kit and start indoors, or you can sow directly outside either in beds or in 45cm plant pots.

Once your courgette has started to fruit, choose a small one and using a tooth pick, scratch your child’s name on the skin. As the courgette starts to grow, the name will grow bigger too until it is ready to pick and the children can enjoy the courgette with their name on!

Most adults of a certain age remember growing sunflowers as a child, just in the same way we all remember growing cress heads! Sunflowers are pretty easy to grow from seed and are happy growing in pots. Choose a 15-20cm pot and sow seeds in general purpose compost in the UK around May time. You can still plant them into the early summer but they’ll take longer to grow. Sunflowers usually flower in August but this will vary depending on when you plant them. They usually take two to three months to flower from sowing and germinate in one to two weeks. There are a wide range to choose from when picking your seeds with different sizes and colours so get your children involved in choosing their favourite. Remember to continue to water them often and protect them if there is a frost forecast. Keep the pots in full sun and just before they start to flower, give them a feed with tomato feed. You may need to support very tall varieties with bamboo canes to prevent them from flopping.

There are many other projects you can do with your children in the garden, from making a homemade pinecone bird feeder (click here to view our ‘How To’ post on this) to making a fairy garden or bug hotel. A quick search online will give you lots more ideas to encourage your children or grandchildren to get more involved in your outdoor space whatever their age.