Kids' stuff

CONNECT’s green gardening expert, NELL WILLIAMS, looks at ways of getting kids into gardening.

ONE in 12 six-year-olds are now considered obese, so it is even more important to encourage youngsters to take some form of physical exercise.

And gardening is the perfect activity. As well as physical exercise, our bodies also produce vitamin D (essential in the absorption of calcium) when we’re out in the sunlight.

Developing awareness of the environment will help to create the future carers of our planet. And children are often so far removed from the process of growing fruit and vegetables that they have little idea where food comes from.

So how to get children started? The choice of project depends on the age of the child/children and the space you have available. Try to get some appropriately-sized tools - hand fork and trowel, rake, watering can, basket - and several companies do packets of seeds especially designed for children.

Some ideas to get you started:

A window box of their own
This is even better if it’s outside their bedroom window. Tulips and daffodils planted in the autumn will flower until it’s time for summer flowers (nasturtiums and marigolds grow easily from seed), or vegetables. Radishes, spring onions and carrots developed for growing in pots, can be sown directly into a window box. Cherry tomatoes and lettuces are better started off in seed trays first.

Veggie /flower patch
Plant as the window boxes, but pumpkins, courgettes, runner beans and sunflowers could also be included. It’s worth growing a few of each yourself as spares for emergencies, like when slugs and snails wreak havoc.

Attracting birds
This can be a year-round activity. Put up bird feeders and nest boxes, and look out for seed and peanut feeders that stick on the window and give a great view of the birds feeding.

Potatoes in a tyre
Sprout potatoes in spring. Fill a tyre with compost and plant the potatoes. When leaves appear, place another tyre on top and fill with compost. Repeat two or three times more. By October, when the leaves die back, remove the tyres and harvest the spuds.

Butterfly garden
Buddleia, honeysuckle and delphiniums attract butterflies, as do stinging nettles (not so good with younger children). Snapdragon, borage, sweet william, cornflowers, candytuft, alyssum, poached egg flower, French marigolds, nasturtiums, stocks and pinks can all be grown in the garden or in a trough or sink to create a mini-garden.

Grow your own trees
Acorns, ash keys and conkers can all be collected in the autumn. Put in flower pots over winter, they should grow fairly reliably the following year. Eventually the trees can be planted out or grown as bonsais in pots.

Giant sunflowers
Why not see just how tall a sunflower can be grown?
Remember the aim is to encourage the child to be outside, so be patient and flexible.
Find a job they enjoy doing. If you have a job you need to do in a hurry, sandpits, swing tennis, a paddling pool or a den may be a more appropriate way of keeping them occupied while you get on with your work. Whatever you both do, have fun!