Trying to get your kids interested in gardening????
Right now is a great time to start some seeds. I put some in peat pots, squash and cukes, 6 days ago, and they are up with two leaves each. Both are great plants for kids because they quickly get to see growth and get to eat their crop quicker than most things. If you get the plants to climb, it's fun to watch daily, or every two day progress. You could take pictures of them and the plant every 5 days for a fun record. Have them do some writing along with it. As you can see, one pot didn't germinate, but that's okay, who really needs 12 cucumber plants?? If you come by in about 2 months, I'll load you up with both cukes AND zukes...
Some other fun things for kids to do would be to get a two liter bottle, and when the squash or cuke has started to form a "fruit," have them position the bottle so that the fruit grows inside the bottle. It won't hurt a thing and looks really cool when it grows.
If you are growing pole beans, I recommend Kentucky Pole Beans, arrange long sticks in a circle, then "tee-pee" them at the top, that way the kids get a cool tent to sit in as the plants grow. I did it with sunflowers one year, really fun. We made a plant "house." I planted in a big square, leaving room for a doorway. The kids loved it.
I just read in a gardening magazine about someone who had a forsythia hedge in front of her house. So when the forsythia had finished blooming in spring, she planted gourds and squash next to them, and used them as a living fence. Sturdy enough for the new plants to grow up, and they don't rust, or have to be taken in in the fall!
I have three teens this summer, so I keep finding things for them to do. Here is a great list.
Follow around behind me and pick up the weedings. Somedays I can weed, AND pick up, but some days I just can't.
Mow, dang-it.
Wash the front porch. Wash the house on the outside, reserve for a hot day, and expect some horsing around. But the house gets clean, so what? Oh, and get the car and van while you are at it.
WEED! Here, just this bit, and then you are done. Give them an area, they have to do a good job within a specified time limit, don't make it too hard. A homeschool mom told me I should MAKE my kids help me in the flower beds. I told her that was MY hobby , not theirs. I can't think of a better way to turn kids off than to make them a slave to the garden. Now, helping occasionally can't hurt their future intake of ice cream, and it instills some good work habits they will need as later homeowners.
Please, help me with this big pile of mulch and we'll see if you get something for it later.
If you don't get a summer job, the barn needs painting. We'll pay.
Do your own laundry, fix a meal, run the sweeper. Mom's in school this summer, and needs help.
Pick strawberries. Now, I know I won't get a full bowl, but I bet at least two of my kids will have strawberry beds at their own homes later. Fresh strawberries are a small part of heaven.
Picking tomatoes later is a must. Sometimes I just don't care about the complaints, it just has to be done. I always think of all the hard work my grandparents did in the fields of Norfolk, England, before, during, and after WW II, and tell my kids to get on it.
Please admire my garden occasionally, and tell me it looks wonderful, and keep your big-footed friends out of it.
Dianne, who just scraped off a layer of dirt.
And don't forget Who gives you the sun, the rain, the soil, and the growth. Be thankful.
