A Prairie Garden Journal    by Dick Meyer

Gardening is not child's play

Whatever you do, don't let your children read this week's column.   Gardening is not child's play.  Besides, it's boring.  Your children have better things to do this summer than to have their own garden. They have to watch 4-5 hours of cartoons, nickelodeon, and the Disney channel each day, they have baseball, soccer, basketball, and volleyball camps to attend, they have to meet their friends at the mall, they have to go swimming, and, of course, they have to play endless hours of video games.  

It wouldn't be any fun to discover all of those natural wonders that can be found in a garden.  Like how those huge sunflower stalks can grow from such a little seed, or how the flowers of moss rose open up in the bright sunlight and then close up each night as the sun sets, or how honey bees can't seem to resist the bright colored flowers of snapdragons.  And you sure don't want your children to take a magnifying glass and watch a lady beetle each a whole bunch of aphids-after all that's real violence, not the make believe stuff you let them watch on television.

But if somehow, your children are weird and actually force you to help them start a small children's garden for the summer…… if they just nag and nag you until you give in, then here's a few suggestions as to how you can get them started on a small garden, but make sure that it's no fun so they won't want to do it again next year…..or get hooked for life like you did.

Finally, don't let the grandparents encourage your children to have their child's garden over at the grandparent's house.   They could end up over at the grandparent's house for long summer evenings tending their garden leaving you and your spouse free to……a.  take a long walk by yourselves, b.  enjoy the sunset, c.  spend a little quality time together  (wink, wink).

Previous Articles

April 27, 2006
Crazy Clematis

May 04, 2006
Ornamental Grasses

May 11, 2006
Perennials

May 18, 2006
Herbs

May 25, 2006
Hummingbird Garden Party

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6 Rules for Children's Gardens  (Because kids hate rules)

1.           Keep it small.   Even a 2' by 2' or a 3' by 3' garden will seem large to a small child.  A child's first few gardens should be just big enough for a few carefully selected plants.  The location should be in the children's part of the yard, perhaps near a swing set.  It will help to define it clearly with some edging or boards (don't use any chemically treated boards or timbers, though.

2.  Make it a summer garden.  Don't start a children's garden until early summer, when temperatures are consistently warm.  Seeds will germinate quickly, and I even suggest planting bedding plants that are already blooming, because we all know how patient children can be (wink, wink).  Don't expect the interest to continue much after school begins in the fall-too much other stuff going on by then.

3.           No adults allowed.  It's OK to show your child a few of the basic gardening techniques, especially if they ask you to.  But then, let their garden be their project.   A properly disinterested parent will likely be invited to a number of summer "garden walks", and for these special occasions, adults are allowed.

4.         Pick fun & easy plants.  It's hard to go wrong with a simple selection of some of the favorite flowers from your own childhood garden-moss rose, snapdragons, petunias, sunflowers, cosmos-try a mixture of easy to grow seeds and bedding plants. 

5.           Let nature happen.  I suggest no chemical pesticides or herbicides of any sort in a children's garden.  A little fertilizer is just fine-so long as the child is putting it on.  Pulling a few weeds, watching bees and butterflies stealing nectar from the flowers, and roly-polys scurrying around in the mulch are all part of the experience of a childhood garden.   Give that child a magnifying glass or a microscope to see some of the smaller stuff that lives in a garden and you just might end up with a Nobel-prize winning microbiologist in the family.

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