INVOLVE THE KIDS

 Start children off in the garden by stimulating their senses with brightly coloured flowers, aromatic foliage and scented blooms, tactile leaves and quick-to-crop edible plants.

 Try some easy to grow things with them, either from seed such as sunflower, marigolds (French or English), poppies and cosmos or as plants such as primulas, pansies, wild strawberry (Fragaria vesca), lavender and hardy geraniums. Big seeds such as oak or sycamore are great for very young children to sow.

Stimulate their interest with plants that make noise, such as rattling Nigella and poppy seedheads, rustling grasses and bamboos, or fun-to-touch plants like furry Stachys byzantina, sticky Petunia or prickly Eryngium.

Also try plants with a distinctive smell such as the curry plant (Helichrysum italicum), lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) or chocolate cosmos. Edible plants are always a favourite, especially if they also look good. Get them to try Swiss chard ‘Bright Lights’, radish, lettuce, courgettes and runner beans. Discovering edible flowers such as the peppery nasturtium will make the garden a much more exciting place.

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed