In A Child's Garden
When I ask people whether they've ever let their child have their own garden, or tell them that I'm letting my children get started on theirs, I get all kinds of reactions. Some look at me with disbelief, some with amusement, and even a few who actually agree with the concept.
Gardening is a wonderful thing, as anyone who gardens will tell you. And I have yet to meet a child who doesn't love to get right out in the middle of the garden and play. If they are allowed to help from the beginning to the end, it's even more fun. It also gives the parent and child quality time to spend together. And the real fun comes in with the fact that you don't have to have a plot of land, or tons of time for a child to have a garden. Some of my most wonderful gardens have been in window boxes on the balconies of apartments. With a little knowledge and imagination, you'll have your child's garden growing in no time. (And it's a fun way to teach them a small bit about responsibility, without them even being aware of the lesson...*grin*.)
Ok, off to the 1st step. This is decision time for the parent. You have to decide where your child can have their garden. For those of you with a house and a small amount of land, this will not present a major problem. A 4 x 2 foot plot of land will be fantastic. That little dirt spot all the way in the back corner of your backyard will probably be a good spot. There isn't a tree to block the sun, and the rain doesn't sit in a huge puddle in that spot after a rain, so fantastic!!! Your decision is over. lol.For those of us not fortunate enough to own our homes, however; we have to be a little more creative. You look around your apartment and you see that your windowsills are about 3 to 4 inches thick. Hmmm, that would give you plenty of space to sit a couple of small to medium window boxes. Ok, there you go. Now, all you have to do is pick the window.
Ok, so you don't have thick windowsills, but you have a balcony, or small patio if you are on the first floor. This will give you plenty of space to sit either pots or window boxes.
Alright, you don't own a home, you don't have nice size windowsills, and there is no balcony or patio. One thing I've found to be true with almost every apartment complex I've ever lived in, is if you ask them if you can have a small area where you can plant a very small garden, most of them are going to be totally willing to allow you to have a small one. They may qualify that it has to be ornamental, but it adds value to their property if you plant flowers, so they are willing to allow you to do so.
Now, all of those are unworkable for you. You have none of the options above available to you. But, you do have ceilings. You also have the option of plant stands. The garden does not have to be huge for a child to enjoy it, nor does it have to have a thousand plants. One or two plants that are the child's own, will be plenty. And, in a medium sized hanging planter you can place 4 plants, so it would actually be like a garden instead of just a single plant.
Now that we've got our spot picked out, we have to really think about our children and what type of plants they are going to be best suited to. Be very honest in your evaluation of your child and their needs. Is your child one who pays attention to detail and is good about following through on projects long term? Are they very good about remembering what they are supposed to do and carrying through on it? Or, are they very enthusiastic when first starting a project and then tend to wander away and forget about it after the very first day? All children are different and their needs are different also. If you have an outside plot and you decide that they will do well with plants that need a lot of care, and they are children who are going to wander off after the first day, then either you are going to end up taking care of their garden, or it's going to go to seed and not be very productive. For a child whose attention is very easily diverted, you want to plant low maintenance plants. Plants that you can plant and almost forget about. For children with longer attention spans, you want to plant plants that need a lot of care and attention. I have a page that lists plants and their needs to help you choose what you want. You can go there now by clicking Here. This page lists not only the plants; but size, light requirements, water requirements, which garden plans they would be suitable for, and other information that would be helpful to you while choosing.
Now, that we've figured out where our garden is going to be, we come to the subject of the type of garden we want. This is a Child's garden, so we can be as imaginative and creative as the Child in deciding what types of plants to use. I truly believe the only thing that ever limits us as people, is our own doubts. The list that follows here will give you some ideas of the type of garden your Child will want to do.
1. The Biblical Garden - This will be using herbs that are listed in the Bible.
2. The Faery Garden - This will be a garden where the Wee Folk will be attracted and want to come to play.
3. The Pizza Garden - This is the garden where you will grow all the herbs and spices to put on Pizza's.
4. The Salsa Garden - This is the garden where we grow the plants to make Salsa.
5. The Five Senses Garden - This is the garden for children who want to find plants that will appeal to all the senses. And this one can be a really fun one to invent and grow.
6. The Elements Garden - This is a garden where you will grow a plant for each of the Elements of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water.
7. The Sports Garden - This is an invention of mine, but is lots of fun. There are certain types of gourds that when grown look like Balls. There is also the option of doing a small Field Goal, and letting trailing plants use this for a trellis. You also can just place different pieces of sports equipment outside and let the plants grow up and around these. (I recommend plastic children's sports equipment for this venture.)
8. The Shakespeare Garden - This garden has plants that were listed in Shakespeare's writings.
9. The Bee Garden - This is the garden for kids who love the sound and hum of small bees. It's a noisy garden, and as such is loads of fun for children who just love to listen.
10. Hummingbird/Butterfly Garden - This is a favorite with many people. So, they sell packets of mixed seeds that have plants that attract these wonderful little beings to your yard.
11. The Cactus/Succulent Garden - At first this sounds like a really bad idea, but you need to understand a few things. Cacti are very protective plants. It's said that if you keep Cacti in your windows, you house will be free from break ins. My daughter has had her own Cacti since she was about 2. There have been times that visitors to my home, and myself, have seen my daughter's hand fall on these plants by accident, and she come away without a single quill in her hand. I have also been the recipient, as well as other people, of quills in my hands when I have gone to her room to yell at her. My mother also did this one day and had quills in her hand when she walked away. How these quills managed to get across her room and into our hands, is a mystery that no one seems to have an answer for. And, they are very low maintenance. You give them a little water once a month...and they are totally happy little plants.
12. The Spaghetti Garden - This is the garden for the Child who adores S'ghetti. Here you grow all the spices to make spaghetti sauce, as well as the tomatoes.
13. The Color Garden - This is the garden for the Child who just wants to see color variations.
14. And last but not least...The Love Mom Garden - This garden is for the child who wants nice flowers to be able to cut and bring in to Mom. You want to use flowers in this one that have decent stems so you can put them on the table in a vase.Now that we know WHAT the gardens are...let's go to the plant page for the choices :). You can go there now by clicking Here.
