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Kids are natural gardeners. After all, have you ever met a child who didn't love to get dirty or splash in water? Shoot, maybe all it will take is for you to substitute the word "soil" for dirt, and you can be on your way to introducing them to the joys of gardening!
First of all, it's important to remember that kids are impatient. They like to see results -- soon -- not two months from now. This means starting with already-started transplants or even 4-inch potted bedding plants and vegetables. Even with such "instant" growth, though, there are still some flowers and vegetables that are better than others. Some sure-fire flowers for kids include: bachelor's buttons, cosmos, marigolds, hollyhock, impatiens, morning glory, nasturtium, sweet pea, snapdragon and sunflower. Veggies to consider are: bush beans, cucumbers, leaf lettuce, radishes, pole beans, tomatoes, zucchini, basil, dill and mint. If you really want to see something grow fast, how about watching seeds grow? Line a glass jar that has a lid with a damp paper towel, and screw on the lid. Put the jar where children can view it every day. Make sure the paper remains moist and, in a few days. the sleeping seeds burst into life right before everyone's eyes. Have fun. Scratch a child's name nto a young pumpkin. As the pumpkin grows, the child's name will grow, too. Lead the end of a vine, such as a cucumber plant, into the narrow neck of a jar. As the cucumber blooms and begins to grow, it eventually will grow too large for the neck opening. Kids will wonder how your child got that cucumber to grow into that narrow jar. You can even personalize a small garden for individual children. It doesn't have to be big; any small area will do. Rope it off and let the child make their own sign, distinguishing it as their garden. It's fune to give it a theme, such as "pizza garden" where they can grow tomato and pepper plants along with some sweet basil and oregano. Or they can make it Peter Rabbit's garden with mixed salad vegetables. Just such a garden was featured at last year's Northwest Flower Show in Seattle, complete with topiary rabbits. Try some experiments. Plant some melon seeds under a black plastic sheet and some other melon seeds in typical garden soil. Have the kids record the difference between how quickly the two seed groups germinate, how much fruit theyr produce and how much weeding and watering the different plants need. They'll learn how the black plastic absorb's the sun's heat, speeding germination and reducing moisture loss form the soil. Go To Page: 1 2
The copyright of the article Kids Gardening in California Gardening is owned by Keith Muraoka. Permission to republish Kids Gardening in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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