Allotment Kids

When there’s an hour to spare in between work and sleep, there’s nothing better than to get some jobs done in the garden. All too often people are busy and like to get the gardening done when the kids are at school or asleep. Although it is relaxing having a bit of time and space to yourself in the garden, kids can be outside getting fresh air and futering about. Just don’t expect too much work out of them.

Utopian Vision

When my lads were young I had a utopian vision. We would all be happily working and playing in the garden. I would be sowing seeds with butterflies floating around my head and selling plants to happy customers. The children would be dancing, smiling and singing songs whilst watering in the polythene tunnel and potting the plants. In reality, just like getting children to work in the house, it takes twice as long to do anything, you generally have to do the jobs again and if your expectations are high and don’t meet with your approval, usually end in an argument and the words “Oh, don’t bother, I’ll do it myself.”

I was a bit unrealistic with my vision as the lads were less than four years old and they were happier making mud pies and throwing them at the windows. In the end I just let them get on with it. I had a couple of ton of sand in which one of the lads spent hours creating rivers and tunnels and playing with his diggers (basically learning geography and physics). Playing in the garden, unbeknown to children is all learning. They find out how soil holds together, how plants grow, measuring, pivots, gravity, first aid, friction, where food comes from and how much mess they can make before the parent loses their temper.

Small Raised Beds for Children

I have been making some 1metre square raised beds this week from fencing panels, specifically for children to use, be it for the garden or increasingly for an allotment. If a parent like to garden and a child would like a plot for themselves, these small beds are ideal to have in the vegetable garden. Growing can be fun for a child. A lot of children grow a daffodil or sunflower at primary school. With their own patch, children can grow some pretty flowers, a few strawberries or some carrots. It might even encourage them to eat a few veggies. When we lived in the park, a lot of the kids would come around for some seedlings or to eat some peas. A small raised bed can nurture a creative interest, vegetables and keep them occupied for long enough so you could get some work done on your own plots.

A bit of forward planning might be needed to get into the garden with young children. All ages, even to adulthood need a safe working environment. Don’t expect the child to be able to use the lawn mower unsupervised at two years old!

Because the raised bed is so compact the child will only need small tools. Buy colourful hand trowels and forks of good quality, they will be safer and sturdier especially as they could be used for lots of other things besides tending to the soil. Once a child gets a hand tool it could be used to prise a marble out of the cracks in the concrete or as an imaginative airplane.

A Few Losses

Vegetable gardening with children will probably incur a few more plant losses, but if they have their own bed you can let them get on with it and they can see for themselves that a plant won’t survive for long with its roots sticking in the air. You will soon find out what the child enjoys doing. Buy fast growing seeds to get the small raised bed started. Radish, lettuce and other salad crops are ideal as they come up in a few weeks. There are packets of kid’s seeds available in some of the garden centres. Let them choose a few spring bedding plants or pretty flowers to grow themselves. You can get some self set forget me nots, marigolds or a clump of those daisies that spread every year from an established garden. A bag of bulbs in autumn will entice a child out in spring to watch the shoots appear and some early colour. Herbs would be ideal too as they are fragrant, attract insects and are edible –nasturtiums are pretty, fast growing and edible.. The small size of the bed shouldn’t limit the choice of summer vegetables too much. Even in a small plot you could grow beetroot, carrots, peas, beans and spinach. If you are using sticks to support beans, peas or even the odd sunflower, safety is again top priority. Use an old plant pot on the top of the stick or better still an old tennis ball can be stuck on the end. Currant bushes take from slips easily and they are full of vitamin C.

Don’t expect too much from your child in the first few years, but make the most of it while you can. There might come a time when they get a bit older that you won’t be able to get them outside and away from video games. Don’t despair though, the seeds have been sown, so to speak¬, and when they realise that gardening is one of life’s real pleasures, the experiences they had as youngsters will come flooding back. They’ll thank you for it later.