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by William Green
Families who have small gardens and limited space have
major problems inculcating the 'green' message to their
children. In a small urban environment the ability to
watch things grow and mature can be a procedure on which
parents and children frequently miss out. Often work
pressures prevent families from communing with nature
much beyond their TV sets. Subsequently our knowledge
can often become third-hand and too reliant upon the
syndrome of 'phoning a friend'. We might know many answers,
but ultimately miss out on a true experience.
Today's children know far too little about first-hand
nature and certainly about gardening. Fruit and veg
come wrapped and sanitised in polythene. The sensation
of touching plants is merely a trip to the florist or
supermarket and the notion of hands-on experience means
another visit to anything alluding to IT. We should
realise that the present generation of parents have
been part of this continual weaning-off of growing plants
that our grandparents saw as commonplace and the rapid
movement towards a living that has demands for instant
consumerism and neglect for simple self-sufficiency.
So - what can we learn from previous generations which
might rekindle that desire to acquaint our kids with
growing things at home and the revival of an important
experience?
To begin with, the exercise has to be a shared experience.
Most mums and dads have not spent their formative years
studying seed packets and tilling the earth! So, what
will grow in their garden might be as big a mystery
for them as it will be for their kids.
If you are keen and feel that growing things will enrich
your home life, first read the literature - and there's
plenty of it around! Ask yourselves whether the project
will be a viable proposition: does your garden lend
itself to setting up a growing plants regime for you
and your kids? Have you the space and the time and -
most important - the inclination to do it well....and
that is the ability to sustain all the rigours of daily
observations, frequent checking, occasional feeding
and cleaning up both the kids and the garden, when necessary?
If you are still enthusiastic - and I hope you are -
think of scale first. How big will your enterprise be?
Are you going to grow your whole garden? If you do,
your kids will most likely go and play in the park and
leave the work for you. Therefore, I suggest you start
with growing things in containers, where quickly you
will know everyone's limitations, without committing
yourselves too far and - to use a contemporary cliche
(also a pun!) - be able to develop your joint project
in bite-size amounts.
What containers do you use? Anything that has drainage
at the bottom. The rest is governed by ambition, aspect
and, of course, aesthetics. It all depends on how big
you want to go, how much light you have in your garden
and whether you think your thrown-out bath will be an
eye-sore.
Once you have acquired your hardware, which includes
good soil and compost, choose what you want to grow.
Flowers, fruit, veg or the lot? Do you want to buy plants,
or grow from seed, or both? Probably most important
(as part of 'joint management', of course!) is to ask
the kids what they want. When you have all made the
pact that home growing is going to be such a great challenge
and a profound experience for the whole family, ask
them whether they have any burning ambitions on the
subject of horticulture! Easier, perhaps, is to take
the kids out shopping and guide them towards choosing
suitable seeds and small plants that will embellish
your pots and tubs. After that, complete your homework!
You should know how and when to sow or plant and what
garden pests to look out for.
If the management is good, everyone involved will enjoy
the ensuing rewards - the tumbler strawberries, the
quick-growing radishes, even the peas and beans - and
remember, if you have sensitive, discerning and caring
children, they might even tolerate the flowers as well!
Watch Things Grow
By William Green
Landscape and Garden Design
Contact 01273 493076
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