Gardening: How to stop children getting bored and become inspired mini gardeners | Brian Kidd

With children on holiday it might be difficult to find interesting things to do but here are suggestions which will fill a few days and encourage young ones to take an interest in the garden.
If you're subtle you can get children to enjoy gardening and even eat the produce. Picture: ShutterstockIf you're subtle you can get children to enjoy gardening and even eat the produce. Picture: Shutterstock
If you're subtle you can get children to enjoy gardening and even eat the produce. Picture: Shutterstock

All annual flowers need dead flowers removing every day. It’s a boring job which children may not enjoy, but what about saving the seeds?

A seed tray with newspaper in the base, a few stones to stop it blowing away and folded up the edge of the box will be ideal for holding the dead flowers and seed pods. A separate tray will be needed for each type of flower.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Children will soon find out that poppies have capsules and the seeds fall on to newspaper from a frill of holes in the top. Look at polyanthus – there are usually lots of seeds in pods still on the plants. And the first delphiniums have masses of seed but tell children they are poisonous and to wash hands after picking them. Lovely ripening seeds can are also on foxgloves, sweet William, aubretia, Peruvian lilies and lots more.

A wet day job is shaking seeds out of the pods. I did this as an apprentice gardener, particularly the wonderful begonia semperflorens seed we used to save, clean, sieve and pack. It was done to perfection and the director of parks was complimented on the high quality by a famous seed house.

Presentation and labelling is important. Cheap, small envelopes are easy to find online.

Another lovely idea, which our grandchildren loved doing, was finding out the names of flowers then cutting out a picture from a seed catalogue and sticking it on the outside of the seed packet. It kept them amused for hours! They then practice best handwriting for the labels! Rebecca always sent a packet of flower seeds to her friends on special occasions, a delightful brainwave.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

An interesting outdoor job involves runner beans. Get some 8ft-long canes, one cane for each plant. To make this more interesting, find a sandwich box, put in two sheets of kitchen towel and just enough water to wet the paper.

Get children to sprinkle on runner bean seeds. Next day they will see the beans are twice their original size. A few days later a root will emerge. Now get children to plant one seed at the base of each cane, they will then love watering!

The great thing about this is they see beans germinating, watch them grow, compare their own height to the bean shoot and see how quickly it reaches the stick’s top. The best part is when the beans are ready to pick and yes, you’ve guessed it, they will enjoy eating them – even if they don’t like vegetables. These are different because: ‘I grew these myself.’

It’ll soon be time to go blackberrying. There are several places in Portsmouth: Hilsea Lines; the shore near Hilsea Lido; Farlington Marshes; Portsdown Hill, Milton Common...

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Remember to take punnets, refreshments, money for an ice cream on the way home and a walking cane… ‘Look mum. Those up there are huge!’

Enjoy the holidays with children. Treasure every moment with them.

THIS WEEK’S TOP TIPS

This is a good time to replant a strawberry bed, particularly if you have allowed strawberry plant runners to grow in little pots alongside the parent plants. If not, strawberry plants can be bought at garden centres.

Related topics: