Gardening

NOBLE UNIVERSITY | Gardening

Late Spring-Early Summer 2009

Children’s Gardens

It is never too early to get children involved with gardens and gardening. Some of my fondest memories go back to when I was of pre-school age and helping my father and grandfather in the yard and garden on the weekends. Equipped with my small watering can, shovel and rake, I would be their shadow, repeating pretty much everything they did in a much smaller scale of course. My father had a rather nice vegetable garden and another garden that was a cutting garden, filled with tall marigolds, zinnias, snapdragons, dahlias, and roses. Both of these gardens were based on the standard row planting arrangement, and I was quite sure that that was the basis of a good garden. One day while my father was at work, I ventured into the vegetable garden and carefully did a little gardening of my own. I pulled out a variety of weeds from between the crops and sorted them by type and replanted them in rows off to the side. The following day my garden was discovered by dad and he knew I was ready for the next step. He cultivated the soil in a small area that seemed to have been forgotten and rounded up some bean, radish and leaf lettuce seeds along with some onion sets. Side by side we made rows, a little wider than normal so there was plenty of space for me to step, and I carefully spaced out the seeds, covered them with soil and watered them carefully. A few days passed and the first sprouts began to show. It was just a few weeks later that some of the first “harvest” was collected for Sunday supper (we never called it dinner then) and I was sure that my vegetables were so much tastier than my dad’s vegetables from his garden.

Gardening has stuck with me over the years and I can’t imagine not gardening. My garden as a child was pretty straight forward and based on practicality, however there are plenty of ways to inspire children with the world of gardens and gardening.

ABC Garden: Select a plant from each letter of the alphabet and label them for identification.

Color Garden: Make plant selections based on color, covering the rainbow.

Water Gardening: Water, plants, fish and frogs make a perfect spot for children to enjoy. Water depth measurement should be kept shallow if small children are the visitors to the garden.

The Scented Garden: Fragrant flowers and herbs make a great spot for children to touch and explore.