The first flower I ever became aware of was the nasturtium; I loved its vibrant colors and its adventurous spirit as it stretched and climbed, peeping through the trellis, embellishing the greenhouse and investigating the arched canes of the runner beans nearby. We used the tart leaves in sandwiches and salads for an added ‘bite’, adding the blossoms for decoration. Its peppercorn-sized seeds are perfect for chubby little hands to manage and many hundreds were planted, and I imagine that’s where my interest in gardening started.
I graduated to loganberries and strawberries, learning to layer straw under the latter to deal with slugs. I assumed that’s where the strawberries got their name and told all the neighbors so…. As my experience expanded, so did my awareness of wild life and, indeed, all living things. I learned to care, to study, to enquire, to relate and, therefore, to begin to understand the balance of nature and to have a reverence for life, all taught by my father.
Children love to learn and do so very quickly when they can see the connection between one thing and another. Be prepared for those “What shall I do?” days with a bundle of bamboo canes which can be cut into 6-8” lengths and bundled together to provide over-wintering and nesting tunnels for ladybirds, lacewings, certain bees and some moths. Just tie them tightly and place in a safe perch where they won’t fall. Set the children to gathering all the twigs and branches they can find; make a wigwam structure out of the larger ones and place a bed of leaves inside. Use the smaller pieces to make a rough nest, again mixed with leaves. Many small animals will move in. A pile of logs next to a pond will encourage frogs and newts to make a home, and hedgehogs just love mounds of leaves and bushy undergrowth. A friend of mine has had a large toad living comfortably in an old pipe for the last three years and, of course, all these animals will feed greedily on garden pests. If you have nesting boxes, hang them in sheltered spots for birds to shelter in during the cold weather; if you don’t have any, perhaps you have some old pieces of wood which a child, under supervision, could turn into something warm and cosy. My brother and I once created one out of a coconut shell.
Organizing a party for my granddaughter, I bought some wooden bird houses which the children had great fun in painting. Trestle tables covered with plastic, large jam jars of water, different sized paint brushes and lots of bright paints was all that was necessary. Naturally, they then wanted to make some feeders and we had to come up with more ideas. In the nesting season, find some old clothes or pieces of fabric and encourage the little ones to pull threads for draping over bushes or bundling into small net bags, suspended from a branch; add pieces of cotton wool, feathers from pillows, torn tissues – even human hair if a little girl has had her long locks shortened. All will be used to make nests and the birds may well choose to build them in your garden, particularly if you have feeders and water sources.
When planting bulbs, remember that children are closer to the ground than you! Give them a small basket, bag or bowl of bulbs and mark out an area in the garden where you want those particular flowers to grow. Younger children should be given the shallow planting jobs, and the older ones will manage the deeper ones. Use garden paint or ordinary flour to define the areas, particularly if you want drifts of, say, crocuses in purple, yellow or white. When it’s time to collect seeds, they can use a pair of scissors (blunt, if necessary) to snip off the old flowerheads and to pop them into a paper bag. The name of the flower can be written on the bag, a plastic tie will secure it and it can be stored for next year when the children can replant them in small pots. Provide some sunflower seeds, planting material and some large pots, and encourage a competition to see who can grow the tallest sunflower. A recent garden magazine told of the world’s record holder in The Netherlands that reached an astonishing 25’5”!
It satisfies the soul to create things, soothes the mind to perform simple tasks, and gladdens the eye to behold nature in harmony.
