The youth of today are lazy slobs trapped in an armchair and addicted to computer games. They spend more time with their friends in the cyber world than school pupils or their peers from the local neighbourhood. Illnesses of obesity and lifestyle, such as type II diabetes are increasingly growing societal problems that afflict many young people around the world.
We must engage our children in outdoor activities to avoid restricting their childhood to housebound entertainment. We need to expose them to outdoor activities like gardening when our kids are young. They will not only enjoy gardening as kids; they will have acquired a valuable life skill that will hold them in good stead for the rest of their lifetime.
As with any practice, gardening needs to be implemented in such a way that it is quick, easy to understand and enjoyable. With kitchen windowsill garden you might start small. Just place the top end of a bunch of celery in water and watch the roots start sprouting. Make sure that your child sees you using the celery in salads and soups and explain the cost-effectiveness of growing celery perpetually and not having to buy it from the local supermarket. Remember changing the water the celery grows in every two weeks.
Sliced off carrot tops with the greenery left intact also become attractive decorations for windowsills. Potatoes that have started to sprout can be placed in a pot and tended to grow. Once the baby potatoes are ready for harvest, be sure to cook them in lots of butter and salt immediately and serve them as a delicious mid-afternoon snack for your child.
Tomatoes are also an excellent bonus for a gardener starting. Just squash between a piece of newsprint cherry tomato or two, and leave it to dry for a few days. So “plant” the newspaper (the seeds and everything) and motivate and remind your child to keep the soil damp. Small tomato plants are to appear within a week or two. Show your kid how to prick the seeds out. Keep one pot in the kitchen for easy salad picking, and plant the others outdoors, as long as it’s spring or summer and there are no frost or snow threats.
Fall back on your childhood’s tried and tested methods and place beans to germinate in wet cotton wool. Once the leaves emerge, plant the beans either indoors in a pot or in a tiny part of the garden that gets sun in the morning. Have fun having the beans stake as they grow taller. The joy of shelling and consuming fresh peas is much better than beans eaten straight off the bush when you explore your garden. Peas grow exceptionally quickly. You can buy the seeds and stagger your seeds so you can enjoy fresh peas at a stretch in the season for a few months.
For the pure joy of watching them grow other very simple herbs and vegetables can be planted; accompanied by the tremendous pleasure of serving organically grown produce from your garden. Celery, chives, oregano, rosemary, lentils, lettuce, spinach, mint, and carrots can grow very quickly and amid a child gardener’s fiddling. If you find your crops growing too big to harvest for the needs of your family, you may allow your child to sell its vegetables to neighbours or family members as seedlings or as harvested bunches.
Children love water and providing a small water feature, or birdbath nearby would be another way to keep your child interested in its little garden. Even a large basin that is submerged under a tap in the ground with pebbles lining the bottom of the basin may look attractive. Encourage the growth of moss, watercress, parsley and other plants that like to have wet feet around your little pond; if it is in a shady spot.
When your kid has fun gardening outdoors, you can add flowering plants too. Nasturtiums grow very quickly and the flowers, in addition to a summer salad, make charming and attractive. Marigolds also grow “like weeds,” and have the added benefit of preventing a variety of pests from entering your patch of vegetables. To retain the interest of your child in gardening, make sure that the time spent with mom or dad in the garden is a dedicated quality span. Buy small gardening tools and gloves to make the very own gardening basket for your child.
If your child’s interest in gardening starts to grow and develop; begin experimenting with the germination of various seeds and pips of fruit in the garden. For example, please don’t throw your peach pips away, encourage your child to move them a few centimetres deep into the soil and keep them watered. Imagine his excitement at germinating a peach tree (and they do grow very easily).
Start scouting for plants around other people’s gardens that will easily grow from slips and cuttings. To expose your child to the joys of botany, engage in simple science experiments in your kitchen. Place a white flower in a red or blue food colouring vase and watch each day as the flower changes colour gradually. Within recycled plastic bottles, place tiny, delicate plants to create a miniature terrarium and watch the water droplets form as the plants “breathe” These simple experiments will gently expose your child to the wonders of science as you involve him or she is a new hobby which he or she will be able to explore throughout the entire life.
If you and your child share a common interest in gardening, then you should invest in a “farm” which is very cheap and if necessary home-made worm. Rather than throw away your kitchen peelings and organic waste, let your child feed the worms. Make sure you use the “worm tea” in your garden as a natural fertilizer. To make some extra money to spend on new seeds, worm wee” can be sold to neighbours who are keen gardeners.
Share the pleasures of having your child outdoors.
When it’s too hot to work in the garden, spread a picnic blanket, pop up a few
mint leaves from your vegetable patch into a freshly squeezed lemonade, sit
under an umbrella and enjoy a picnic lunch with your child while watching your
garden grow.
Parents need to realize that kids have no tolerance. If they don’t immediately see progress, then they’ll shift their focus elsewhere. So starting with small projects is necessary. Consider a plant which will take a short time to grow as discussed above. For starters, green beans, spinach, onions, and sweet potatoes comprise vegetables with short growth periods. Once your kids get the hang of it, introduce those plants that need more care.
Get them to grow something consumable.
Having your kids involved in gardening is by
getting them trained. When cultivating a garden, there are many things to know.
This is a perfect opportunity to teach your children the fundamentals of
biology. How do vegetables survive? Why do they need the sunshine? If your
child is curious about how life works, those questions should come naturally.
If you do make it a competition, gardening can become even more fascinating.
You could also run a contest to see who’s growing the biggest tomato. If your
child is up to the challenge, then he or she will search for the most
productive way to grow healthy tomatoes online.