Greenfile
Getting kids in the garden, from a fatherdaughter team.
Gardening brings generations together.
Ben will fondly recall starting seedlings in the greenhouse as a youngster as much as Mark is likely to remember the cleanup that followed.
There is no shortage of ways to get kids involved with gardening, and the importance of doing so has never been greater as the electronic world demands more of our attention.
Emma Biggs is a kid-gardener and is one of our youngest role models. With the help of her Dad, Steve Biggs, Emma has a new book written specifically as a “kid-to-kid guide” for getting gardening, Gardening with Emma: Grow and Have Fun.
Emma, who is 13, started gardening in Grade 1, which gives her half a lifetime of gardening experience to offer. She starts by explaining why kids and grownups garden differently – kids want a place to play! Mark suggests that grownups should also learn to play in the dirt, but that is for another time.
Here are some of the inspirations we took from Gardening with Emma:
Kids need their own space. A kid-sized space will do, but it is important for kids to feel ownership over their corner or parcel of the yard. Not only does it allow for kids to explore the things that interest them, such as mud pies and “crazy coloured lettuce”, it teaches them responsibility by taking full ownership for the planting and upkeep of their garden.
Fun plant recommendations for your first garden. Emma has lots of experience with fast growing annuals like zinnias, marigolds and sunflowers which are fun to grow from seed and inspired her to find more unique varieties. She offers tips on how to grow these plants, including seed starting instructions and reminders for adults, such as the importance of mulch.
Eating your veggies is a lot more fun when you grew them yourself, or why not try eating some of the weeds that will otherwise take over your garden¸ such as dandelion, garlic mustard and purslane. Emma likes a garnish of home-grown edible flowers to go with her salads, such as nasturtium and bachelor’s button.
Bug collecting is a lot more fun the kid way – with Emma’s instructions, you can build your very own “bug vacuum” that allows you to collect bugs using your lungs. Fun, safe and useful for protecting your plants from the nasty bugs or capturing unique specimens to examine.
Every part of your garden can be colourful, including the veggie garden.
Emma has great recommendations from purple tomatoes to yellow cucumbers. For aspiring entrepreneurs, Emma offers advice for starting your own flower stand, including the best varieties to grow and how to tie a bouquet.
Gardeners are birders, and that is true of kid-gardeners too. Emma does an excellent job of explaining the difference between the types of birds you can attract to your garden and offers tips on bringing them to your yard. Plants such as Tithonia can attract monarch butterflies. Pineapple sage attracts hummingbirds.
Gardening with the five senses is a novel approach, and not one that we think about enough. Emma suggests planting a “sound” garden, including puffy nigella seedpods which rattle when dried, gravel pathways for dragging your feet, and dried gourds for drumming and shaking. With new nephews, nieces and in Mark’s case some grandchildren, we have noticed that youngsters like to make noise.
Giant veggies are all about thinking big, and Emma knows all about humungous zucchini and supersized squash. Kids are crazy about these monsters of the garden, which are a feat of good gardening and imagination, two things Emma has proven kids have a knack for.
Emma understands kid-gardeners from a first-hand perspective, and she makes a great case to her peers for all the right reasons: a love of nature, outdoor play, growing and having fun. An inspiration from the next, next generation.
Gardening with Emma: Grow and Have Fun is available wherever books are sold.
Mark Cullen is an expert gardener, author, broadcaster, tree advocate and Member of the Order of Canada. His son Ben is a fourth-generation urban gardener and graduate of University of Guelph and Dalhousie University in Halifax. Follow them at markcullen.com, @markcullengardening, on Facebook and bi-weekly on Global TV’s National Morning Show.