Make a den so the young can have fun and fuel their imaginations

SO you’ve bought them the junior gardening gloves, miniforks and little wheelbarrows to get your kids in the mood for gardening. But when all the planting’s done, what’s next?

Well, other enticements might include a den, tucked away from the adults, preferably in a shady part of the garden that will not suffer from high use with little ones coming in and out all the time.

To do it quickly, establish some shelter and fast-growing cover using plants such as willows. For an improvised hideaway, create a simple teepee from willow canes pushed in the ground in a circle and tied together at the top. If you want something prettier for next year, plant climbers such as clematis to climb up the canes in spring to provide flower cover.

A treehouse may be the ultimate den, but it can be costly and complicated to erect if you’re not a natural DIY-er, so you may be better off letting children make their own den.

Leave a wild area for them to roam around in, preferably towards the back of the garden, but where you can keep an eye on them, providing a variety of twiggy sticks, plants and wood and let their imagination run wild. They can make their own camps using old curtains, old sheets, blankets and pegs.

Sandpits provide young children with hours of fun, whether you buy a plastic one with a lid on it or a more permanent fixture made from a circle of logs set vertically into the ground or from a cleaned-up tractor or lorry tyre.

Use sand that is sold specifically for playpits, as it is non-toxic and won’t harm children, animals, lawns or borders if accidentally spilt. Public play areas and sandpits with high use tend to replace the sand annually, but it is not always necessary to do this if you keep the pit covered when not in use. It’s worth drying it out regularly though as bacteria and bugs can breed in sand that is continually wet.

Create a wildlife garden for children. Planting should ideally be in the spring when you can sow a wildflower meadow and use a good variety of plants.