Fun gardening projects with children
Choose a pot large enough to plant a few different salad leaves, and which isn’t too shallow, so it won’t dry out too quickly. Use a good quality potting mix and select salad varieties that are quick and reliable. Planting seedlings rather than sowing seeds will give a quicker result, which is better for younger children, as they don’t need to wait for so long before tasting their endeavours. Good choices are cut-and-come again leaves, micro-greens and frilly lettuces. Help the children through the whole process, making sure they feed the plants regularly for the best cropping, and wash the leaves before they proudly present them at the table.
Once children understand that growing plants takes time, they may be ready to have their own little plot. Three months from planting to flowering may not seem a long time to us, but a child can lose interest when things happen slowly.
They may like a colour theme for their flower patch, such as ‘golden treasures’, all scented plants, or just a jolly mix. For a show late summer you can direct sow calendulas, sunflowers, nigella, poached egg plant, coreopsis, and one of the quickest – which should flower in six weeks – cornflowers. Seeds, such as forget-me-nots and foxgloves, can also be scattered until September to flower in spring and summer next year.
As well as picking posies for vase displays, they can preserve some of the flowers and leaves by pressing them. Using a wooden flower press, or heavy books, place the flowers between parchment or tissue paper and, once pressed, gently remove them and glue onto paper for a lovely picture.
Children will enjoy decorating a plant pot, painting a design with bright colours, or cutting up pictures from magazines for a decoupage decoration. Discuss with them the flowers they would like to grow in the pot – whether a single-flowering plant or a mix of blooms – as this will determine the best container to use. At this time of the year there are still some seeds that can be sown, such as sunflowers, cosmos, marigolds, zinnias, and nasturtiums. Small punnet plants from the garden centre, such as pansies or petunias, or ones you have propagated earlier in the season, will create a quicker effect for younger children.
A raised bed with space to sit on the edge makes an ideal spot for children to grow a comprehensive mix of easy edibles. Decide together what to grow out of a range of things you know they like to eat or you think they’d have fun with. Buy in seedlings to