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Kid fun in the garden

18 years ago

Wormfarmer,

You are the one who made me start this thread, I read what you said about the neighbor kids nibbling on your gardens in the bronze fennel thread.

I also enjoy having the neighbor kids over for tasting tours of my gardens. We have so much fun exploring the gardens and finding plants you wouldn't think as edible. Some have been doing it for so long, they even bring their own cream cheese, bread, lunch meat, spreads, dressing, or dips, and make a whole lunch of it. Somedays we'll make a whole picnic out of it, I keep old blankets, and picnic stuff for just such an occassion, as well as a freezer full of icypops. It is just so great to spend the day with kids, acting like a kid, yet still teaching them about gardening at the same time.

They of course know never to eat anything without my ok and I only let them eat what I know is 100 percent safe. Haven't lose a kid yet, lol.

Here's some fun ideas with kids. Get them to try daylily buds. Just make sure it's DAYLILIES and ones you don't mind losing a few blooms off of. Or take daylily flowers and put cream cheese and herbs in them, but I like the buds better. Or roll some hosta leave with cream cheese sprinkled with herbs, dill is my fav, and some lunch meat, now that is my lunch and one of my giants leaves can feed all of us, lol. Nasturgium blooms is a fav of mine, but most kids don't like the peppery flavor. Sometimes we'll make what we call wild salad, dandilion greens, hosta leaves, violet flowers, daylily flowers, squash flowers, rose petals, nasturgium flowers and leaves, sorrel, mint, loveage, whatever is growing at the time plus anything that is ready in the veggie garden. I have one who goes straight to the large patch of chocolate mint to pick a stalk to chew on while we decide what is on the days menu. Another prefers to chew on a stalk of lovage. Yet another heads straight for the rubarb(yes she knows not to eat the leaves, only the stalk).

Being a totally organic gardener, we are able to eat right out of the gardens, just a quick rince from the hose to remove bugs and dirt.

I also have them go on a smelling tour of the gardens, let them rub the various herbs, I sure send them home smelling great, lol.

And at the end of it all, they all go home with a bunch of flowers to give Mom.

There is more I do with kids in my gardens, but I mostly started this thread to see if there are any others out there that do the same. To me, my gardens are to be enjoyed and who better to enjoy them with than a child?

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Comments (2)

CA Kate z9
18 years ago
What a great idea! I have grandkids that I've done some gardening things with, but nothing this elaborate. My oldest grands like to pick the Miner's Lettuce from the yard to make a salad... they think they're doing something sneaky to the adults because it's a "weed". :^)
martieinct
18 years ago
Don't forget the Alpine Strawberries. So easy to start from seed and produce fruit the first year. Even very small children can tell the difference between ripe and not ripe berries.

Last year we had an April Neighborhood Kid Snow Day seed starting party (a tradition resurrected after a 12 year gap of few neighborhood kids) and each kid went home with a six pack of one cell each Alpine Strawberry, Genovese Basil, Lemon Basil, Bronze Fennel, Summer Savory and Echinacea. The requisite for seed inclusion was Absolute Ease. I also made sure that they all had a south facing window where their plants could grow.

While some plants made it and others didn't, the kids got the basis of why some seeds need to be stratified, some like light and some dark to germinate, some sprout sooner than others, etc. By the end of the summer of the 36 plants started, 27 were still alive and each kid had a small herb garden. Since all but the basils should come back in some form this year, they are already talking about it.

Anything that keeps 6 7-11 year olds happy for almost an entire year certainly is "magic."

Martie
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