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Gardening in Oz

Gardening and School Hols.....

20 years ago

We are well into the LONG school holidays, my weeds are growing metres, overnight. The rain is falling, my brain is slowly deteriorating into a drone like state, where the highlight of the day is making meals.

Please, can someone realign my brain...I need a brilliant idea on how to get children and weeds together, and the latter eventually lying dead in a pile ??

Harassed mother.

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Comments (3)

goldhills
20 years ago
MONEY! pay each child whatever you think is fair for each bucket of weeds they collect.

from another harassed mother (but harassment caused by continually messy house and fighting kids)
paradisi
20 years ago
former or latter?

If they are teenagers tell them the weeds are illegal (don't tell them why) and in no time they will have picked the lot

younger kids - tell them they are lucky charms to protect them from being bullied at school, but the weeds must be picked and dried: and by the time the are dry they will have forgotten why they picked them
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I one time tried to start a gardening project at a school. The janitor wouldn't let me plant anything (like tomatoes) that could be thrown against the school and make a big mess for him to clean up. Even if there were people there to water etc., kids sneak in on the weekends and vandalize the school. We did end up growing fall stuff like lettuces, chard, kale, radishes and carrots....not as much splat factor. There's a really nice school gardening site for Sonoma Co. CA, but I can't quite remember what it's called and I'm in the middle of moving, so all of my notes and computer stuff has been packed. You could call the extension office for your county and get some advise. Nancy
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Sparaxis
20 years ago
children don't know how to pull weeds. They may be coerced into pulling the tops off, but the only ones they are likely to pull out by the roots are your good plants.
Try getting up at the crack of dawn when it is cool and the kids are asleep. It is very invigorating to work for a couple of hours then, and catch a nap when the kids are veging out in front of TV later in the day.

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