Palmers Guide to Childrens Gardening

The garden is a wonderful place for children to explore, learn, work and play. Children of all ages are interested in the garden. Fresh air and exercise are important for their wellbeing.

Getting started

Children’s gardens should be small - 1m x 1m is a good size. Here they will be able to grow a selection of quick maturing, easy to grow vegetables, flowers and herbs.

For success, make sure it is a fertile patch with plenty of sun, not the shadiest corner of the garden. Dig the soil over well to make it friable and easy for children to dig and rake. Let them add the compost, fertiliser and organic matter such as sheep pellets, digging them in with a trowel or small spade ready for planting. Edge the garden with stones, drift wood, shells, pongas or wooden edging.

What to plant

Choose seasonally appropriate plants and seeds. They must be hardy, easy to grow, quick maturing and not require special attention to germinate and grow.

Alyssum, Marigolds, Cosmos, Nasturtium, Zinnias, Sunflowers, Strawflowers, Petunias and Daisy cuttings.

Calendula, Pansies, Violas, Spring flowering Bulbs, Sweet Peas, Wallflowers, Snapdragons, Lupins, Cornflowers and Poppies.

Carrots, Radishes, Lettuce, Beans, Peas, Gourds, Courgettes, Pumpkins, Tomatoes, mini vegetables such as Cauliflower, Lettuce, Carrot, Tomatoes, Pumpkin, Capsicum and Watermelon.

Strawberries, seeds of Peach and Avocado.

Peppermint, Thyme, Parsley, Rosemary, Chives and Mint.

Swan Plant, Buddlea, Tweedia and Heliotrope (Cherry Pie).

Because children are impatient, plant things that mature quickly. Take a hands off approach, letting them plant, water, feed and weed. Let them be creative, don’t worry if things are random and not in a straight line. Check which plants are poisonous with your local garden centre.

Collect your own seeds for sowing

Sunflower, Poppy, Pansy, Sweet Pea and Swan Plants are suitable. Store in a paper bag (not plastic) in a cool dry place until planting time.

Container gardening

If space does not allow a small plot of soil in the garden, a wine barrel, large container or window box will give hours of fun. Fill the container with potting mix and let the children plant flower and vegetable seedlings, herbs and sow easy to grow and quick to germinate seeds. Remember to regularly water and feed plants growing in containers.

Cuttings

Teach children how to grow new plants by taking stem or leaf cuttings. Make sure the cutting is from a healthy plant.

Stem cuttings: Make the cut just below a bud. Cut off any flowers and trim large leaves that may wilt. Remove leaves to about a third of the way up the stem. Daisies and wall flowers are easy plants to grow by stem cuttings.

Leaf cuttings: Cut the leaf off as near the base of the plant as possible. Take care not to crush the stem, make the cut as clean as possible. African Violets and Rex Begonias are easy plants to grow by leaf cuttings.

Place cuttings directly into a pot with well watered potting mix or a 50/50 sand potting mix mixture. Cover with a plastic bag tied round the base. Leave for four to six weeks before removing the plastic bag. Roots will form on the stem cutting and new plantlets form on leaf cuttings.

Some indoor houseplants have "pups" which already have roots and can be carefully removed from the plant, placed into potting mix and watered well. The Spider Plant (Chlorophytum) and Hen and Chicken Fern (Asplenium bulbiferum) have "pups".

Baby houseplants

Indoor gardens are easy and children get a lot of pleasure watching their plants grow. Cuttings can easily be taken from indoor houseplants. Cactus gardens, Venus Fly Traps and Sundew Plants all captivate children.

Birds and butterflies

Attract butterflies by planting Swan Plants, Buddlea, Heliotrope (Cherry Pie), Alyssum, Lavender, Tweedia and Snapdragons. Birds can also be attracted by planting Bottle Brush, Kowhai, Flax and Pittosporum. Put a bird feeder in the garden or make a bird pudding.

Bird pudding recipe

Melt 200-300g of dripping in a saucepan. Add any or all of the following ingredients - a little honey, crumbled bread, chopped bacon rind, biscuit crumbs or bird seed.

Stir the mixture well. Place mixture into a shallow dish. Leave for a day to go solid again. Put pudding on a bird feeder or stuff into a half opened pine cone.

Spring flowering bulbs signal the end of winter. There is no limit to the number of bulbs that can be planted to give colour to the garden. Bulbs are not just popular for the masses of flowers they produce, but there is the added bonus of fragrance, they are great for picking, and can be grown in patio pots and tubs. With careful planning and planting bulbs could be flowering in your garden right through to the end of summer.

Bulbs are the stored up food supply for growth and flowering the next season. The term bulb loosely covers all bulbs and includes tubers, corms and rhizomes.

Bulbs are made up of layers of fleshy scales. Onions, Liliums and Daffodils are true bulbs.

Corms are solid flesh, sometimes woody looking. As the corm grows, bulblets form and the old one shrivels up and disappears. Gladioli, Freesias and Anemones are corms.

Tubers are thickened shoots. The best known tuber is the potato. Cyclamen and Begonias are tubers.

Rhizomes are fleshy creeping stems that produce roots and flower spikes. A good example is the Flag Iris.

Planting

Plant popular spring flowering bulbs such as Anemones, Hyacinths and Daffodils in autumn through to early winter. Summer flowering bulbs such as Nerines, Dahlias, Begonias and Liliums are planted in winter through to early spring.

Where to plant

Bulbs thrive in well drained soils. There are a few bulbs that will tolerate damp soils - Japanese Iris and Arum Lily are two that do. Bulbs are best planted in full sun, 
although they will tolerate light shade. Some spring flowering bulbs are shade lovers - Lily of the Valley, Snowflakes and Bluebells flower happily in shade.

How to plant

Before planting, dig in plenty of compost, peat or well rotted organic material. In heavy clay soils where drainage is poor, or where roots from surrounding trees and shrubs are a problem, plant in raised beds. Sand added to the planting hole improves drainage. The general guideline for planting is to plant the bulb to a depth equal to twice the bulb’s diameter. For example, if a daffodil is 5cm in diameter, the planting depth is 10cm.

Lifting and storing

After flowering, leave the bulbs to die down completely. It is tempting to cut off the straggly foliage, but don’t be tempted. The leaves contain the bulbs’ food supply for the following season. Tie the foliage in a knot or fold the foliage over and secure with a rubber band to tidy them up. Bulbs can be lifted when the foliage starts to die down. If you know you are going to lift your bulbs, plant them in bulb baskets. This makes lifting easy and the bulbs easy to find.

Leave the foliage attached until it dries off naturally. After the foliage has dried remove it. Store the bulbs in a net bag or seed tray in a cool, dry, airy place. A dusting of fungicide will protect the bulbs during storage.

Not all bulbs need lifting. It is a good idea to lift them if the soil gets very hot in summer as the bulb is in danger of roasting, or if the ground becomes waterlogged at times. Otherwise, bulbs can be left in the ground for 2-3 years until they become overcrowded. At this time they can be dug up, divided, replanted or stored.

Feeding

When bulbs push through the soil surface it is a good time to apply a specially blended bulb fertiliser. Do this again when they have finished flowering. This ensures plenty of flowers the following season.

Watering

With spring flowering bulbs nature takes care of the watering - giving us rain. Summer and autumn flowering bulbs may need additional water during their growing season depending on the weather.

Mulching

All bulbs benefit from a layer of mulch to keep the soil cool and moist. Apply a layer of mulch approximately 2cm thick soon after planting.

Pests and diseases

Bulbs are relatively pest and disease free. Slugs and snails can be a problem when new shoots emerge through the soil. Apply Butlers Slug & Snail Pellets, Baysol or

Blitzem.