I love this photo. It is a few years old now and I love the little muddy bottoms sticking up in the air, and how they are bare footed and getting stuck in with their mud pie making.
Sadly, mud pie making is about as far as my gardening skills go to be honest! I have never had green fingers, and not sure I ever will. There again my parents were not good examples of how to keep a neat and tidy garden (sorry Mum if you are reading this!) while I lived at home, because our garden was always a bit of a wilderness – over gown grass and weeds every where! Because it was hidden from sight as it was situated behind an outbuilding, I think it was definitely a case of out of sight, out of mind! My mum and I also share a knack of not being able to keep house plants alive for long either! I always feel sorry for any plant entering my house as a gift, because I know it is doomed!
Still, now that we have had a little work done to our garden and still have a bit more to be done (not by us, by a professional!), I have been thinking about what we could plant in our garden. I really think it would be nice to have an area dedicated to growing some vegetables , maybe even a little greenhouse, because it would be lovely to get the boys involved with some gardening and for them to see how seeds grow into something you can eat. Maybe we could even have a go at growing some strawberries as the boys eat so many , or tomatoes which we could use for making pasta sauces so maybe grow some basil alongside them too.
It would also be nice to have a go at making some hanging baskets too because they should not be too hard to maintain, and they do look lovely hung outside the entrances of people’s homes. I think that as long as we have a go at planting easy and hardy seeds that are ideal for children (and their useless non-green fingered mummy!), you never know we might actually succeed and maybe my boys will have green fingers and have a passion for gardening that their parents lack!
What plants would you suggest as good starters for children?
We love being in the garden! Sunflowers are great to plant with little ones, starting them in pots on a sunny windowsill (each member of the family can have one to see whose grows the tallest). Peas are brilliant to grow too. Start growing them in clear plastic bags with a bit of soil in the bottom, tie them up and put them in a sunny place. The bag becomes a mini greenhouse. My 5-year-old refuses to eat green vegetables but LOVES sneakily picking and eating our growing peas 😉
Thank you so much for your comment and the very useful tips – i will bear these in mind. Thank you x
Family Friendly Garden Designs - Mummy Mishaps
[…] Gardening with children helps them to develop essential life skills, and with a little careful planning, you can turn any space into a garden that’s easy to care for and fun to explore. Children love learning about their world through hands-on activities. What better way to learn about science, history, the environment, nutrition and health than through a garden they help plant and manage? […]