« October 2011 | Main | December 2011 »
Nasturtiums and kids are a great combination.
We filled up one bed with a few plants grown from seed this spring and for a reward we have had an overflowing sea of these colour-rich, edible flowers that has lasted for months. The seeds are a decent enough size for small hands to plant and the flowers (and leaves) have injected colour to salads and vases.
Last night, we had a frost.
Sadly, as you can see, nasturtiums and frost are not such a great combination.
Here endeth the lesson.
Why is it that children's keenness to "help' is in direct and inverse proportion to their ability to be of any use whatsoever?
My three-year-old will regularly grab an apron and insists on "helping" me cook - an activity that involves him putting his fingers in the butter, flinging around flour and sneezing into the bowl (if I have ever offered you a slice of Victoria sponge, please try and blank out that last sentence from your memory).
Unfortunately, children seem to become useful at the exact minute they also learn about the existence of a minimum wage and only after they have memorised all useful segments of the UN Convention on the Right of the Child.
However, this weekend I managed to get the children out in the garden in an, almost, useful capacity. Yes, if you want to get the kids outside the magic ingredient is a big bowl of soapy water. It helped that it was sunny but we did manage nearly an hour of vaguely helpful plastic plant pot washing ready for pre-school gardening club, a not entirely necessary washing down of the playhouse and, most importantly of all, the cleaning of the greenhouse.
This latter job does involve kids and glass so the flour-happy three-year-old was distracted with rinsing his tea set whilst his older siblings helped me. I am not sure our methods are thorough enough to meet most people's glasshouse hygiene standards, but there is at least a lot more light coming in and, let's face facts, it looks a lot better than many rooms in the house. It was also fun for the kids because it involved water, bubbles and the occasional look of fear on my face.
Best of all, this child labour involved no greater bribery than an extra slice of Victoria sponge cake... Nice.
Although I'm sure some of you won't believe me, I have actually spent November doing more than just crafting fake moustaches. For one thing, I have been busy with the pre-school gardening club. Over the last couple of weeks the children and I have been harvesting seeds to store in their handmade seed packets.
OK, so "handmade seed packets" may be a slightly grand term for finger painted flowers on envelopes, but they work just fine and are a useful way for two, three and four-year-olds to get creative.
I have harvested sunflower seeds with the children before, which are great because they're so large and the seed heads themselves are supremely impressive. However, this year, I decided to go for something a little different - pot marigolds.
These are great plants for kids - cheerful colours, easy to grow, good for attracting useful insects and best of all, the petals are edible. One word of caution - the ideal plant is the English marigold (Calendula officinalis), not the French or African marigolds (Tagetes spp.) as most of these aren't edible, or at least aren't a joyful taste sensation.
The dried out marigold heads have seeds galore and these are just about large enough for pre-school age children to harvest. Also, you could have enough seed heads on even three of four plants for a whole class to have one.
Then, it's just a matter of them sticking on the plant growing instructions, which I try to keep as simple as possible (for the parents, as much as the children) so that no-one is worried about having a go.
Right - that's the serious stuff out of the way. Now it's time for the Movember moustaches.
Since my last post, I have crafted another six. Well, OK, one was not so much crafted as simply encouraged to reside on my upper lip for a few seconds. Yes, that's right, it was the live slug moustache yesterday.
Still, on the plus side, this does mean I am now in triple figures for sponsorship (£165 - thank you, generous people) and, even more incredibly, the Bristling Gardeners Team is currently number 16 in the entire country with over £5K raised for this very good cause. You can see the whole team's photos on Flickr and follow progress here.
Oh, and if I get to £250, I shall try the double worm 'tache.
Sometimes I worry, we English don't really like children... or at least we English gardeners. I have seen "kids" mentioned in lists of "common garden pests", most places I visit spend half their budget on "Keep off the Grass" signs and public gardens appear to think a children's play area, usually secreted somewhere between the car park and toilets, is enough to placate the family audience.
To be fair, there are some notable exceptions. Easton Walled Gardens, for example, goes out of its way to encourage the rampaging of children across the grounds and some places, such as Hampton Court in Herefordshire or the Lost Gardens of Heligan, could almost have been created just to delight the smaller visitors.
I wondered if this was a worldwide phenomenon but at a Loire Valley gardens event a couple of weeks ago, I was struck by how often the owners referred to families and children in their talks and by the number of images of children I saw in their slides.
And then there was le Rivau...
This was not a garden I'd heard of before but it is only 20 minutes from the world-famous Villandry and, if you are every travelling there with kids in tow, it would be the perfect place to combine horticulture and junior entertainment.
There are 14 gardens, the names of which alone would be enough to draw in most young children: the Rapunzel Garden, the Enchanted Forest, Tom Thumb's Garden, the Perfumed Path, the Fairies' Border; the Love Potion Garden. And all these are set against the backdrop of a chateau which wouldn't look out of place in the opening of a Disney movie.
In addition, the garden also functions as an outdoor sculpture park with intriguing creations including giant watering cans, pierced trees and even five pairs of enormous legs running through woods.
But all this is not a theme park. It's a real garden with plenty of plants and planting to interest the keenest of gardeners, it's just that they haven't forgotten that children are allowed to be excited too.
Perhaps we need to adopt a similar attitude here?
Blimey - look at me, getting all serious! Don't worry, it won't happen again.
So, to lighten the mood, here is my latest Movember moustache (any donations gratefully received...) - Day 4: The Miniature Pine Cone Moustache. Very good for rocking the Brokeback Mountain look and mighty fine paired with matching earings.
*
There are snatches of conversation which sound a little odd out of context. For example, if you stood near my son and I in the playground today you would have heard the following exchange:
"Mummy, I don't think you should stick the worm to your lip."
"No, you're probably right, but I reckon if I lean backwards slightly, it'll just lie there."
To be fair, there isn't actually a context in which this wouldn't sound odd. But this is what happens when you sign up to grow a moustache for charity only to be faced with the undeniable (and, let's face it, happy) fact that you aren't capable for doing any such thing.
However, I will not be beaten. Movember is a genius idea for a very good cause - raising awareness and funds to help fight prostate and testicular cancer through sponsorship of moustaches grown in November.
So, if I can't grow a hairy facial folly, then I shall craft some.
And this is what I am doing. One a day, for the rest of this month.
Some will be craft material based, but the kids and I are also taking inspiration from the garden. As such, we have already had the Sycamore Seedling Moustache and we have gathered, sticks, small pine cones and leaves ready for future creations.
Rather foolishly, I have even agreed to feature some garden wildlife (hence the worm conversation) and, if I make it to triple figures in sponsorship, I've promised a slug version, inspired by Blackadder (only using live slugs rather than the deceased variety).
If you can spare a donation to help support the cause, there are more details (and photos) of my efforts here - and of the entire Bristling Gardeners Team here. Also, if you have any other inspired ideas for fake moustaches, I will do my best to craft them.
*Day 1: Feather Boa Moustache; Day 2 Sycamore Seedling Moustache; Day 3: Velvet and Sequin Moustache
