A garden of their own

My theory has always been that to really get children hooked on gardening, they need to be given their own patch of earth.

Theories I'm good at.  The practical side is more of a challenge.  Theoretically, it is a good idea to drink eight glasses of water a day, stop your children eating soil and avoid getting so squiffy and argumentative that you're thrown out of the local NCT book group.  Practically, it can be more of a challenge.

But after many months of procrastination, I actually pulled my finger out last week and assigned them their own space. As much as it has pained me to part with any of my precious garden, I'm determined they won't have to put up with random offcuts. Instead they both have around nine square metres of sunny garden with lots of wall space for climbing plants.

And let's not forget soil preparation.  No greater love hath a mother than this, that she will riddle dirt and dig in 20 barrowloads of mushroom compost for her children.

By Sunday we were ready for some serious landscaping.  This basically involved me lugging around old bricks and laying paths as directed by my offspring.  Oscar went 'wiggly' whereas Ava was very much more regimented in her design - aesthetic choices which perfectly reflect their very different personalities.

They then walked around the borders pointing out which of my plants they planned to purloin.  To add insult to injury I had to uproot these myself before carting them over to their new gardens in true forelock-tugging fashion.

As a theory though, it does seem to be holding up.  The children were gardening all afternoon and have never been so excited by any project we've undertaken outdoors.  Having said that, I did appear to be doing most of the hard work whilst they stood around telling me what to do, gesticulating widely, commentating on progress and taking all the glory.  Oh Christ, I've just created a couple of embryonic Diarmuid Gavins.

Comments

[elephant's eye]

Looking good! And the second one?

[JamesA-S]

What's wrong with growing cress on a damp flannel? Used to be quite enough horticulture for most children.
I'd watch it: I reckon Ava is reading up on Capability Brown and you're going to have to bulldoze the house to make room for a lake (with neo-Classical bridge)

[Dawn/LittleGreenFingers]

EE - I shall post an additional picture, but I'm afraid the Stachys is suffering from it's move so the whole garden has a somewhat 'floppy' air...

James - it appears Oscar is actually the garden prima donna. He threw himself onto the floor yesterday and burst into tears because I've said his garden can't quite accommodate a lawn and trampoline.

[invisiblebees]

Oh, this post makes me happy! Do you think your kids will look at garden magazines with you or show up at the nursery and say, "I want that one, Mum!" ?

PS What does "squiffy" mean?

[Dawn/LittleGreenFingers]

Wherever they go they say 'I want that', so I don't expect the nursery will be any different! Squiffy = tipsy or under the influence and is my default position at any social event where there are lots of mothers extolling the benefits of breastfeeding

[Jo]

The problem is, you give a child an inch and they'll take nine square metres! It's looking good already.

[Dawn/LittleGreenFingers]

Thanks Jo!