Gardening with children

This is a Book Week guest post from Deb of Carrots and Kids.

Books are hard to resist. And books on gardening with children? Even harder. Take a look at any gardening section of your local bookshop and the choice will be dazzling. Who knew there could be so many books about what to do at your allotment? There may not be so much choice about children’s gardening activities in store but scratch the surface and you’ll find lots.

So to save you some pennies I’ve compiled a round-up of my favourite ones, most of which will hopefully be available on order from your library.It’s here that I should admit to being a tad fussy about what sort of activities I like doing with my children in the garden. I’m not keen on the planting-up-a-welly boot variety. I don’t like to patronise children and I want them to carry out tasks that are useful but with a big dollop of fun.

First up are the books that I couldn’t have been without while running a school gardening club. But don’t let that put you off! I think they’re a useful aid to knowing what to do next in a vegetable garden with hopefully a resulting harvest to show for your work.

My favourite is Gardening In School All Year Round by Clare Revera. This comes with in an easy to follow format with a CD offering material such as pictures a weed identification game. Don’t knock it. Anyone who gardens with children will know instilling such knowledge about weeds is invaluable.

Arranged seasonally it’ll show you how to plant a layered pot, make natural Christmas decorations, make a sweet pea obelisk, undertake a wildlife survey and design a themed garden amongst other things. It’s aimed at adults so perhaps one to mug up on before marshalling your mini troops.

Similarly Dominic Murphy’s The Playground Potting Shed offers invaluable month-to-month advice but without the bells and whistles (ie pictures and CD).

If your child is old enough and you want a book to enthuse them before letting them loose in the garden Martyn Cox’s Wildlife Garden is spot on. Although aimed at wildlife, as this Royal Horticultural Society title suggests, it’s still important to encourage this aspect of gardening.

It shows more than 30 activities with step-by-step instructions and photos so older children could have a go themselves. He tells you great start-up plants, how to create a pond, set up a composter, make a mini nature reserve and a bird feeder from a juice carton. I love this book.

I’m also fond of another RHS book – Ready Steady Grow! This includes some indoor gardening activities, such as a wild west garden and sprouting seeds, as well as outdoor delights like a pizza garden, fairy ring and a teepee. It’s set out in much the same was as the wildlife book so is one children can take off and create with minimal help.

One of my favourite author’s is Sharon Lovejoy. I have Roots Shoots Buckets and Boots which, although American, still gives me plenty of ideas. She loves themes with a sunflower house, moon garden and a sipping and snacking

garden. Aimed at those with probably quite a bit of space, I think her ideas could be modified for our more modest UK gardens.

I also love her Toad Cottages and Shooting Stars which, I admit, is aimed at grandparents. The ideas are gentle, resourceful and memory-makers so I fail to see why only grandparents should have access to this treasure trove. It’s arranged in sections – neighbourhood naturalist, kitchen garbage garden, kids in the kitchen, kids in the garden and rainy day activities. Just right, I reckon, for the upcoming summer holidays.

One final book I love is brilliant daydream material. It’s Bunny Guinnness’ Family Gardens. It’s about creating the ideal gardens rather than activities but you can glean a nugget or two of a brilliant idea and loads for the day when you win the lottery and can replicate one of her gardens.

While all these books will give sleep-deprived, busy parents a nudge in the ideas department, sometimes there really is no substitute for just heading out there together and just pottering.

Deb blogs at Carrots and Kids and you can also find her on Twitter.