|
Gardening 2 www.help4everyparent.com |
||||||||
On this page you will find Bev Boorer's articles on:
For more of Bev's articles
click on Gardening 1 and Gardening 3 on the right When we plant seeds the most boring part is waiting for the them to sprout. Itsometimes seems to take forever for that little curl of green to sprout from the damp earth. Imagine how a child would feel. Children are notorious for being bored, so let’s get them excited about seeing seeds germinate. Choose a big seed that is easy to handle. A broad bean seed would be ideal especially if you can get some straight from the pod. Purchased seeds will need to be carefully wiped free of any additive like fungicide, with a damp paper towel before you let the kids touch them. Otherwise, make sure they wear gardening or rubber gloves. Let the kids soak one seed overnight in a cup of warm water. In the morning it will be soft and swollen and they will be able to take the shell off gently to see what it looks like inside. They might like to keep a special Seed Diary to record their findings. If they have a mobile phone with a camera, they may photograph it. For the rest of the project you’ll need a straight-sided jar or glass, a roll of black paper, some blotting paper or thick paper towel, potting mix, two seeds, ruler and rubber band.
Cuttings An old pencil is a good tool to poke a hole into the soil before pushing in the cutting and can save the stems from snapping. Fuchsias tend to snap easily, but cuttings strike really well in the autumn so the more you take the more you’ll have next spring, when the frosts are over. Depending on the size of the pot, two or three cuttings can go in together. It’s amazing how many plants will grow by cutting. Let the kids try out growing those plants that you would not normally take cuttings of, just for an experiment. You might be surprised. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you are really not into gardening, but you’d still like to encourage your child to learn the basics, look no further than nasturtiums. They are the absolute most hardy, foolproof flower that anyone could attempt to grow. The seeds are big enough for little fingers to hold easily and they can be planted 15mm deep, straight into the garden or a biggish pot, wherever they are to flower. They need full sun and moisture to establish them; after that, they seem to thrive on neglect. It won’t take long for those golden, orange, tangerine and red flowers to gladden your heart and brighten up the drabbest corner. One of the best things about nasturtiums is that they self-seed easily. Even if the kids go off the idea of gardening, these will still pop up year after year. They can be trained to wander up netting, and look fabulous dangling down from a hanging basket or over a wall. To make matters even more interesting, buy the Double Gleam Hybrids or the one with the variegated leaf. Cream spots on a light green leaf add interest while you wait for the flowers. Nasturtiums are edible, though your child might find the leaf too hot for their taste. You could still pinch a few to put in your salads – the flowers are edible too and add visual appeal to a bowl of greens. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gardening tips for kids with disabilities Children with a physical disability or special needs may like to potter about in the garden. Growing plants is something they may get a lot of satisfaction out of and all they need is a little help. First, make sure the bed is raised so that there is minimal bending. It should also be narrow, unless both sides can be accessed easily. Children’s arms are shorter than adults, so make sure they can reach across easily. The total width should not exceed double the child’s reach, or a single arm length for a border. If it is too difficult to make a raised bed, a line or group of pots standing on bricks or a bench seat should be about the right height. If using a table, the pot should be shallow, or the top of it is likely to be too high for comfort. Safety is paramount, so if using potting mix, make sure they have gardening gloves that fit well. Small tools will delight the user and if they have handles that are ergonomic, all the better, especially if the disability affects the hands. A small watering can be used to make the job of watering easier and if the pots are outside, a plastic chair placed strategically will be appreciated. For wheelchair access it’s a good idea to make the garden bed - or place the pots - close to a paved path. A gravel path is hard to wheel through, so should be avoided. It’s important to choose plants that are not prickly or thorny to avoid unnecessary injury. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Most kids love popcorn, so if you want to encourage your kids into gardening, suggest they grow their very own popcorn. Corn from popping is different from sweet corn, but can still be purchased in similar small packets. It needs good, rich soil with plenty of fertiliser (1/4 cup per metre) and water. In the north of Australia and in the tropics, corn can be planted at any time. In the temperate regions it needs to be August before the first planting is made, while gardeners in cold regions must wait until October. Furrows 25mm deep are needed, with the seeds planted about 15 cm apart. Rather than one long row, a short block of three or four rows will give a better pollination rate. If the soil is nice and damp when you sow, cover the bed with grass mulch to conserve the moisture, then there will be no need to water anymore until after germination. While the corn is growing, a good watering twice a week is better than daily superficial watering. For the best popping results, the corn must be left on the cob until it is fully mature. The silks will be dry and brown by then and the kernels should be hard. If the kids get impatient, they can eat some of their popping corn while the kernels are still soft just as with ordinary sweet corn. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Did you know that you can grow a butterfly? That is, if you plant the right kind of foliage in your garden, you can attract the butterflies of your area to feed and to breed. If you just want to watch butterflies feeding, then you need to plant the type of flowers that they love to sip nectar from. These are usually plants with a very strong scent like the buddleia, wattle and citrus blossom. Two trees that butterflies like and you can grow in tubs are Oliver’s sassafras that attracts the Blue Triangle Butterfly and Doryphora sassafras for the Macleay’s Swallowtail. If you keep them pruned lots of fresh leaves will emerge and that is what the butterflies look for when laying eggs. Butterflies like puddling! No, not splashing in a puddle like you would, but sucking up moisture from damp ground. To provide a puddling place for your butterflies, get a shallow dish and fill it with course sand, then pour on enough water to make it quite damp. Keep it in a sheltered place. Butterflies don’t like wind; they like warm sun and a sheltered place. So if you want to make a garden to attract butterflies, this is what you need to find. Beside a shed or wall will often be a sheltered spot. Have a few flat stones in your butterfly garden for the butterflies to rest on and don’t forget that puddling dish. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Butterflies don’t always breed where they feed. If you want to see your butterflies breed, then you will need to grow the kind of plants that caterpillars like to eat. Then of course, when they are used for breakfast, they will look quite tattered. But butterflies don’t want their babies to starve, so they won’t lay eggs on a plant that the caterpillars cannot eat. If you grow some plants that butterflies like to eat and some that their caterpillars like to eat, you’ll be sure to see both in your garden. Different butterflies live in different areas, so you’ll need to do some research on the Internet to find out which ones live in your area. Here is a website from which you can access information about South Australian butterflies and the plants they and their babies love to eat. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Growing Snakes with Bev Boorer A most unusual plant for kids to grow is the Snake Lily. The flower stem that pushes up from a tuber in the spring really does resemble a snakeskin with dark green silver and purple colours. This first stem grows to about 30 cm and unfolds into a beautiful huge pink lily, rather like an arum lily in shape. After the flowering another stem will grow up. This one is up to a metre long and when it unfurls you’ll see some very large leaves. The plant likes dappled shade, but will grow in full sun if the ground is moist enough. It will take three years to bloom, but to save waiting that long, you can buy a three-year-old plant from Paradise Distributors, 9 Paradise Place, Nambour (bob@paraplants.com) for only $8.90. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Growing Elephants with Bev Boorer Another unusual plant is the giant Elephant Ear imported from China. The leaves are - as its name suggests - as big as an elephant’s ear so that is sure to delight any child who grows it. They are bright green and rounded in shape. The plant likes lots of moisture and unfortunately doesn’t like frosts. You can buy it in 100mm pots from Paradise Distributors, 9 Paradise Place, Nambour (bob@paraplants.com) at around $18 ea. You’d need lots of room for those big leaves too. They grow well over head height. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spring is a lovely time to get out into the garden and encouraging the children to grow vegetables can encourage a lifetime of healthy eating. Kids often love growing vegetables that form underground. This is because they love to dig and they love to be surprised. Growing things like carrots, radishes and potatoes is always surprising because they don’t get to see exactly what or how many are there until they dig them up. Carrots are not hard to grow and if you sprinkle a few seeds of radish in with them, these will germinate first. This will keep the children interested and help break up the hard crust of topsoil, allowing the tender carrot leaves to grow through. Carrots can also be picked at various times, so for little kids who might become impatient waiting, they are ideal. They can pick a few when they are just fingerlings and still eat them, and they can wait a bit longer to get larger ones. You can also encourage them to eat carrots by allowing them to choose the cooking method. Carrots can even be juiced, so the kids can drink their carrot if they want to. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you are one of those would-be gardeners that love to watch the makeovers on TV, but don’t have the time of energy to do it yourself, why not let the children do it for you? You could start them off with one corner if you don’t think they could handle a whole backyard. It may delight you to see what they can come up with. Of course there would have to be a few rules to suit the age group and what is already there. You may not want to see the whole area turned into a dirt bowl just right to make roads for the latest toy dump truck. In this hot weather they might prefer to have a swimming pool put in - or try to put one in of their own. So rules and suggestions to start them off will be good. A budget would be good too. Let the kids get their creative juices flowing, but limit the amount they can spend. But make it enough so that they can really add some features to make a difference. Such things as a water feature, seating, statues or stone lanterns will delight them and you too. Shrubs, small trees and perennials to suit your climate and the season will also be necessary. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A delightful flower that will entrance any child interested in gardening is the pom-pom zinnia. The ball-shaped flowers with closely packed petals resemble a pom-pom and come in many different colours such as pinks, oranges, yellows and white. It’s not too late to plant zinnias in temperate regions; they can be planted from spring through to late summer. The seed will germinate better in the hotter weather. But of course, children often prefer to work from seedlings to get a quicker result. Choose a sunny spot and friable, rich loam for the best results. If seed is used, dust it with a fungicide first to prevent damping off. Once they are established, zinnias need little attention apart from watering and weeding. Adding some lawn clippings to the garden bed will keep their roots cool. They will benefit from regular feeding with liquid plant food once they are half grown. Many other varieties of zinnia can be grown; Gold Medal is a particularly good plant and grows to 100 cm high. The flowers are large doubles in a stunning array of colours. Envy has green flowers, while Lilliput and Thumbelina are the smaller ones. Zinnias are good for cut flowers if your child is interested in taking flowers to school. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A ponytail palm, that is! These cute little trees are not really palms but they do resemble the palm tree due to the fact that the foliage comes out from the top of the trunk. They are ideal for kids to grow as they are practically indestructible and can be grown indoors in good light. They will need to be started off in a pot to match the size of the plant – some are quite tiny and they do not grow quickly. Even when the base of the trunk expands to the size of the pot it will still be happy for ages. Ponytail tree roots are like a fine mesh and do not mind being squashed up. Water lightly only when the soil is dry. As the ponytail tree gets larger the base of the trunk will swell until it resembles a fat bottle. This curious characteristic has given other names such as elephant’s foot tree and bottle palm to the ponytail tree. Eventually the swelling trunk will cause the pot to crack; it should be re-potted before this happens if you want to keep the pot for another plant. When it eventually gets too big for any pot it will need to go outside. This could take some years. Plant it somewhere there is plenty of room as they can grow quite big and the trunk can expend to three metres at the base when mature. Ponytail trees don’t need too much water; it will rot the trunk – and they are happy without fertiliser. They bear white flowers, but don’t hold your breath waiting for this to happen. It could take up to ten years. The seed pods are a pretty pink, but unless you have both male and female trees there will not be any. Its attraction is more in the curious swelling trunk and curved strap-like leaves. The leaves have quite sharp edges, so you will need to wear gloves and a long-sleeved top when handling a larger specimen. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sweet Alice is one of the easiest flower seeds to grow of all. All you need to do after preparing the ground is to sprinkle them over it and lightly rake them in. Of course, if you want them to grow in rows then you have to make a shallow row to sprinkle them into. This can be easily done by gently pressing the edge of a board or an old pencil into the ground. Sprinkle the seeds along it and whisk a little soil over the top – only about 2mm deep. If the ground is damp, sprinkling a few handfuls of grass clippings over the seeds will help to keep it damp until they germinate in about ten days. The flowers of Sweet Alice or Alyssum as it is called can be white, cream and violet. And look great as a border or a massed planting. They can be planted all year round in most temperate regions and in the autumn and winter in hot areas. Alyssum only grows to 10cm high and the foliage is delicate and almost fernlike. It will grow in part shade or full sun and responds to an application of blood and bone before planting and a soluble plant food afterwards. Snails love them, so you may also need to put out some snail bait. Sweet Alice also looks great in a container. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright Bev Boorer 2010 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2008
|
|
|||||||