How Does Your Garden Grow?
Teaching Your Child the Art of GardeningBy Julia Rosien
- Turn your garbage into dirt! In go the banana peels from breakfast, the bread crusts from lunch, the apple cores from snacks and lima beans from supper. If you live in an apartment, look into kitchen or balcony composters. Soon your child will understand the cycle of garbage, compost, garden and dinnertime.
- Lay out a strip of toilet paper on the table and mark dots where the seeds go. Have your child glue a seed at each spot, then take the paper to the garden and have him bury it. The paper disintegrates, and your child feels the pleasure of completing a complicated project "all by himself."
- Don't forget to feed your plants. If you aren't composting, buy liquid fish emulsion or water-soluble plant food. Feed once every three or four weeks. If your child is going to help fertilize, let her add the water while you add the fertilizer. Teach her to wash her hands directly after doing anything in the garden.
- Mulch If you don't want to be bothered weeding, spread mulch around seedlings to prevent weeds from taking root. Use straw, leaves, bark or grass. Mulch also prevents the soil from drying out on hot sunny days.
- Ladybugs, bees, spiders and worms eat harmful pests such as aphids, slugs and tomato hornworms. If you have pests, use chemical-free sprays to rid your plants of them. Most pests hate dish soap and leave after a good dousing. Harsh chemicals affect the taste of your food and kill good and bad critters.
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