Top Tips for Getting Kids into Gardening

Why get in to gardening?

Gardening is the ideal hobby and way to help children learn more about nature and growth.
Showing them how to plant seeds, keep them watered and fed, and knowing when to see their flowers, vegetables and fruits comes to life will give them a better understanding of responsibility, care and nurturing.

Setting up - you don't even need a garden!

You can set up a small growing area anywhere you want. From giving the kids a small patch in the garden to providing a selection of small pots or grow boxes for inside or out, pots can be placed in the garden, on a patio or balcony or on kitchen windowsill or in porches! So think about where to put your garden and designing a child friendly area that has good light.

Choosing plants is all the fun and there are a number of exciting ways to bring things together. Such as creating a pizza garden, this is so much fun for all involved.
Plant items that you would find on your favourite pizza such as tomatoes, basil, oregano, peppers even garlic. When they are ready there will be even more fun harvesting all the ingredients to make pizza.

Make it your own

How about a rainbow garden? Plant small flowers in the colours of the rainbow in rows, you could also design these to be sensory such as prickly, fuzzy, smooth and rubbery. Try some weird and wonderful plants to let your children explore the out of ordinary. Such as the famous Venus flytrap, this is a carnivorous plant that traps and digests insects, fascinatingly gruesome.

Want a plant you can pet? Try Lambs Ear which is a woolly plant. It's fun for the children and looks very pretty amongst bright coloured flowers.

Then there is the amazing Lithops plant, also known as Living Rock plants that resembles… well, you guessed it: rocks! Wait till it flowers, your kids will be so surprised!

Finally, if you want to really have a plant that will interact with your children try the Touch–Me-Not plant that curls up when you brush against it.

Try a few of the above ideas in your garden and see how much fun gardening can be for kids!
And don’t forget you can mix up the types of plants you grow throughout the year. Why not try some vegetables in Autumn and nice fresh flowers in Spring? Then when Summer comes around, look to start up a nice fresh fruit garden. The choices are endless.