Two (green) thumbs up

Create a green thumb for life by making the garden accessible and fun for all ages

By Jeff Schnaufer
CTW Features

Image courtesy iStockphoto

Tomatoes were flying when Corina Bullock spent her first summer at the Pendleton Children’s Garden in Cincinnati.

“I remember the difficulty of getting the kids to leave the green tomatoes on the plant until they ripened, and then getting them to taste the tomatoes rather than throw them at each other,” recalls Bullock, the youth education coordinator at the Civic Garden Center of Greater Cincinnati.

That was two years ago. Today, Bullock says, those 10-year-old boys who started the tomato wars have harvested a new attitude toward gardening.

“I was at the garden one day we didn’t have scheduled programming to get a few things done [when two boys] walked right in and without hesitation went to the herb bed,” Bullock recalls. “Keith picked a basil leaf, started munching and telling Quinton how he loved the taste of basil. And Quinton asked me for a bag so he could take some home to add to his special noodle recipe. It was great to see them appreciate the value of growing their own food.”

Many garden centers and arboretums offer programs like Summer Sprouts at Pendleton Children’s Garden, allowing children to develop a respect for nature and an appreciation of gardening.

“Gardening provides children with a connection to the earth and where their food comes from,” says Lisa Beach, volunteer manager at the Los Angeles County Arboretum. This is becoming increasingly important in an age where students play in cement playgrounds and think their dinner comes from the market, instead of the garden.”

Your local arboretum, botanical garden or community garden is a good place to start looking for children’s gardening programs. But even if you do not have a local arboretum or educational garden in your neighborhood, there are plenty of ways to get kids excited about gardening.

“Grow your own food,” suggests Bullock. “You can use a black plastic plant tray from the garden store, a big pot or your backyard. A salad mix doesn’t need much soil to grow large enough to harvest baby greens. Kids love planting seeds, and with a salad mix you don’t have to be too exact. Follow the directions on the packet, put it by a sunny window or just a few inches away from a florescent light. You can count how many seeds sprouted, measure their growth and taste the fruits of your labor. If you have more room, grow more. You can grow carrots, green beans, tomatoes – ask your child what they would like to try.”

An easy project to do with children to get them started is making an alphabet garden.

“You can either plant this garden in a small plot or garden, or in a wide flower pot,” says Beach. “Take seeds that germinate quickly, such as zinnias or radishes, and have your child lay them on top of the soil in the shape of the first letter of their name, if they choose, and then lightly cover the seeds with soil and gently water. In a few days you’ll see a green letter growing up through the soil!”

Even the most unexpected items around your home can inspire a child’s interest in gardening. Yvonne Savio, Common Ground Garden Program manager with the University of California Cooperative Extension in Los Angeles County, suggests making a planter out of your old leather shoes. They can drain just like a pot and are perfect for succulents, especially the “Pork and Beans” variety, which has reddish-brownish edges that look like beans.

“Just put a couple handfuls of potting mix in there and stick in your succulent,” Savio says. “It’s especially fun for kids because it’s small and it’s on a scale that they can deal with. That starts tripping off in their head other things they can use to start their own little planters: pop bottles, milk containers and other things.”

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