Reap happy times together by showing children how to tend a garden
ST PATRICK’S DAY is traditionally the day to go out and plant your potatoes. But how many children are going to see their parents doing that today?
They probably have a slightly better chance of watching their grandparents out digging the soil. Most parents today do not have the time, the inclination – or often the garden – to grow vegetables.
The skill of growing our own food is almost lost here in Ireland, says horticulturalist Margaret Griffin, who runs a garden centre in Dripsey, Co Cork. “We’re close to the point where nobody will know how to do it.”
Yet factors such as increased awareness about food air miles and emphasis on healthier eating, the recession and talk of a worldwide food shortage, have combined to spark a definite revival in “growing your own”.
It is a trend which is evident across the Irish Sea, but is slowly gathering pace here too.
At this time of economic uncertainty, cultivating food for the table no longer seems irrelevant to our lifestyles. Learning what was an essential life skill for most people in Ireland a few generations ago is becoming a smart option again.
Griffin, being in the horticulture business and also a mother of two boys, John (11) and seven-year-old Christopher, is aware of how little encouragement there is for children to become involved in gardening.
Parents would not regard gardening as a priority activity for their children and are more inclined to encourage them to take up sport, she suggests.
“I sometimes think parents push their kids into what they would like them to be good at and certainly gardening is not on that level.”
Keen to pass on her passion for all things horticultural, Griffin started The Slug Club for children six years ago. Although numbers sometimes dwindled, it is now receiving more support from parents and has expanded to a junior and senior section (see panel).
She has no doubt that gardening is good for youngsters and the opportunity to connect with nature is invaluable. “I find it calms the children.”
They encourage the children to explore and amuse themselves in the garden, rather than always looking for the next activity to be lined up for them.
“When they have been with us for a while, they can really get into this and spend time sometimes not doing very much. I think that is needed for a child.”
Today’s children are totally removed from the growing of food, she points out. “They are so used to eating food straight from the supermarket they haven’t an idea where it comes from.
“When we were doing herbs with them, we found it very difficult to get them to taste the herbs. They were almost afraid that they were going to do them harm or that it wasn’t natural to be eating a leaf.”
Kinvara Sustainable Living in Co Galway has started “Learn to grow food for your family” courses in response to public demand. Led by organic gardener Lynn O’Keeffe-Lascar and organic farmer Anna Jeffrey, they teach the skills necessary to start from scratch.
Start small, keep on top of it and plan ahead is their main advice. “There’s no point in digging up half the garden and then getting depressed as the weeds grow faster than your produce,” says O’Keeffe-Lascar.
She has found people’s main interest lies in growing salad and potatoes. As it is food for all the family, “there is no point in doing a vegetable patch full of Brussels sprouts”, she suggests.
“Fresh garden peas are very popular. Children can pick them and eat them raw; also cherry tomatoes.”
Pumpkins are “interesting”, she suggests.
Peas are ideal for a family garden as they are very easy to grow, the seeds are big enough for children to handle and they come up very quickly. Within two weeks of sowing, children are going to be able to see things coming up, says O’Keeffe-Lascar, mother of Giuseppe (10), six-year-old Gemma and four-year-old Jacob. They can then help put up netting or strings for the young plants to grow up.
Such fast-growing plants, also beans and courgettes, are essential to keep the children’s interest. She wouldn’t recommend cabbages for planting by children. “They take 10 months to grow, that’s too long for the attention span of a kid.”
If you have next to no outdoor space, potato barrels are a good idea, also strawberries in a pot, or salad leaves, otherwise stick to flowers, she says.
Renting a house and unable to get an allotment, she approached An Óige five years ago to ask could she use the old walled garden in the grounds of Doorus House Hostel in Kinvara.
“An Óige was very good – basically they said do what you want, but we don’t have any money,” says O’Keeffe-Lascar, who had studied organic horticulture in England. From that she created a community garden, which includes a vegetable plot, but is mostly planted with soft fruit – 50 types of apple trees were introduced two years ago, and she is impatiently waiting for the first fruit, which can take three to five years.
She advocates organic gardening, and the classes look at the issue of food miles and seasonality. “Once upon a time you were growing vegetables you couldn’t find in the shop. Now we are trying to grow vegetables that have massive air miles attached.”
That’s why you might leave the local farmers to grow your potatoes, she suggests, and concentrate instead on French beans and mange tout which come from Africa.
Rachel Darlington, a mother of four children, started gardening when she found herself out of a job five years ago. Although her mother had been a gardener, she was not interested herself until she suddenly had time on her hands.
Now she tries to involve her daughter, Ishtar (17), and three sons, Zack (15), Joshua (eight) and Samuel (seven) in their one-acre garden at Kilrush, near Bunclody, Co Wexford.
She has found it best to keep it “clean and pretty” with the children as, initially at any rate, they tend to baulk at getting too dirty. So she recommends compost rather than soil for planting, and the use of attractive and scrubbed earthenware pots.
When starting them off with a patch of their own in the garden, make sure it is already well weeded and raked, she suggests.
Autonomy is important, especially for teenagers, stresses Darlington, who writes a monthly column for The Irish Garden magazine and contributes a diary to its website, garden.ie. “They either have their own pots to care for, or their own corner of a raised bed which is clearly delineated or a patch in a greenhouse.”
However, do keep an eye on the patch, and weed and water it when necessary, as they are unlikely to do either enough. Also have replacement plants at the ready, she says. “It’s very discouraging if something dies when they are starting out.”
One trick she uses to interest younger children is to do different voices for the flowers, expressing their needs. “My youngest son will stay for hours if I do that. I never read that in any of the books, but I find that works best for him.”
While her primary interest is flowers, she acknowledges that fruit and vegetables are all the rage now. Peas, strawberries and pumpkins are her top three for children.
She grows tomatoes, sweet peppers, courgettes and aubergines in her greenhouse because, she says, they are beyond her normal housekeeping budget and she loves to cook with these vegetables. “I don’t normally bother growing stuff that’s cheap to buy.”
This year she is growing Cape Gooseberry (physalis) for the first time. “My third child loves them – obviously ideas above his station – and they are an atrocious price to buy but would be great as one of his ‘five a day’.”
Like many an enthusiastic gardener, Darlington has taught herself from scratch, through trial and error, and hopes to pass on what she’s learnt to the next generation.
Even if you are a complete novice, get out into the garden with your children – there’s no better day than today to start!
Six of the best to grow with children
Peas:Fast and easy to grow, children are likely to enjoy picking and eating them straight from the pod before they get anywhere near the kitchen.
Beans:A handful of beans to sow will inspire every child raised on the tale of Jack and the Beanstalk. Dwarf runner beans can be grown in containers.
Potatoes:Robust and quick to grow, they can be raised in barrels if you don't have the space in the garden. There will be satisfaction all round when they reach the family dinner table.
Berries:Strawberries are very popular with children but can be fiddly to grow. Autumn fruiting raspberries, which are also delicious and very robust, might be a better bet. Otherwise, make a virtue of the brambles in your overgrown garden and harvest the blackberries.
Pumpkins:You will need a good sunny patch; they are sure to be a hit for Halloween, if not in the kitchen.
Sunflowers:A classic flower to grow with children; germinate and nurture the seeds in pots indoors so they can become established before facing the big bad world of garden predators.
Top tips
1.Give children their own, clearly marked patch in the garden if possible, or at least their own pot.
2.Choose fast-growing plants (see separate panel).
3.Cheap, plastic children's gardening tools are of little use, so try to source good quality ones or let them use yours.
4.Be prepared to give an invisible helping hand with weeding, watering and pest control on their patch.
5.Plan ahead what tasks the children can help you with in the garden and try to do delicate work, such as planting out little seedlings, when the children are not around.
6.Involve them in watering as it is something they are guaranteed to enjoy, either with their own small watering can or a hose.
7.Organic pest control is not only safer when children are around, but can also be a source of fascination – such as the nematodes, microscopic worms that eat slugs from the inside out.
8.Take trips to landscaped gardens that have different sections for children to explore. Even if they don't show the slightest interest in what's growing there, at least they will have a good walk.
Gardening courses sprout up
IF YOU don’t have the time, the patience, the know-how or the outdoor space to introduce your children to gardening, there are experts who will help you at various centres around the country, including:
Green Fingers, Airfield's Young Gardeners Club, Dundrum, Dublin 16:Airfield's head gardener, Emer O'Reilly, leads a two-hour session for children on Saturday mornings (10am-noon) once a month (March 21st; April 18th; May 16th; June 13th). Working on the young gardeners' plot in Airfield, they learn how to grow flowers, fruit and vegetables from seed.
There is also a younger farmers’ club called Green Wellies, for children aged 11-14, led by Airfield farmer Eamon Young. It too meets monthly (March 28th; April 25th; May 23rd; June 20th) from 10 am-noon on Saturdays. They learn to look after sheep, plant crops and general farm management. For either of these clubs, the cost is €15 per session and booking is essential. For more information, see airfield.ie, or tel 01-2984301.
The Slug Club at Griffin's Garden Centre, Dripsey, Co Cork:This fortnightly children's gardening club on Saturday mornings caters for juniors (aged five to eight) and seniors (aged eight to 13). It is just starting its spring term, which runs until the end of June; the summer term goes from July to the end of October. The cost for juniors is €8 per session, or €60 for the term, for seniors it is €9 or €65. It next meets on March 28th. For more information see griffinsgardencentre.ie, or tel 021-7334286.
Family Eco Gardening Workshops at Clarenbridge Lifestyle and Garden Centre, Clarenbridge, Co Galway:Workshops for children and parents are running here once a month on Saturday mornings. Offering hands-on practical experience, they are aimed at children aged four to 13. Topics coming up include planting summer containers (April 26th), composting (May 17th) and growing "fast" vegetables (July 19th). The cost for an adult and child is €15 per class. For more information tel 091-776492.
Learn to Grow Food for Your Family, Kinvara Sustainable Living, Kinvara, Co Galway:Kinvara Sustainable Living recently hosted its first Learn to Grow Food for Your Family course. It is now running evening classes on this topic in Oranmore and is planning a residential weekend course on April 4th-5th in the Doorus Orchard community garden, which is in the grounds of An Óige's Doorus House Hostel in Kinvara. These courses are only for adults – who can then go home and show their children how it's done. See kinvarasustainableliving.com, or tel 091-638099.
The Organic Centre, Rossinver, Co Leitrim:A day course on March 29th, aimed at teachers and parents who wish to set up organic gardens in schools, is just one of the wide range of gardening classes run by The Organic Centre in Co Leitrim. Again these are for adults only. Its website also has details of lessons in organic gardening at centres in Glenealy, Co Wicklow and Bridgetown, Co Clare.
See theorganiccentre.ie, or tel 071-985 4338.
Children's Gardening and Wildlife Club, Sonairte, Laytown, Co Meath:This weekly Saturday club has extended to two sessions (10am and 2.30pm) due to popular demand. The new seasons starts next Saturday (March 21st). For more information tel 041 9827572 (Wed-Sun).
