In the garden: August and September

Children's gardening special

In this technological age it is a mission to tear the kids away from the TV or computer, especially on wet winter days. The secret to gardening with kids, I think, is to make it fun and exciting and to involve all the senses, be it taste, touch or scent. Don’t bubble-wrap your kids. Let them explore, get dirty, climb trees, eat carrots with dirt on them and play with insects.

One thing I have done in our garden is grow an ‘after-school snack track'. Form a small circular path and grow strawberries, lemonade citrus, cocktail kiwifruit, raspberries, baby carrots, snow peas, mandarins, cherry tomatoes and beans. When the kids come home from school, send them out to the garden to forage. Once they get used to munching on these foods straight out of the garden, very soon they will think nothing of grazing on asparagus, broad beans and broccoli plucked fresh off the plant.

Make a sunflower tent

This is a perfect project for early spring. On the ground, in a sunny location, lay a hose in a circular shape around 1.5m in diameter. Lightly dig the soil around the circumference of this shape. Using tall-growing and dwarf varieties of sunflowers plant the seeds in this shape, leaving a small area free as this will form the entrance to the tent. Plant the seeds densely at around 10cm spacing. Keep the area moist and weed-free. The sunflowers will grow and mature at varying heights. As the taller varieties mature gently bring all their growing tips together and gently tie together to form a cone shape. You can also now plant some sweet pea or snow pea seeds and as they grow these plants will use the sunflower stalks to climb up. Your kids can happily sit inside their own living sunflower tent munching on snow peas and you get some living land art to admire out of your window all summer.

Make your own seed tapes

You can buy seed tapes but they cost a fortune, so make your own instead. Seed tapes are biodegradable paper which have seeds incorporated into them at set distances. The idea is you lay the tape flat on top of the soil, cover with a fine layer of soil and let nature take its course. The tapes are also easy for little hands to handle. This method particularly suits small seeds such as carrots, lettuce, onions, spring onions, leeks, mesclun and basil.

To make your own you need

• Thick paste made from flour and water
• Small brush – a pastry or art brush is perfect
• Length of toilet tissue (I find around 30cm is good for little hands)
• Seeds to sow

Method

1. Lie a section of toilet tissue on a flat surface.
2. Paint flour paste thickly down the middle of the length with your brush.
3. Sprinkle seeds very thinly into the paste, allowing for around 8-10cm spacing between seeds.
4. Cover with another length of toilet tissue and pat down gently.
5. Lie tissue flat and under a weight, such as stacked books, until dry.
6. Lay flat in the garden and cover with a fine, thin layer of soil. Water with a fine spray of water and keep moist until germination.

Make some seed bombs

Seed bombs are hard clay balls with seeds encased within. Making them is a good inside activity when it is too wet outdoors. Just spread some newspaper and let the kids get stuck in. Seed bombs are thrown by guerrilla gardeners in large cities, such as New York, to re-vegetate unused vacant lots and neglected public spaces. Once thrown, they lay on the ground absorbing moisture and warmth and the seeds burst forth when the time is right.

Here’s my seed bomb recipe

• 5 parts red terracotta clay (buy from craft shop).
• 3 parts homemade compost. Must be your very best vintage with lots of natural microbes. You should be able to see white fungi threads throughout the mixture.
• 1 part used coffee grounds.
• 1 part seeds of your choice. You could use a wildflower mix, herb seeds, beneficial plant mix, sunflowers, poppies or anything else which takes the kids’ fancy.

Method

1. Mix all the ingredients together without adding water unless the clay is very dry. You will have to knead it like dough to get all the materials incorporated.
2. Roll into small round balls, about the size of a large marble. Immediately dry for two days in the sun, perhaps on the window sill. When totally dry they will change from a dark clay colour to a light brown colour and be rock hard.
3. Store in a dry, cool place until required, then get the kids out with their slingshots or cricket throwing arms and scatter them about.

Make birdhouses

Kids love making birdhouses and are always ecstatic if an actual bird family takes up residence. Use scrap wood from a pallet, gourds if you have them, or even milk tetra packs to create real estate for the local bird population.

Make a fairy garden

In a tucked-away corner of your garden why not make a fairy garden? Fill this space with flowers and painted stones, shells and figurines, wind chimes and scented with Daphne, Citrus and Gardenias to let the imagination run wild. Rocks or tree stumps can be painted with glow-in-the-dark paint and solar fairy lights strung from trees to create night time adventures.

Plant a pixie garden

A pixie garden can be created by planting many of the dwarf root stock trees such as lemons, peaches, apples and mandarins. These plants only grow to 1-1.5m, a perfect height for children to pick, but produce normal-sized fruit. Hedges such as lonicera and buxus can be pruned into interesting shapes such as snails, chickens or anything else the children suggest. Hedges can also be pruned to grow as tunnels and archways for children to play in. Buy some gnomes and let the kids paint them with test-pot paints

Mr potato head

An indoor project for a wet day. Taking a large potato, cut the bottom straight so that the spud can sit by itself. Slice the top off and then carve a small hollow in the top. Make small cuts for the eyes and mouth. Fill the cavity with some potting mixture and let the kids sow some quick-growing seeds for his hair. Grass, chives, watercress or alfalfa are good choices. Using larger seeds like peas, beans or corn, shape the mouth and nose. Place on a warm window sill and keep the soil moist.

Make a maize maze

Here’s a project which will feed you and keep the kids happy over summer. In spring, once all risk of frosts has passed, create a maze design on the lawn in an area which receives full sun. Make it as complicated or as simple as you wish. Using a rotary hoe or spade, dig up the grass and plant corn. Plant the seeds thickly at around 5cm spacing (you can always thin them if you need to). The corn will grow tall and create a maze where the children can hide and race through. Your own amazing maze in maize!

Bee aware

August is National Bee Month, which is a chance for us all to remember how important these insects are to our well-being. Without them we would not be enjoying many of those nutritious fruits and vegetables. If becoming a backyard beekeeper is not your thing, there are many other things you can do to help preserve and nurture our declining bee population.

• Let your lawn grow – mow less and let the dandelions, daisies, buttercups and clover flower. These are all important food sources for bees.
• Don’t spray – avoid those nasty garden chemicals or if you must spray, avoid spraying anything which is flowering and spray at dusk when the bees are tucked up in bed.
• Avoid hybrid flowering plants as they do not provide good nutrition for bees. Choose the old-fashioned types.
• Select species of trees and hedges which provide food sources for bees. Visit www.saveourbees.org.nz to learn about the best trees and plants to grow for bees in New Zealand.
• Provide a site for a beekeeping friend in your garden for a hive. Think of all that free pollination!
• Read books about bees. They are fascinating and you will get a new level of respect for them. You may even want to keep bees in your own backyard.