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Planting a
Child-Friendly Garden
National Gardening Association Editors
Gardeners love to share their interest in gardening, and sharing with their children can be particularly rewarding. Even 2- and 3-year-olds can help plant their own little patch, and watch as life unfolds around them. Here are some suggestions for making gardening enjoyable -- and safe -- for young children.
Tools and Materials
• Child-sized trowel
• Child-sized cultivator
• Child-sized rake
• Child-sized hoe
Stake a claim. Section off a corner of the garden or yard where a child can do as he or she pleases. It doesn't have to be designed or even particularly attractive, just a place where to explore without risk of damaging your prized plants.
Let the children choose what they'd like to grow. Most often, these will be plants they recognize, such as pumpkins and potatoes. Plants with large seeds, such as beans, sunflowers, and nasturtiums, are easiest for small hands to sow. Though radish seeds are small, children delight in the almost instant growth and harvest. Or plant with a theme, perhaps a "pizza" garden containing tomatoes and peppers as well as herbs such as basil and oregano.
Children love hiding places. Consider constructing a tepee from tall poles and twine, to be covered with climbing beans and flowers. (Be sure to leave an opening for a door.) Or create a special room: a circle of tall sunflowers with shorter sunflowers or other flowers between them.
Many culinary herbs are attractive and have interesting scents. Chives, sage, mint, and basil are good choices for a child's garden. Edible flowers, such as nasturtiums, pansies, violets, and calendulas, are also good.
Since many other plants -- even something as familiar as rhubarb leaves -- are toxic, teach your child to consult with you before anything into his or her mouth. Only a few are so toxic they should not be used around children and pets. Two extremely toxic plants are castor bean (Ricinus communis) and precatory bean or rosary pea (Abrus). Many other plants are toxic in larger quantities and should be avoided in a child's garden. These include angel's trumpet (Brugmansia), delphinium, foxglove (Digitalis), euonymus, morning glory (Ipomoea), St. Johnswort (Hypericum), lantana, cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis), sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima), love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena), and valerian (V. officinalis).
Tips
Make gardening fun, not work. Offer encouragement and how-to, but go easy on detailed advice. If a child sees you at work in the garden, he or she will want to imitate what you do — the best way to learn.
Photography by National Gardening Association
How to Grow a Giant Pumpkin
Don Langevin
For many of us, fall means a bounty of pumpkins for pies and jack-o'-lanterns, along with a gathering in of the rest of the autumn harvest. But for thousands of backyard gardeners, fall is the time of reckoning and--for a lucky few--glory.
These are the growers of the heavyweights. For them, pumpkin growing is a competitive sport.
As recently as 16 years ago, the heaviest (official) pumpkin weighed a mere 403 pounds. Since then the world record has been broken nine times. Other than Howard Dill, who held the world record from 1979 to 1982, no one has ever won the world championship more than once. And almost all the world-record pumpkins since 1982 have been grown in small backyard gardens.
Well, not too small. To really appreciate the feat of growing these 800-, 900- or 1,000-pound behemoths, it's necessary to see one up close. Consider the measurements of the second-largest pumpkin grown in the world in 1994. Its girth was 176 inches (that's more than 14 1/2 feet around!).
When carved, these beauties will hold a candle for light, as well as two or three members of the family. Or you can bake some 900 pumpkin pies from a single fruit. At the Topsfield Fair in Topsfield, Massachusetts, it took the strength of 12 adults to move a 914-pound pumpkin to the scale. I can't pass a Honda Civic anymore without thinking that 10 or 12 men could probably roll it onto a tarpaulin and cart it away, too.
Now, with this year's competition just past and predictions that the largest pumpkins are likely to surpass the benchmark half-ton next season, is a good time to review the latest techniques required to grow the big ones. Believe it or not, you'll probably need to start now, in the fall, preparing the soil.
How to Grow a Giant Pumpkin
If you ask 10 competitive pumpkin growers how to grow a giant pumpkin, you're likely to get 10 different answers. It seems everyone has his or her own way of coaxing the most weight out of these giants. But there is a thread of consistency that runs throughout all the instructions, and adhering to three basic tenets will get you well on the way to a world record. Above all else, you need good seed, good soil and good luck.
Good Seed
If you want to grow a world-record pumpkin, you can forget about every variety of pumpkin out there except Howard Dill's patented 'Atlantic Giant'. Since 1979, no other pumpkin variety has been a world champion.
Good Soil
Pumpkins are large consumers of all the major plant nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium), as well as many minor nutrients like calcium and magnesium and other trace elements. The key for big growth is soil well amended with organic matter. In the fall or early spring, add two to five yards per plant of compost and rotted manures. Cow and horse manures are best. Use chicken manure sparingly and only in the fall. Cover crops of winter rye, plowed down in the spring, are fabulous. The soil pH should be between 6.5 and 6.8.
Good Luck
If you can grow a good vegetable garden, you have the skill to grow a world-record pumpkin. I've seen newcomers grow 500-pound pumpkins their first year with good seed, some rudimentary help from an experienced grower and a lot of luck. With the right preparation and strategy now and in the spring (see the tips below for planning your assault on the world record), next year you might just be a contender for the world championship!
Ten Steps to A Giant Pumpkin
1. Prepare the Soil
Start with a pH test in fall and adjust your pH to between 6.5 and 6.8 by adding sulfur to lower the pH or lime to raise it. Apply three to five yards of composted manure per 30-foot-diameter circle where you expect to plant next spring. Plant a cover crop of winter rye in fall to be turned under in early spring, broadcasting one to two pounds per 1,000-square-foot area.
2. Sow Seeds
Start seed indoors in six-inch peat pots about four weeks before your last frost date. Plant the seed with the pointed end of the seed facing down. Keep the soil temperature at 85° to 90° F. Most seeds will emerge within five days.
3. Transplant Seedlings
Transplant seedlings into the garden once the first true leaves appear or when roots begin to grow through the peat pot (usually seven to 10 days after germination). Handle with care because pumpkins are easily set back during transplanting.
4. Protect Seedlings
Place a "mini-greenhouse" over the seedlings for six weeks to shield plants from wind and frost. These mini-greenhouses can be as simple as two storm windows nailed together to form a teepee or as elaborate as a 4- by 4-foot wooden structure made from 1- by 2-inch lumber nailed together with 6-mil clear plastic stapled to cover the frame. Once seedlings outgrow the mini-greenhouse, use a temporary fence to screen wind. I use "conservation" fence, which is bought with wood end stakes attached and is commonly used at new construction sites. A 100-foot roll cut into three pieces is enough for three 11-foot-diameter areas.
5. Pollinate Flowers
Eight to 10 weeks after seed starting, the first female flowers will appear. They're easy to distinguish because they have a small pumpkin at their base. If you want to get a jump on your rival, you'll need to hand-pollinate the flowers. In the early morning, locate a freshly opened male flower. Pick it and remove the outer flower petals, exposing the stamen and fresh pollen. Locate a newly opened female flower and gently swab the stigma (internal parts) of the female flower with the pollen-laden stamen. Getting a pumpkin set as early as possible, preferably before July 10, is key. The earlier you set a pumpkin, the longer it has to grow until harvest. Since these monsters can gain 25 pounds a day, losing 10 days in the early part of the season could put you well down the list at your local pumpkin weigh-off.
6. Reposition Set Pumpkins
Once a pumpkin has set, its position on the vine becomes extremely important. Most often the stem grows at a very acute angle to the vine. However, for optimal long-term growth, the best position is to have the stem perpendicular to the vine. If yours is not at right angles to the vine naturally, coax it gradually, over about a week's time, until it is in that position. Be careful, because at this early stage pumpkins may still abort or you may injure the fragile stem.
7. Select the Most Promising Pumpkin
If one plant has three strong vines, you could have as many as seven or eight pumpkins set and growing by July 20. Now you must choose the best pumpkin and remove most of the rest. Measure each pumpkin's circumference at the widest point weekly or daily with a cloth measuring tape. Choose the one that's growing fastest. Also, keep an eye out for the optimum shape. Young pumpkins that are round and especially tall grow the largest.
8. Prune Vines
Begin pruning vines early in the season to discourage random growth and an out-of-control patch. Prune each main vine when it has reached 10 to 12 feet beyond a set fruit. If you have a pumpkin on a vine that is 10 feet from the main root, cut the end of that vine once it is 20 to 24 feet long. Let side shoots off the main vines get no longer than eight feet before cutting off tips. Train side shoots so they are perpendicular to the main vine to accommodate access to the vines and pumpkins. Bury the ends of cut vines to reduce water loss.
9. Fertilize
During the growing season, most fertility needs of pumpkins can be met by applying water-soluble plant foods once or twice a week over the entire plant area. Give seedlings a fertilizer that stresses phosphorus, such as 15-30-15. Shift to a more balanced formula, such as 20-20-20, once fruits are set. By late July, use a formula that stresses potassium, such as 15-11-29. I apply water-soluble fertilizer at the rate of one to two pounds per week per plant f fruit set until the end of the growing season. Some competitive growers will err on the side of overfertilization. But too much fertilizer can hurt more than help. If the pumpkins start growing too fast, they will literally tear themselves from the vine and explode. A very fine grower in New England told me, "Slow and easy wins the race." Remember this whenever you feel the urge to overfertilize.
10. Keep Track
Measure your pumpkins at least weekly. Gains in circumference can average four to six inches in a 24-hour period. Measure the circumference of your pumpkins first parallel to the ground around the entire pumpkin, from blossom end to stem. Next, measure over the top in both directions: from ground to ground along the axis from stem to blossom end, then perpendicular to the stem-blossom-end axis. Add these three measurements together, then multiply by 1.9 to give an estimate of the pumpkin's weight.
Don Langevin is author of How-to-Grow World Class Giant Pumpkins (Annedawn Publishing, Box 247, Norton, MA 02766, 1993. $18).
When it comes to making a kids-only garden, half the fun is in the designing. Here's where your backyard reflects your family's own style, your garden's conditions, and your region's climate. There are plenty of resources to advise you on the last two, but you're the expert when it comes to creating a garden that matches your family's personalities.
Getting Started
Start simple and small. One easy design is to divide one-foot-squares with paths, adding as many as you'd like in whatever pattern suits your spot. The paths can be made of stones, bark mulch, newspaper covered with straw, or even boards. Kids plant something different in each square. The design is tidy and manageable. Circular gardens are fun, too. Slice them, pie-fashion, with the paths meeting in the middle. Kids can create a teepee out of branches (see "Making a Garden Teepee" on page 2) to use as focal point for the center of the circle garden.
Sketch it out. Kids may have an easier time creating the look of their garden by drawing it rather than talking about it. Whether or not they take this step, it's helpful for you to sketch the garden on graph paper with one square equaling one foot. This will guide you in laying out the garden on the site. Add paths and draw any structures your kids are dreaming of.
Landscape considerations:
- Place the garden/play area where you can see it from your kitchen window or other rooms you spend a lot of time in.
- Look up and down. Before you dig, be aware of any power lines, pipes, septic systems, or other existing limitations.
- Create your space. A fence or wall adds privacy and sets boundaries for kids and gear.
- Choose your materials wisely. They should resist rust, rot, and roughhousing. Path surfaces should be comfortable and safe for bare feet but not too slippery when wet.
- Create a garden place for family gatherings. No space? At least make room for kids' outdoor lunches. You don't have to build a deck; a simple fire pit for roasting marshmallows in a country yard or a canopy in a corner of an urban lot will do.
Plants That Make Lasting Impressions
Kids like extremes. Huge flowers, like the classic sunflower, and small vegetables, like cherry or tiny grapelike tomatoes, are tried-and-true favorites. If you have room, try 'Atlantic Giant' pumpkins; if you don't, try bush cucumbers and pick them at cornichon-size for tiny pickles.
Try plants that come in surprising colors and textures. Purple carrots, striped beets, rainbow chard, and white 'Easter egg' radishes are tantalizing. Some kids even go for the blue otatoes. Textured plants are irresistible. If your conditions are right for them, include the fuzzy woolly thyme and lambs' ears, the prickly coneflower and strawflowers, and the delicate maidenhair fern and columbine.
Fragrant plants transport the imagination. If you grow them now, your child will always remember the scents of heliotrope, mignonette, roses, peonies, and lilacs. If you show them which plants to rub between their fingers, they'll never forget lavender, pineapple mint, lemon balm, rosemary, basil, and scented geraniums.
Night bloomers fill summer evenings with magic. Children will never forget heading out at night with flashlights and watching the sphinx moths zooming among the nicotiana and moonflowers. Four o'clock strikes, and evening primroses open, as their name promises.
Positively pickable plants get the thumbs up. While mom's landscape may be off-limits for bouquet gathering, children should have free reign over certain cutting gardens. Cosmos, snapdragon, salvia, zinnia, coleus, and celosia are just a few that produce more vigorously if picked.
This holiday season why not let nature provide the materials for wonderful homemade gifts, and let kids provide the creative energy to make them! In our Family Room this month, you'll find instructions for making several gifts from the garden that can be made in under two hours with easy-to-find materials. We've also compiled a list of our favorite garden/nature-related fiction books that would make great gifts for budding gardeners.
Pomander Balls
Citrus pomanders make decorative and fragrant tree ornaments or natural air fresheners, and they are very long-lasting. Kids like the spicy scents of cloves and cinnamon, and there's something appealing about pushing tiny cloves into the citrus rind. Wrapped in festive paper, these make unique teacher gifts.
Materials:
- oranges, limes, or lemons
- whole cloves
- ground cinnamon
- ground orris root, optional (found in craft or grocery stores)
- thimble
- ribbon
- Push the cloves into the fruit, pointed end first, to cover the surface, spacing the cloves about a clove's head distance apart (the fruit will shrink as it cures and pull the cloves closer together). Use a thimble to protect the fingertip that's pushing in the cloves. If you don't have a thimble small enough for your child's finger, wrap a washcloth around the finger to keep it from getting sore.
- Mix together the cinnamon and orris root in equal proportions, or just use cinnamon. Place the fruit and cinnamon in a small bag and gently shake it to coat the fruit. Set the pomanders aside to cure for about 3 weeks.
- For a hanging pomander, tie a ribbon around the ball, leaving a loop at the end.
Pounded Flower Prints
The color and shape of flowers and leaves can be transferred to fabric to decorate pillow cases or napkins or make prints for framing. Kids get a kick out of pounding the flowers, and it's often surprising what color pigment a flower will produce.
Materials:
- fresh flowers and leaves
- rubber mallet (a hammer will do in a pinch)
- white or light-colored cotton pillowcases, napkins, or fabric, depending on what the child wants to make. Old sheets work well if you want to make small prints suitable for framing.
- safety goggles
- wax paper
- newspaper
- If using new napkins or pillowcases, wash them first to remove sizing. If your child is making a print to be framed, cut fabric 1 inch larger than frame size to allow a 1-inch border that can be wrapped around a piece of cardboard in the frame.
- Cut flowers from stems, leaving a little bit of stem attached.
- Choose a work space that can take pounding with a hammer, such as the floor or a sturdy work table. Cover surface with thick protective layer of newspaper, and place wax paper on top to keep the newsprint from being transferred to the fabric. Lay fabric on top of the wax paper. Have kids practice on scrap fabric first to see the effects of different flowers.
- Kids can create a design by placing flowers and leaves one at a time face down on the fabric. Then place sheet of wax paper over entire design.
- Now the fun begins. With safety goggles on, kids can hammer hard with the mallet through the wax paper to transfer the flower pigment onto the fabric. Move the hammer all over the flowers, including along the margins, to define the shape. Thick flowers require more pounding.
- Remove wax paper and check the fabric. Kids may want to add more flowers and continue the process until they are pleased with the results. For a print to be framed, leave the small flower pieces that adhere to the fabric. For napkins and pillowcases, remove the residue.
- Wash napkins and pillowcases in cold water and iron them. (Flower prints may fade when washed in hot water.) For a framed print, iron the fabric, then wrap the border of the fabric around the thin piece of cardboard that comes with the frame (or provide your own). Tape fabric to cardboard and place it in the frame.
Leaf Shade
These easy-to-make shades emit a warm glow and let the silhouettes of leaves show through when they are placed around a small lantern, lamp, or candle. They can also be sized to fit snugly around a lampshade.
Materials:
- leaves of various sizes with interesting margins
- wax paper
- 2-inch-wide ribbon or heavy wrapping paper for top and bottom edges of the shade
- paper towels
- glue stick
- Spread paper towels on a work table or ironing board. Cut two 24-inch long pieces of wax paper, and lay one of them on top of the paper towels.
- Arrange leaves on top of the wax paper, leaving a 1 1/2-inch margin around the edges. Leave space between the leaves for the light to shine through.
- Lay the second sheet of wax paper on top of the first sheet, sandwiching the leaves in between. Cover with a layer of paper towels.
- Iron the wax paper through the paper towel layer (with iron set on low temperature) to fuse together the wax paper layers. Avoid overheating the paper or you'll melt the wax entirely and the layers won't stick together.
- Cut edging into two strips 2 inches wide and 24 inches long. Fold the strips in half lengthwise. Slip the top edge of the shade inside one of the folded strips and glue in place. Repeat with the other strip on the bottom edge of the shade.
- Fold over ends of the shade to make finished edges and overlap the ends, gluing them together to form a cylinder.
- Test the effect by setting the shade over a lantern or candle. Voila!
Most kids love to dig in the dirt, where they naturally uncover earthworms. These squirmy creatures pique kids' curiosity, and they can help keep many a child occupied while adults busy themselves with garden chores. And playing with worms is also a great way to teach kids appreciation for nature and her cycles, especially decomposition. Worms are nature's mini composters, improving the soil by creating channels for air and water, and by breaking down organic matter (including your vegetable scraps) and turning it into valuable fertilizer.
To start your own worm bin, you'll need an aerated container, bedding (such as shredded newspaper), a moist and temperate environment, a small amount of soil, and, of course, some worms.
Choosing a Home
The container can be as simple or as elaborate as you wish. You can purchase a fully equipped bin or convert a plastic dishpan or 5-gallon bucket to a worm home. Worms need only about 8 to 12 inches of depth to move around in.
To make your own bin, drill 8 to 15 drainage holes in the bottom of the container, depending on its size. Many worm farmers also drill holes in the side near the top edge to further enable air flow. (Some believe that holes 1/4-inch in diameter or less will deter fruit flies from entering.) You'll also need a lid -- made of wood, rubber, hard plastic, or a black plastic sheet -- to maintain darkness and moisture.
Raise the bin on bricks or blocks and place a tray underneath to gather excess liquid. Your bin size will affect how much food the worms can process per week. Allow one square-foot of surface area per pound of scraps per week.
HINT: If you use a clear plastic container, cover it with a dark cloth because worms don't like light. However, this is a fun way for kids to observe the worms. As you take off the cloth, you will usually see many worms against the side of the container. They will dart into the depths of the soil when the cover is removed.
Adding Creature Comforts
Fill your worm bin three-quarters full with damp bedding material, such as shredded newspaper (1-inch strips), dead leaves, or coconut fiber (coir). This is where you'll bury food waste. Adding a handful or two of good garden soil or mulch from the soil surface will provide the grit that worms need to digest food, as well as microbes that help break down organic matter. Bedding materials should be moist, but not wet: about like a wrung-out sponge. If using newspaper, dunk the strips in water and let them drain for just a few minutes before filling the container about two-thirds full. When necessary use a mister to keep the bedding moist or sprinkle small amounts of water in the bin.
Inviting the Guests
Redworms (Eisenia foetida), commonly known as red wigglers or manure worms, are the species most likely to survive in a worm bin. They need lots of organic matter and warmer temperatures than night crawlers or other garden-dwelling earthworms. One pound of worms (approximately 1000) will process 3 to 4 pounds of food scraps per week. You can obtain redworms through mail-order catalogs.
What's for Dinner?
Worms can "eat" approximately their own weight in food scraps every day. Keep it vegetarian, providing vegetable and fruit scraps, pulverized egg shells (for calcium), spoiled food, coffee grounds, and tea bags. Avoid meats, dairy products, and oily foods, which can create foul odors and attract flies and rodents.
Indoors or Out?
Locate worm bins inside or outside. In either case, temperatures should remain between 40 and 80 degrees F. If bins are outdoors, shelter from hot sun and heavy rain.
Tending the Bin
Have your young worm caretakers feed the worms slowly at first, gauging whether the food balance and moisture content seem adequate or need to be adjusted. A popular strategy is to divide your bin into 5 to 7 sections, then bury the food in a different section of the bedding each week. The worms will follow their nourishment around the bin.
Removing the Castings
After two to three months, when most of the food and bedding have been transformed into dark, rich compost, it's time to remove the worm castings (finished compost) because excess castings are poisonous to the worms. One method is to move the castings to one side of the bin, then place fresh bedding and food waste in the other side and let the worms migrate naturally, over time, to the fresh food and bedding. You can also dump the entire bin contents onto a plastic sheet and shine a bright light on the pile. The worms will migrate to the bottom to get away from the light, and (with gloved hands) your kids can then scoop the castings into a bucket. Then prepare new bedding and return the worms to the bin, where they'll start all over on a new batch of compost.
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