Gardening with kids. A bloomin' lovely time or not?

[sydneybubhub]

Finding different things to do with the kids that both of you will enjoy can sometimes be a hard task.

But what about heading out to the garden (or the balcony for those of us that don't have gardens)?

Creating gorgeous floral baskets or edible gardens that children get to watch grow before their very eyes and then get to eat is a wonderful interest to nurture in our children.

But is it for us all?

Tell us about your best / worst / funniest gardening experiences with your budding Junior Jamie Durie.

[SorenLorensen]

we LOVE to garden together :yes:
DD got a gardening kit thing for christmas and we have used it often (it has rakes, hoe, shovels, fruit picker etc.)
she loves to plant the plants, digging the holes and putting the plant in.
i think her favorite time was when we mulched, she got to help her dad (i was about 38 weeks pregnant so not too much help so i sat and watched) she would use her shovel and big a "big girl" by scooping and spreading out. i think it actually does wonders for their development and is a fun time to learn and play.
sure i came inside with mulch down my top and in my bra becuase her father thought it would be a good idea to tell her to "get mummy" but its all good fun and a chance for us all to spend time as a family.
it makes for great photo memories too, i have the best photo of DD shoveling away with her bucket hat and a t shirt that says "save the future for me"....it really is a fitting photo for the great out doors.
our next door neighbors also get out in the garden regularly with their 4 and 2 year old.

[JATS]

the courtyard of our townhouse has a very thin strip of dirt around 3 sides, was all weeds when we moved in but Tommy and I have made it into quite a productive little garden!

We have planted Basil, Oregano, Rosemary, Chives, Parsley, mint, strawberries and tomato in the actual garden and have aloe vera, a mango tree and a coffee plant all in pots, all have grown incredibly well. :D

Tommy has become very good at weeding, he now knows what should be in the garden and what shouldn't and any time he's outside he pulls out any weeds he sees. This took a lot of trial and error. :laughing:

He loves watering his garden in the evening and is quite fond of harvesting ripe strawberries.

If we were staying in this townhouse longer I would espalier some fruit trees along the wall that gets the most sun. I love gardening, I'm just not very good at it.:laughing:

[Nellsy]

We love! We love it! We love it! :thumbsup:

We usually get together with a couple of friends and have a little potting party. The 'host' gets the bag of potting mix and the seedlings and then we all bring over our own gloves and pots and then get to take home the 'gardens' we created.

The kids love checking out how each's is going when they play at their mates house.

And living in Sydney, bulbs were always fun to watch blossom for winter.

My kids are also really good at weeding now, too. And my DD (nearly 7) loves gardening with her Nan and her grandfather. And they love it too. :flowerz:

[~mia&ryan~]

DD loves gardening! As we are building our new house at the moment we only have pot but she still loves it!! She likes herbs the best because she can smell and taste them (and feed them to the dog!!). Can't wait to get into our new place and create our new garden and vegie patch. She is going to love it!!:yes:

[Teley]

Plants die when I touch them:gloomy::laughing:.
The only gardening DS does is watering the pot plants. No I did not buy them, my parents asked me to babysit them when they moved overseas.

[missie_mack]

Ds is a great little helper when I'm weeding the garden pullig out the weeds beside his Mum :goodvibes: However a week later you can always tell where he has been a week later as that is where the grass patches are grown back :laughing:(because he doesnt get the whole pulling the root thing)

[A Party of Five]

Yes it's an activity we love to do together :yes:

[mummymg]

Nothing elaborate here, but we enjoy planting and weeding and the older ones love using the blower/sucker!:laughing:

[mummeeto2]

Both the kids love to be out in the garden. DS helps and really loves to watch things grow, but then trims the whole lot back waaaay before time. DD just loves following Daddy & DS around

[Lastcenturymum]

I think it''s great if they have their 'own' pot or bit of garden - teaches them to be responsible for something and about seeing things grow etc. Their concentration span is usually not too crash hot though!

My fav is my Dad used to pick DS up after 3 yo kinder and spend the afternoon with him. Dad is great gardener and they spent the afternoons in the garden. Dad let him have his own piece of garden and he planted beans in it and cared for them each week (not sure he actually wanted to eat them when they were harvested!) but he still talks about it and their bond is amazing to this day.

[FiveInTheBed]

we do the weeding together, everyone has their own gloves...( so cute watching them try to keep them on!) and we sometimes manage to pull out the weeds, rather than mummys good plants, we sometimes keep the weed bucket full of just weeds and not my new river pebbles :laughing:

Tried transplanting once...I'll wait til their a bit older for the next time!
Its a lovely time together and helps us recharge and get some vitamin d , and work together as a team.

Love it

[PiercedDoll]

Char loves to garden..Unfortunately she sometimes picks the good plants but oh well shes 4 :)

[Pixie]

Yes in fact Eliza has been asking to do some planting so either today or later this week we shall plant something like cress or a simple flower for her!
not looking forward to the mess!!!

[ThomasMum]

We love it. Altho DS is more interested in looking for snails, bugs etc :laughing:
He's the one who decides which garden to go first, our front or back garden lol

:yes:

[TeenyT]

I wish there was a poll choice for other! I picked Yes as we do enjoy gardening but DD is only 2 and a bit and I cant really expect much from her yet.
Up until the end of last year our backyard was just grass with an L shaped strip of sand where a garden should have been but alas, as we were a bunch of procrastinators, remained in its original state.

We have recently been inspired to create a Balinese style garden in memory of our DS and have been planting like mad. It's a real family thing as we all get out on weekends and weed, plant, mulch, lay pebble beds and stuff. I bought DD a little Jamie Durie gardening set and she runs around with her bucket collecting weeds, picking up rocks and moving them, kissing the statues. It's so wonderful being out there as she's learning about things while we work.
I think maybe next year, when she understands a little more about how plants grow, we'll start with the herb garden which we'll call "hers" and help her tend to it and make meals with whatever she grows.

[ThomasMum]

I wish there was a poll choice for other! I picked Yes as we do enjoy gardening but DD is only 2 and a bit and I cant really expect much from her yet.


Thats OK darl, my son is not that old either to help any lol, but at least he gets to the idea that gardening means fun. And that puting your hands in dirts and mulches are cool :laughing:

Good luck with your Balinese garden. I love Balinese garden. Weve got a Balinese umbrella in our garden :yes:

[TTannyaa]

We garden together.

[lilboysmum]

Ah... gardening....

One day when transplanting plants, DS got very upset when I filled the holes in because he thought we were building a swimming pool. He downed tools and stormed off. Precious.

DS has all his own gardening tools. On occasian it takes 15 minutes to get the gear all organised and on, and only 5 minutes to get bored.

http://picasaweb.google.com/nataliep73/Gardening/photo#5222838873015101554

http://picasaweb.google.com/nataliep73/Gardening/photo#5222839166955801762

http://picasaweb.google.com/nataliep73/Gardening/photo#5222841076233405970