Planning a Children's Garden

These days children spend more time in front of the TV than they do outside.  We moved out into the country recently and for the first month did not order cable.  You all know what happened…the house was destroyed and I sent the kids outside to play all day.  My children have never been clean since.

Once they had free reign of the yard, they found ways to entertain themselves.  My oldest wandered around the yard tracking different animals (and just about had her finger bit off trying to be Dr. Doolittle with a snapping turtle). My son rode his bike all over the trails in the woods (until he left it and then couldn’t find it until this winter when the leaves were gone). My five year old has taken up building “forts” and collecting acorns.  She even collects and plants the seeds that come out of our store bought vegetables (I really hope I don’t have veggies growing in my lawn next spring!) and my youngest, four, digs, digs, digs, digs, buries, buries, buries. She loves a shovel and bucket.

There are so many plans that I have for my yard,  but my children are young and their interest in gardening and nature may not always last forever.  I have decided that the time to seize on this opportunity is now.  I have been planning a children’s garden on paper.  I have kept track of each of my children’s interests in the outdoors and am trying to find some way to work those interests into the garden.

The first thing I am taking into consideration is my daughter’s fort.  It is her secret hideout. In the movie and book, “The Secret Garden”, the garden is shielded with brick walls and has a keyed lock. Unless someone dumps a few tons of bricks in my yard, I won’t be able to accomplish this, but I’m hoping to be able to borrow a backhoe and actually dig a “sunken garden”. With this sunken design, no one will actually know that it is there, unless you walk right up to it.

The next thing I am taking into consideration is my daughter’s love of playing in the dirt.  I think in this garden, nothing would be more appropriate than a sand pit.  At the bottom of the sand pit, I would like to put castings of bones or fossils, or maybe some old “gold” treasures.  This way when they are digging, they can take a paint brush and feel like a paleontologist, geologist, or a treasure hunter.

My children are ALWAYS picking my flowers.  Usually it is just my mums so I don’t mind.  But what if they had their own special corner in the garden that was just for their picking? The flowers don’t have to stay looking good in the vase (the kids lose interest in them quickly) but as long as it’s a flower that will regenerate quickly.  Pick one that likes to be deadheaded.  The kids will always have flowers.

My son.…   For him I have decided on a sweet pea teepee. With bamboo or branches, we will form a teepee, and let the kids plant the sweet pea pods or seeds in the ground next to the polls. In the summer, they will have a hideout, within the hideout.

Tea time!  My children are always setting up a picnic or having tea time.  We have plenty of logs to cut to form great stools and a table (Perfect for setting up for their peppermint tea) While I’m at it, I might as well throw in some imagination and daydreaming, by putting in a fairies house made out of twigs.  (Who knows…maybe the fairies will visit).

Along with everything else, the kids will need an ever bearing strawberry patch that they can tend to and eat on their own (without mom getting upset that I don’t have enough for pie). A swing nearby to play, laugh, or meditate on, is needed. And….a lock and key so they can
 feel like it is JUST THEIRS!