How does your garden grow?May 17 '02 Write an essay on this topic.
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Winter is finally coming to an end, and this weekend is the “planting weekend” in our part of the world. Sure there will still be frost some nights, but we can handle it. We’ve waited through an entire season of frigid, snowy, icy winter, and we’ve read and reread our gardening and seed catalogs until they’re dog-eared. My children and I have wandered through the gardening aisles in the stores, longing to purchase new trowels and gloves, mini sized for the little ones and mama size for me. Gardening is an activity that my children and I have enjoyed together since they were just wee lads and lasses. We’re ready! Are you? So, what can my child learn from gardening? Gardening is an invaluable learning tool! So many things are learned in the garden, and I’ll be happy to share some of those lessons with you! Nurturing Imagine how incredible it is to a child to take a small seed and plant it in the earth, care for it, watch it grow from seed to plant, to flower and/or vegetable! To a three year old that is a miraculous feat! And for them to have done it all by themselves, with only a little help from mom or dad? A true miracle in a young child’s mind! What a boost to their self-confidence and self-esteem! The look of pride and accomplishment on my children’s faces when they’ve produced a flower or a vegetable, ripe for the picking, is amazing! The incredible patience, caring and nurturing that they have shown has paid off in something that is so beautiful and so very important. Planning and Organization Planning and organizational skills are developed when children garden. How big is your garden plot? How much can you plant, and how much do you want to plant of each? Flowers? Vegetables? Both? What grows best where? Oh, the list goes on and on, from soil requirements to sun and water needs, children learn how to organize their gardens, which can easily translate into how to organize themselves, be it their belongings or their thoughts, their homework, or their playtime. A child who isn’t stressed out by being disorganized is bound to feel better about his or herself! Failure Oh, yes, failure is a lesson that is easily learned in the garden. Children need to learn how to deal with failure. Too often parents try to shield their children from learning this lesson. But being able to accept ones failures means learning how to take responsibility for one’s mistakes, and being able to take something positive from the mistake, make changes, and learn from those same mistakes. Failure in the garden can be due to a lot of reasons, be it incorrect planting or excessive watering. Failure can also be beyond one’s control….rain, rain, and more rain, mixed with sudden frost and even more sudden hailstorms two years ago caused tremendous problems for our vegetable garden. Going away on a trip last summer and asking a relative to water the garden for us….then returning home to find it had been excessively hot and the relative had “forgotten” to water the plants…..a failure and a disappointment….but one we learned from. We asked the wrong person to help us out with the garden, and that relative is no longer asked to water the plants when we go on a holiday. Care and Respect Caring for your belongings, and respecting the property of others is another invaluable lesson. If garden tools are left out to sit in the rain, they won’t be worth much at the end of the summer. Leaving gardening gloves out in the rain to get soaked won’t help much in the morning when you want to get digging in the garden again! Borrowing Mom’s trowel and leaving it at your friend’s house? Not a good idea! And leaving your prized watering can out on the front lawn….where someone who has NOT learned to respect other’s property comes along and takes it….well, a lesson learned. Care for your things, put them away somewhere safe, and remember what it feels like when your things have been stolen. Its not a good feeling, and my children would never want to make someone else feel that way. Bugs and Dirt? Yep, bugs, bugs, and more bugs! The one part of gardening MumMumMum hates! But I do NOT show that squeamish side of me unless its absolutely the grossest bug known to mankind. But my children have developed a great love of bugs! Worms are a perennial favourite, and snails and spiders rate a close second. Dirt, soil, earth, whatever you want to call it, has a tremendous attraction to children, beginning with mudpies when they’re small to digging and planting and growing in and just getting gloriously dirty in….its all building a wonderful relationship with the earth. An extremely important relationship that hopefully will stay with the child all of his life. It’s the only earth we have, we get our food from it, we have to take care of it! We raise our vegetables from seed and have healthy meals because of the earth. We have beautiful cut flowers on the table because of the earth. We must treat it with respect, and value it. The Birds and the Bees! My children plant many flowers specifically for the attraction they have to particular insects and birds. Butterfly gardens have abounded in my yard, as well as flowers that attract hummingbirds and bumblebees, we have learned a lot from watching our “little friends” out in our garden. This has turned my children on to the world of nature books and stories, where they have continued their learning adventure that originally sprouted in the garden. And my children have learned that there is so much we can do with so little effort to keep these creatures happy and healthy and continuing to beautify our world. Creativity! Oh yeah! This is our absolute favourite aspect of our garden! My family likes to have fun and get goofy in the garden. One of the things we've done is cut a hole in the seat of a chair, just large enough to fit a large flower pot. We filled it with trailing flowers and seated it next to another old chair with a scarecrow, that my children created, seated in it. One of the projects I am planning for next summer is a "bed of roses"...I have an old bed that I am placing out on the lawn and plan to plant roses in it. I've also seen (and probably will do this) old toilets planted with flowers! Have a sense of humour, and have fun! Gardening is a great way to reduce your stress and show the world you have a sense of humour! Last summer I bought a new gas bbq. Instead of taking the old one to the dump I (well actually my husband) gutted it. We placed rocks for drainage in the bottom, filled it with soil, and over-planted with hanging flowering plants. We also placed a flower pot on each of the shelves and another on the bottom shelf where the propane tank had been. We placed it in a hard to grow area under a HUGE spruce tree in our back yard. Not only did we recycle, but we beautified a place in our yard that was previously barren! A real success, and everyone commented on how nice it was! My children brought their friends over several times to show them what an original idea they had, and it brought them a great deal of pride when our neighbours, who they adore, told them what a wonderful idea they’d had and that they were doing the same thing next year. My children have taken their old rubber boots and planted flowers in them. They’ve taken my old kitchen pots and pans and filled them with flowers, a kettle has held pansies, and they’re currently trying to figure out how to fill some old gardening gloves with flowers! They’re reducing, reusing, and recycling. They’re problem solving, and creating masterpieces, original, one of a kind works of art that have brought them compliments and boosted their self-esteem in huge amounts. They are filled with pride and a feeling of accomplishment that is immeasurable. A Mother’s Garden I have always felt closest to my children in the garden, watching the butterflies and bees, sitting in the sunshine and smelling the flowers. I have found that the best time to talk to my children is when we’re out in the garden. Somehow, with the dirt in our hands, the smell of flowers all around, the quiet buzzing of the bees and the occasional flutter of a butterfly, my children feel calmest and most able to discuss the events of their day, the things that have been bothering them, their hopes, dreams, and wishes. I am growing many things in my garden. Flowers, vegetables, shrubs, and fruit trees. And most importantly I am growing a strong, healthy relationship with my children. We have a deep bond between us, and it is never more evident than when we’re in the garden together, laughing, getting dirty, planting and growing. I am growing strong, healthy children who have a love and a respect for living things. I don’t just grow plants in my garden. I grow love there. There are two times that I feel closest to “The Angels”. One is when I hear a baby’s laugh, and the other is in my garden with my children, listening to their “Pearls of Wisdom” rolling from their tongues, feeling the sun on my face, and dirt in my hands. There is nothing better in the world…nothing even comes close. Ginahill and ed-grover are co-hosting this Gardening Write-off to welcome in the growing season. Please take some time and read the contributions made by the Epinions writers listed below. aashtech, AdaDavis, ariel10575, artbyjude, BadKitty, BeeCharmer, bluehawq , bluekennedy, BonnieSayers, brendametcalf, Cntaur5, Deaser26, disartain, donnamr, donnie013, dramastef, ed_grover, Elsa70, Epinionsuser, Frazzledspice, GinaHill, hadassahchana, lkvanvoorhis, jankp, jkkelley, joydrop26, jro26 , LadyCynic, LRGuis, MaryTara, Michiman1, MrCalcul8r, MrsNormanMaine, MumMumMum, Naphtalia, nifer, patsyv, Pogomom, Psychovant, purplewiz, sherrylee, skbreese, Susiedee34, Vormancian, Willeftk  |
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