What's the first memory you have of a garden? If you are reading this, you are probably a gardener, but did you ever think where or why you got interested?
If I ever have time, I am going to write a book for my children called "Mother's Garden." I have been wanting to do this because they call me, usually long distance, to ask something like, "What are the dots on my magnolia and what should I do?" (Answer: Magnolia scale. Spray with dormant oil.)
When children are just discovering the world and how it works, each and every mother's garden (and father's garden too) is a source of wonder and sharing. The trick is to share something that grows easily and well to become a memory cherished forever.
For the smallest child, start with sure things that sprout fast. Consider a flower pot or clear plastic cake container planted with rye grass seeds (not bluegrass or fescue), which will sprout in five or six days if the soil is warm. They can be "mowed" with scissors.
For a real garden experience that can be shared all summer long, consider vegetables and the joy of the harvest. The two old reliable standbys are bush beans and tomatoes. If you'd rather plant flowers, nothing can beat dwarf marigolds for fast sprouting, fast flowering and no deadheading.
Though we buy flower and vegetable seedlings these days, I think watching the seeds sprout is an important part of gardening in childhood.
Start with beans. These can be sowed outdoors when all chance of frost is gone, but for children it's more fun as well as more reliable to start some seeds indoors on a sunny windowsill.
For inexpensive planters, use paper milk cartons with the top cut off. If run through the dishwasher, the chlorine will semi-sterilize them.
Plant two beans per container. To hasten germination, soak the seeds overnight. If they don't sprout in a week, plant some more. If too many grow, cut off the weakest ones with scissors. This works for marigolds and sunflowers too.
When the temperature is warm enough, plant the beans outdoors in a prepared vegetable bed. Beans do not like their roots jostled, so carefully cut away the paper container. At the same time, plant a whole row of beans in the ground and two weeks later plant another row for a seasonlong supply.
Tomatoes should be bought as seedlings and planted outdoors a week after the beans. Pick varieties that fruit early and are disease-resistant, and always include at least one cherry tomato such as Sweet 100.
If you have no suitable outdoor spot, a window box or a big planter, regularly fertilized, can produce a nice harvest.
Why garden with children? It teaches many things, like responsibility and patience, and that everything isn't as simple as on TV or the Web. Some things live and some don't, so gardening is a way for children to learn to face calamities with quiet acceptance and move on. Plant some more seeds if chipmunks eat the seedlings.
Best of all, gardening is a lifelong hobby with happy memories of Mom or Dad or grandparents. What is the garden you want your children to remember?