Garden Projects for Kids

Children love to make things as much as they love to see things grow. Accomplish both by filling your long summer days with special garden projects for your kids. Your children's projects will not have the same high quality as your own gardening efforts, but you should never criticize your children's garden. Rather than critique their project, encourage your children to plant more. Continue to challenge their minds and hands; you children will gain confidence and skill.

Bouquet Gardens
Perhaps your kids would prefer a garden project that provide wonderful blossoms all summer long. Offer a small space in your garden or yard to your child. Tell her it's her very own bouquet garden; any flowers that come up are hers to pick whenever she wants. (Do not let a child use garden tools or scissors to cut flowers.) This garden will be perfect for picking bouquets for Grandma, Mom, her teacher, neighbors and all of her friends. Use seeds that germinate quickly so that she will not become discouraged. Zinnias are a great bouquet flower. Purchase several packs of zinnia seeds in different colors and heights and let your young gardener go wild.

You'll also need a package of rubber bands and ribbon of all colors. Use the rubber bands to hold the flowers together while she ties the ribbon around the bouquet as a final touch. If the bouquet will be traveling a distance-to school or across town-you may want to show her how to make a posey.

How to Make a Posey
In the Victorian era, posies were made up of flowers that had special meaning to the one who created the bouquet. Sentimentality as well as fragrance played an important part in which flowers were selected. The bouquet was then wrapped in an embroidered handkerchief that was usually scented with the lady's favorite perfume. Today, the posey remains a clever way for your child to arrange her new flowers.

A posey should be only about double the size of the child's fist. Use flowers with stems no longer than about six or eight inches. Make a small bouquet, tie it with a rubber band and set it aside. Wrap the stems with several layers of white napkins. Place the napkin-wrapped end into a sandwich bag, add a few tablespoons of water-just until the napkins are wet-then secure the top of the bag with another rubber band. Finally, place the bouquet on a paper doily so that the edge of the doily will just peek out from the bottom of the bouquet. Twist the doily around the stems carefully and tie a couple ribbons of variously lengths around the base to hold it all together.

Container Gardening
Container gardening is an ideal way to introduce a child to the joys of gardening. Let your kids get involved by going to yard sales with you and picking out old pots and other containers. Use different seeds in each pot and watch the variety of foliage emerge, or go to the nursery and pick out a flat of flowers. The controlled environment of the container allows you to introduce your child to advanced gardening techniques such as transplanting and dead-heading faded blooms. Containers also offer the opportunity to experiment with novelty gardening techniques.

Novelty Plants
Have you ever wanted to grow plants in two directions? This project will delight even the most jaded child. Plant an upside down tomato in a hanging pot. Break a two-inch hole in the bottom of the pot and plant a cherry tomato or a pear tomato in it so that the foliage is sticking out of the hole in the bottom of the plant and the roots and soil are in the pot. Use sphagnum moss to keep the plant from falling out of the hole. Fill the pot with soil and hang in a sunny location. You can also plant petunias in the pot so that flowers grow from the top and tomatoes will grow from bottom. Because containers dry out quickly, water every day. Also take care not to bump the plant as tomato vines crack easily.

A simpler novelty project involves using boots as pots. Yard sales and your family's closet or garage are good places to find supplies. Visualize a pair of Dad's old work boots, a pair of Grandma's go-go boots, and a pair of little yellow rain boots-all overflowing with a variety of trailing plants. If those plants don't thrive, try another variety. Also pay close attention to how much your child is watering her containers. Too much and the plants will become waterlogged and yellow, too little and plants will turn brown and die.

Stepping Stones
Every garden-whether it's an herb garden, secret garden or a vegetable garden-needs at least one special stepping stone. Stepping stones are easy for a child to make. With a little supervision and a touch of guidance, children can create lasting masterpieces as well as gain confidence in their own abilities.

If made correctly, and taken care of, a stepping stone can last for many years.

Materials and Easy Directions:

•  Form: Make a square wooden form to match the size of your child's hand, or whatever size you require for the project. Or use a round plastic planter saucer. Wooden forms should be screwed together. When the cement has set, take the screws out and gently pry the boards from the cement. With round soft plastic molds, gently push on the bottom of the saucer and the dried stepping stone will pop out.
• Cement: Cement comes in a variety of forms-read labels carefully. Premixed cement with sand and aggregate already added is best. If only making one stepping stone, purchase the smallest bag possible. If using a larger bag, make only as much as will be needed, then secure the bag and store away from moisture. (Some cement requires the addition of small pebbles or gravel-read directions and have all supplies ready before you begin.)
• Hoe: Use a hoe to mix the cement. (It will be sloppy and splash easily.)
• Wheelbarrow: Mix the cement in a wheelbarrow or large pail. (Take care: Mixing the cement is labor-intensive. Wear gloves and old clothing.)
• Shovel: Scoop up shovelfuls of the thoroughly mixed cement and carefully place it into the form. Fill to a thickness of at least two or three inches. (Too thin and the stepping stone will crack when stepped on or dropped.)
• Decorations: Marbles-round or flattened, large or small-dice, plastic letters or numbers and sparkly jewels all work well. (Let your child decorate at will.) Wash hands and equipment immediately.

Once the stepping stone has dried thoroughly, pop it out of the mold and place it in the garden. Make a dozen or so stepping stones, then use them to create a winding path though a small section of the yard. Give your children each a handful of sunflower seeds to plant on either side of the path. (Tell them they are magic seeds, just like in Jack and the Bean Stalk). Think how much fun they'll have walking through a forest of sunflowers they planted themselves.

Stepping stones or any cement garden accessory should be winterized inside. Freezing rain and changing temperatures can cause irreparable cracks.