Gardening and parenting: a note to self

[juliet]

Mirrored from Twisting Vines.

If I intervene with horrified shrieking when Leon plays with dirt and hoicks things up now, he is less likely to be positive about the garden later on, at an age when he can learn the difference between ‘weed’ and ‘not-weed’. It is therefore worth sitting on my hands as dirt and plants go everywhere. (The volunteer broccoli raab from the satsuma tree pot may survive; the rocket certainly won’t but there is plenty of rocket.)

Scattering dirt is fun!

A corollary: any potentially vulnerable plants that I really seriously care about are going to need some form of defence. I’m thinking in particular of my carefully-nursed autumn olive seedling, the sole survivor from a handful of seeds I stratified last winter and planted out in the spring, currently overwintering on the windowsill.

It was a lovely afternoon to be out in the garden, though. I planted peas by the fence, and Leon ate moss and dirt and threw soil around by the handful. Happy times.

Comments

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

I'm sure you know, but do watch out for anything that might be poisonous if he's at the putting-things-in-mouth stage! RHS has a useful list of common garden plants that can be poisonous here: http://www.rhs.org.uk/Gardening/Sustainable-gardening/pdfs/c_and_e_harmful

Not to say you have to uproot anything that might be bad for Leon, just put it where he can't get at it (like behind some chicken wire or netting).

[juliet]

Happily I more-or-less exclusively grow edible things :) though will have to keep an eye out for weeds.

I cast an eye over that list and was surprised to see daffodils on it; but it turns out that's just the bulbs, usually when people mistake them for onions.

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

Yeah, most food stuffs should be fine, though there's a few that shouldn't be consumed raw (e.g. rhubarb) or where the stems and leaves shouldn't be eaten (potatoes, tomatoes, anything from the nightshade family basically...)

[adjectivegail]

What I've done is let Alex know where he can dig and scatter to his heart's content and where I'd like gin to keep off please. It works reasonably well, most of the time at least

Scattering dirty really is fun, too!

[juliet]

Yes; as Leon gets a bit bigger I will endeavour to do that too (and yesterday I did extract him from the raised bed when he climbed all the way in, and he didn't try again) so hopefully that'll help!

He is very into scattering right now; specifically, scattering things outside of the container in which they previously were and onto the floor. He did it to the plant pot, when we played with rice in a paddling pool, and in the sandpit at a playgroup yesterday, watching carefully each time. So obviously there's something going on in his head there...

[drdoug.livejournal.com]

Yay for playing with dirt! Directing them to places where it is Ok to excavate (and to dump soil and sand) seemed/seems to work well with ours, and thinking of that as devoting some garden space to growing their joy in gardening helped me get over the large land-take. And despite explaining which are the important and delicate plants, some precious things being destroyed by youthful exuberance goes with the territory.

**FIXME and **TODO have a fave game at the moment called "potions", which is filling the paddling pool with water, mud and weeds, stirring and laughing. Appropriate-sized long-handled tools help, as well as hand tools. **FIXME is doing actual useful weeding as a part of the process (he's done more than I have this year) which is great. But them enjoying it is even better.

[adjectivegail]

Appropriate-sized long-handled tools help
LOL I have a problem with this at the moment. Alex's favourite toy in our back 'garden' (read: north-facing paved over pocket handkerchief) is the broom like this. If his hands slip, he tends to bop himself on the head with it. What sorts of long-handled tools do your kids prefer?

[drdoug.livejournal.com]

They have child's versions of a spade, fork, hoe and rake - so handle about a metre long or so rather than two.

[juliet]

I think I need to allow some excavation-space... maybe will use one bed for something like salad leaves that I'm really not that bothered about if they all get hoicked up, and let L play with that.

I am going to have to do something to protect that autumn olive -- I think it's really the only vulnerable thing that I'm at all bothered about. The other more precious things (i.e. harder to replace, or taking years to grow back) are all things like trees and bushes which are pretty robust. I think I would likely notice if he was digging up the apple tree...