Spring Fun in the Garden: Dance to the Plants!

The good weather and long-weekend provided the perfect opportunity to get green fingered with the children. Charlotte delighted in writing labels to accompany our freshly planted tomato plants and hiding peas in the soil to the chant of, ‘Hail the pea-pods!’.

With a bit of luck we’ll be enjoying fresh tomatoes, strawberries and peas throughout the summer. Charlotte’s certainly taking the job of singing to the plants very seriously!

Our herbs are also growing in abundance; with parsley, mint, lemon balm, thyme, sage and lavender all growing well with the warm (and wet) conditions. I’ve just planted fresh rocket salad and silver beet, which provided a bountiful harvest last summer.

Dan took the girls out for most of the ‘avo on Monday and it was so good for my mental health to potter in the garden with no noise or interruption. Not that I mind the sound of the children’s laughter and happy play; but there’s also a constant undercurrent of, ‘What’s going to happen next? Who’s fallen over now? What was that scream? Was that the cat! “Mummy! I can’t get round on my bike, the hose pipe is in the way!”; “Mummy! Where’s my bike helmet?”; “Mummy! Simba’s caught a rat!”…

And when it comes to watering the garden I am never short of help; but careful management and lessons in sharing and turn-taking come into play with the hose-pipe!

On a continued helpful note: I found this wonderful website for gardening in New Zealand, with some great information for children:
Best Gardening

And also these inspirationally written pages from the Garden Helper:
Gardening with Children