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Gardening With Kids

3/31/2018

April and Easter have arrived. This is it then – the start of the gardening year for those souls who stay indoors all winter and stick their nose out over the Easter weekend to sniff the air. I could probably suggest a few good April Fools joke here but, well, I have no time for April Fools jokes – its gardening time!

Easter is often viewed as the “official start” of the gardening season, but even for those of us who putter about in the garden whenever we can there is something cathartic about the Easter weekend. It is a turning point. A marker in the year. The beginning of new opportunities and a time for optimism. So, what should you do? Well, it’s good to mow the grass – not on Easter Sunday when a bit of peace and quiet would be preferable to a whining engine. But on Monday, give the lawn a gentle haircut.

Now, with that bit of ‘housekeeping’ done it is really time to look at the vegetable garden. As a boy I played outside all the time. There were no computer games or mobile phones. I had a cap gun and ran around pretending I was in Starsky and Hutch. I climbed trees, played tag with friends, or just went on quiet hikes in the fields full of spring blooms. When I wasn’t playing outside with my pals you could find me in the garden, I would be working in it with my grandparents. I loved being in the garden with them and would have gladly helped out even if I didn’t earn a bit of pocket money by doing so.
I was lucky, I had a nice sized garden, a big yard to play in, and grownups who absolutely understood the importance of getting kids into the garden. Every Easter we would gather with my grandparents for the traditional Easter egg hunt, and every year my grandmother and I would sneak off to the garden, she would take me on a tour, showing me the new season’s garden plans. It was a delightful time, great memories, it was our special time together. I look back now on those wonderful Easter memories and I am extremely thankful that I was raised by people who loved gardens and that because of their love for me and for gardening, they took the time to be sure their knowledge was passed on.

       Easter is all about new beginnings, so why not use this holiday to start your kids on gardening? Get into the garden with the kids and start to build some wonderful Easter gardening memories with them. Invest that small amount of time with them, share your love of growing things and playing in the dirt. Trust me, you will never come to the end of your days wishing you had spent less time with your children and grandchildren. Besides, it’s an amazing way to teach them about plants and nature, as well as to develop in them, the virtues of patience and nurturing.
     I believe that all children can (and should) have an opportunity to spend a little quality time in a garden. It can give them a marvelous new hobby that will encourage exercise and healthy living, and maybe even a life-long love of gardening.
     So, have a look at these ideas, and think about getting your little sprouts out in the garden this Easter! There are lots of easy plants to start them on, and they will be so excited as they watch their own plants grow and develop.
     You can create a simple seed tray and let children sow their own plants. This is a perfect time to sow summer vegetables and flowers. Try pansies and calendula, or even tomatoes and green beans. Just grow them on the windowsill and keep the compost moist but not soaking. This is so easy!
     You can sow seeds in all sorts of containers too. Excite them by getting them to find their own unique planters. Try egg cartons, old mugs, broken toys, tin cans or anything that can hold a bit of soil for a start. You might even pop in to the local thrift store and look for random treasures to recycle as planters. Let their imaginations go to work!
     Perhaps give them their own special corner of the garden. Keep it small and manageable and get them to plant and water it. The sense of ownership and responsibility will make them feel so grown up. They will be proud of their patch as it starts to grow. They will even be more willing to eat vegetables that they have grown themselves! A trip to the garden center will give you plenty of inspiration.

     As for me, I love to get my Grandson out planting tomatoes, America’s favorite garden vegetable. Tomatoes are the perfect choice for spring gardening with young children. They are sturdy and not too particular about the quality of soil. Even if you don't have a big yard, you can grow tomatoes in a window box. Grow the tomato plants from seeds in small pots indoors and then transfer them outside once they've sprouted, or you can skip the seeds altogether. Just buy young tomato plants that are already sprouted and then plant them outdoors right away. I suggest cherry tomatoes for children, they are ‘snack sized’ and ready to harvest much sooner than their larger cousins.
     Choose a sunny location and dig a hole in the ground (or in a planter or large pot) that is deep enough for all the roots and about 12 inches wide. Help your child carefully take the plant from its original container and transfer it into the hole. Pack soil in the hole and around the plant. Check the moisture level every day and water the plants as necessary. If you have any questions about how much water or sunlight your tomato plants need, visit your local gardening center and ask the staff - another fun activity for kids.
     You don't want the plants to get too heavy and fall over. Therefore, when they reach about 10 inches high, you need to provide them with a little support. Stick a wooden stake into the soil right next to the plant and tie it with a string or buy wire tomato cages at the gardening center to provide the support your tomato plants need.

Your kids will love checking the plants every day to see their fruits turning from green to red. When the tomatoes are red and ripe, your children can gently twist them to pick them from the plant.
From seeds to harvest, talk to you kids about the growth process and all it takes to nurture the tomato plants and help them thrive. Gardening is a fun experience for young kids and the whole family. Happy Easter and...

Happy Gardening!!

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Daffodils For March

3/17/2018

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Last week I was fortunate enough to meet some really nice folks. I was asked to speak at a meeting of the Spring Lake Garden Club in San Marcos – what a wonderful time and wonderful people. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting current club president, Mary Hinson, and the rest of the group that had gathered. Speaking to groups of other gardeners is one of my most favorite pastimes and meeting this San Marcos group came with an added bonus – many of them are regular readers of my local newspaper column. How great is that! It is always nice to hear from people that they like what you are writing. Hi everyone, thanks for having me, I had a great time and I hope we can do it again soon!

Being fellow gardeners, and regular readers of my ‘Growth In Gardening’ column, the questions about what the next several article topics would be was bound to come up. It did, and as I was talking about the topics I had in mind, I was reminded that I had not yet had an article on the March birth flower. Oops, I thought, I almost dropped the ball there. So, thanks to the Spring Lake Garden Club for both a wonderful time and for the gentle reminder, now on with the March birth flower.

Daffodils are the March birth flower, and I think it is the perfect choice for March. With the arrival of March comes spring, a time that all gardeners adore. The Daffodil, with its cheerful splash of yellow color signals the end of winter cold and the return of warmer days. That is just one reason I think that they make the perfect March birth flower, along with the Jonquil.
In most parts of the country, like right here in San Marcos, that are blessed with a moderate climate, daffodils are among the first flowers to bust into bloom every spring, making them a terrific symbol of freshness, renewal, and rebirth. They are one of spring’s most recognizable flowers, known for their bright yellow and white petals.

Gardeners tend to use the names “daffodil” and “jonquil” interchangeably. Technically, however, “daffodil” refers to large-flowered kinds with flat, strap-like leaves, while “Jonquil” denotes N. jonquilla and its hybrids; they feature smaller, fragrant, clustered blooms and cylindrical leaves with pointed tips, reminiscent of quills. If you stick to calling them all “narcissus,” you can’t go wrong.
All have the same basic flower structure. Each bloom has six outer petal-like segments that surround, and are held at right angles to, a central corona (also called the trumpet or cup, depending on its length). Daffodils range in size from 5-inch blooms on 2-foot stems to half-inch flowers on 2-inch stems and have a sweet fragrance.

Popular around Easter, the birth flower for March has its origins in the Mediterranean, including the Iberian Peninsula, North Africa and the Middle East, where it was grown by the ancient Greeks and Romans. The earliest record that included mention of daffodils dates back to just around 200 BC. Today, the daffodil is the most widely cultivated in Holland and Great Britain and there are over 13,000 hybrids of daffodils that range from yellow and white, to orange and pink – single petal and double petal structures, too. All are absolutely beautiful, welcome harbingers of spring.
In the language of flowers, daffodils symbolize friendship, chivalry, respect, modesty, rebirth and faithfulness. Apparently, the daffodil was originally called “affodell,” a variant of asphodel. No one really knows why the letter “d” was added to the front of the name, but from at least the 1500s the flowers have been playfully known in literature as “Daffadown Dilly” or “daffadowndilly.”
Although daffodils were a favorite of the ancient Greeks and Romans, by around 1600 they had fallen out of favor and essentially been forgotten. But that changed in 1629 when a group of English gardeners championed the daffodil and it regained its popularity among plant and flower lovers.

The most common color of daffodil is yellow, but as I mentioned, you can also find flower varieties accented with white, orange, pink or even lime green. During Victorian times when it was taboo for someone to put their romantic feelings into actual words, daffodils symbolized happiness and friendship.

Daffodils were first brought to Britain, and from there to the rest of the world, by the Romans who thought that the sap from daffodils had varied and mystical healing powers. Actually, the sap contains crystals that can irritate the skin. Some Roman soldiers even carried bouquets of poisonous daffodils with them into battle, to help them die more quickly if they suffered the misfortune of being mortally wounded.

The Latin name for daffodil, Narcissus, references the Greek mythological character who loved himself too much. His arrogance ultimately led to his death. A nymph called Echo was in love with him, but Narcissus broke off the relationship. Heartbroken poor Echo hid in a cave and there she soon died. Later Narcissus, who was very handsome and quite taken with himself, saw his face in a pool of water, and as he leaned over to stare at his own reflection more closely, fell in and drowned somehow becoming the flower in the process. For this reason, daffodils can also be known as symbols of vanity.

There are different cultures around the world in which the March birth flower holds deep meanings. In China, daffodils symbolize good luck and prosperity because they bloom around the time of the Chinese New Year. In medieval times, the Arabs were known to use the juice of the wild daffodil as a cure for baldness. The daffodil is also the national flower of Wales and represents faithfulness due to its ability to rebloom year after year at the same time. In Wales it is worn on St. David’s Day, celebrated every year on March 1. Another, somewhat less known meaning of daffodils was noted to be “you are an angel.” And the American Cancer Society uses the daffodil to represent hope for a cure.

A Greek scholar named Theophrastus first wrote about daffodils around 300 BC in his Enquiry into Plants, which became an important influence on medieval science. It is his writings that made their way to Britten, along with the daffodil itself, that ensured the beautiful spring flower would come to be known and loved all over the world. Because the daffodil is one of the first flowers of spring, it is also symbolic of hope. If your birthday falls in March, hopefully someone will remember you and send a happy bouquet of bright spring daffodils your way.

If you want more information regarding the Spring Lake Garden Club in San Marcos point your favorite browser to their website and get to know them.

Happy Gardening!!

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Preparing Your Garden For Planting

3/3/2018

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It is that time again! Time, (at least in my Central Texas Garden,) to get out and get planting! I love this time of the year. It is the time when gardeners everywhere start to break out our tools, tend to soil, and grow seedlings indoors to prepare for spring planting. There’s a lot to do, and it can be easy to forget all the tasks that need to be completed to reap a successful harvest.

One thing that happens to me every year at this time, is that my email will blow up with emails from folks desperate to know how to prep their gardens, or what to do before they plant. In an attempt to head off the landslide of emails I know are coming I wanted to put together a guide that is here to help. If you’re new to gardening – or if you could simply use a refresher – follow these steps to get your garden ready for planting as soon as spring arrives.

Now I know that this information may come a bit late for my central Texas neighbors that are already deep into getting their transplants in the ground, but I tried to time this post so that it benefited the vast majority of my blog subscribers - many of whom still have snow melting from their garden plots!

Select a Site - If Applicable
If you’re starting a new garden, choose a plot of land that maximizes your chances of a successful harvest. Choose a location that is fairly level, near a water source, and protected from intense winds. It should also have adequate drainage and receive at least six hours of direct sunlight every day. Test the soil to learn about its nutrient composition so you can amend it properly (more on that later). In the rest of this post, I’ll assume you’re working with an existing garden.

Conduct Basic Maintenance and Cleanup
About a month before planting, clean up your garden area and tools so everything is ready to go as soon as it’s time to start working the soil. Clear out leaves and fallen branches from your flower beds. If you compost, go ahead and add the leaves to the compost; if you don’t compost, now’s a good time to start. Fix broken gates and fences, and make sure all your tools are clean and in working condition. It’s especially important that tools be clean so you don’t accidentally spread a fungus or insect eggs throughout the garden. Remove any clumps of soil from tools using a hard-bristle brush, hose them down, and dry them off before storing.

Start Seeds Indoors - If You Want

Many plants won’t grow well (or at all) if you simply put seeds directly into your garden’s soil. The solution? Start growing from seed indoors in the weeks leading up to spring, and then transplant the small plants into the garden when they’re ready to thrive. Alternatively, you can purchase starter plants from local farmers or greenhouses right before you’re ready to plant.

To start seeds indoors, begin by choosing a container. Small paper cups with holes punched in the bottom, cups made from newspaper, or folded cardboard all make great options since they can be added to the compost when you transplant the seedlings. Whichever method you choose, make sure the container is around three to four inches deep. It’s also helpful to buy or build a watertight tray to hold all of the containers. This allows the seedlings to soak up water from both the top and the bottom; it also helps ensure you don’t create a mess every time you water. (Do not forget to empty any water that is un-absorbed from the tray after each watering.)

Next, acquire some seed-starting mix. Fill the containers with the mix up to ¼ inch below the top of the containers – the soil should be packed firmly but not compacted. Refer to your seed packet instructions to determine how deep to plant the seeds. In general, it’s a good idea to plant two or three seeds in each container; however, if you’re planting large seeds, plant only one in a container.

Once you’ve planted the seeds, you may choose to apply a light layer of sand or vermiculite. Some sources recommend doing so, while others state that it’s not necessary – your best bet is to experiment to determine whether this a step you want to include or skip. Then, cover the containers loosely with plastic wrap or clear plastic bags; keep the seedlings covered until they start to germinate.

It’s important to make sure the containers are exposed to light; either place them in an area that receives direct sunlight for several hours a day or place them directly under fluorescent lights. Research your specific seeds to determine their light requirements. The location should also be warm – most seeds require daily exposure to temperatures between 65 and 75 degrees (or warmer) in order to germinate. If you’re worried about the seedlings being warm enough, consider setting a heating pad underneath the tray. Continue to expose the containers to light after the seedlings have germinated. As always, remember to water! You may also need to apply compost or organic fertilizer if you’re keeping the seedlings inside for more than three weeks; research the specific plants you’re using to determine whether this step is necessary.

After the seedlings germinate and the first true leaves appear, re-pot any seedlings that have become crowded. Keep them exposed to a consistent supply of light until you’re ready to transplant them into the garden. Again, research your plants’ specific needs to determine the amount of light exposure that will work best.

Start Working the Soil - But Time it Right!

Most folks choose to work the soil before planting spring crops, and it’s important to time this step correctly. Work the earth when it’s too wet (e.g., from melting snow), and you risk compacting the soil, which makes it more difficult for plants to grow. To determine if the soil is dry enough to work it, conduct this soil test from Rodale’s Organic Life:

Pick up about half a cup of earth in your hand. Now squeeze the soil together so that it forms a ball. If the ball of earth can readily be shattered by pressing with your fingers or dropping it from a height of 3 feet or so, it is dry enough to dig. If the ball keeps its shape or breaks only with difficulty into solid sections rather than loose soil, it still contains too much water.

Once the soil is dry enough, you’re ready to break it up. If you planted cover crops, be sure to start working the soil several weeks before planting in order to mix in the cover crops so they have time to decompose in the soil. If you didn’t plant cover crops, start by removing weeds and other dead plant matter; you can choose to compost these or mix them into the soil. Whether you used cover crops or not, be sure to use a broad fork to break up the soil so it’s more hospitable to new plantings.

Amend the Soil
“Amending” the soil is just a fancy way of saying “add whatever you need to in order to create a nutrient-rich environment for plants.” While synthetic fertilizer options abound, your soil and the surrounding ecosystem will be much healthier – and stay that way – if you stick with organic fertilizer options. As an added bonus, organic fertilizers tend to be much cheaper than synthetics.

Conducting a soil test before planting helps you discover which nutrients the soil is lacking. That information can help direct you toward an appropriate fertilizer option(s). The best organic fertilizer options are:

Compost
Because it’s incredibly rich in nutrients, compost is a great way to improve soil’s health in every way, from providing crops with the nutrition they need to improving water drainage. Some sources suggest that gardeners apply one inch of compost to the top of the soil, while others advise incorporating a few inches of compost deeper into the soil. You can make your own compost from kitchen and yard scraps or seek out compost from local farmers.

Grass Clippings
Similar to compost, grass clippings supply a garden with nutrients. They can also be used like a mulch cover to slow weed growth and improve the soil’s ability to store water. Many communities offer free yard waste compost; check with your local municipality to explore your options. You can also collect grass clippings from neighbors; just be sure not to use grass from lawns that have been treated with herbicides. Mix a half-inch of clippings into the soil or add one to two inches of clippings on the surface.

Mulch Mulch can be made from a variety of organic matter, including shredded leaves, hay, and grass clippings. Applying one inch (or more) of mulch on top of the soil provides a steady stream of nutrients as the mulch decomposes. Many gardeners choose to use mulch in conjunction with compost to create exceptionally healthy soil.

Create a Planting Calendar
Regardless of whether you start seedlings indoors or purchase small plants to transplant into your garden, it’s important to plant them at the right time. Cool-season crops – which include broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, and onions – can be planted early in the season. Warm-season crops – which include eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes – should be planted only after there’s no risk of frost (typically toward the end of May).

When you transplant crops, it’s important to “harden off” any seedlings that you started indoors before planting them in the garden. Do this by setting them outside in the shade for an hour or two for the first couple of days, and then gradually increasing their time outside over the course of a week. That way, when it comes time to transplant them in the garden, they should be hardy enough to survive the outdoors.

No matter what you plant, remember to rotate your crops’ placement to avoid planting the same items in the same place each year. A failure to rotate crops can result in a higher incidence of pests and diseases and can deplete the soil over time. It can help to create a written record of what you’ve planted and where so you can compare your garden’s successes and challenges over time.

It may seem like a lot, but investing some time in late-winter garden prep helps ensure your garden can provide a healthy home for your crops come spring. The payoff is worth it – both your wallet and your health will benefit from growing organic produce at home.

Happy Gardening!!

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Preparing Your Garden For Planting

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