GET YOUR CHILDREN GROWING

Ive been gardening now for many years its all i have ever known to do but it only started because of my dad. ever since i could walk i was taken to the allotment to help i probably was more annoying though. i helped fetch bits and pieces from the shed help him sow some seeds. pull up a few weeds and some veg plants to the announce of my dad i no how he felt now my daughter when see was 3 pulled up all my onions and left the weeds.



although she thought see was being helpful it is really annoying. eventually my dad gave me a little corner where i grew a few of my dads left over seeds and then proceeded to dig up most of them again with my toy digger. but i was out side in the fresh air winter or summer and although it my not of seen it at the time i was learning how to grow and garden. my dad was and still is into growing veg for showing so we spent every weekend of the summer at a different show as i got more keen i wanted to have a go at entering a miniature garden in to one of the shows.



the first red card i got was at barrow flower show in Cheshire i still have the card in a box under the stirs. i entered many shows after that i was always over the moon when i won a prize but there was also the added bonus of the prize money which was a great incentive to enter as many classes as possible.



like me my children have always enjoyed being out side and helping around the garden. they have also been round many flower shows a couple of years ago they entered the local garden club show miniature garden, jewellery made from sweets and a flower display they won many prizes like i did and like me the prize money is always a good incentive. we should all try and teach are children some gardening whether it be sowing some seeds and watching them grow or planting some bulbs or just getting them to make a miniature garden for your local flower show. what ever you do make it fun teach them about where their food comes from. may be let them have there own veg plot so they don't grow up believing that vegetables come from the supermarket. let them appreciate nature and the environment around them let them explore the woods or the Meadows to see what they can find. let them get dirty wet and covered in mud it all washes off and unlike some parents beliefs you child wont die from some horrible disease because they played in the soil. just teach them to was there hands before they eat there dinner generally the more you show them the more they want to learn. yes when they get to teen ages they probably will show no interest what so ever but they will always have that appreciation of what is growing around them. when there older and have a place of there own they will start to use the skills you taught them when they where small and then they will pass it on when they have children of there own.