Gardening with Teddy

Thank you all for the brilliant suggestions. We will get going when Teddy comes round on Friday. I will have to work hard to learn the names of all these new plants we are going to be planting.

I would build a bug hotel. Collect as much wood, brick stones , Pots, straw, paper, and plastic together and give him a free hand. There are lots of ideas on the Children’s Garden’ wedbsite. Also any thing that will hold shallow water. We had 3 separate areas in the garden and it was amazing how much wild life collected around them. If you can get an old camera for him, then photographing the bugs, birds, flowers and veggies is a great hobby. He can create either a digital or paper album which will make a lovely keepsake for his future.

Favourite seeds for my children were Nigella and Honesty. The Nigella seeds heads, they called Cinderella coaches and the honesty, Fairy Purses.

My dream garden is non exsistant I am hoping as he grows Teddy will cultivate it for me. He has a mud garden with diggers and tractors and a moat and ‘volcano’ in a large uncultivated area to practice in ?. With hopes to turn it into my dream garden later.

Thank you we will do

Thank you we will try sunflowers next and find another gardening book, he learned all the names of the wildflowers from a child’s book of wildflowers.

Bless the boy! You can’t start them too young. If you have a large pot, you could grow a few runner or climbing french beans. They grow pretty quickly up a cane wigwam. Cut and come again lettuce can be grown in a pot too and those little round stumpy carrots. If you get some slug stoppa tape to put round the pot, they won’t get eaten. I also go along with Chewie’s suggestion of poached egg plant, but they need a firm hand as they self seed like mad.

Sorry DoraMarr - you beat me to it on the edibles

Perhaps plant something that he can eventually eat, like one or two pea plants?

I bet he would love planting the shrivelled-up pea seeds, seeing the first shoot appear and grow, then flowers, followed by tiny pods, and eventually, with a bit of luck, he will be able to eat fresh peas straight from the pods. Mine loved doing that,

How about something edible? I grew chives and tomatoes last spring and summer, and my then 18 month old grandaughter liked helping me cut the chives for her scrambled egg and picked her own tomatoes. Later I grew 4 pea plants in flowerpots and we ate all the peas raw- she was very interested in popping the pods. If you grew slug- deterring plants amongst them you might be lucky. I have a 5th floor balcony so slugs are not a problem.

This is one of the varieties.

My young GD sowed some Poached Egg plant seeds and was very pleased with them. They come up very quickly and flower for weeks and weeks and thrive in even the poorest soil. A packet of seeds costs about £1.00.

Virginia stocks are good ones for children to grow. They are easy to sow and they come up very quickly.

How lovely to 'plant the seed' of a love of gardening in the young. My garden is a slug restaurant, I'm afraid.

Has he got time to do something to my garden please?

Perhaps go for flowers slugs turn their noses up at. Begonias come to mind. You could get some little plug plants along now and he could plant them into larger pots. Then into his little garden when frost no longer likely. Seem to remember Buzy Lizzie is another one slugs leave alone.

Such a lovely picture! He might enjoy a couple of sunflowers in large pots - especially if they could go up a fence or wall for support. In the rockery you could try herbs such as camomile. Also aubrietia is a good rockery staple. How about you and he go to the library or a book shop to find a book that helps? Such a knowledgeable young would enjoy doing some research! Have fun, you are blessed.