Get Active in the Garden

Below is an article from Today FM on Diarmuid Gavin’s Top Tips for Gardening with Kids in Self-
Isolation. You can read the full article or listen back to the episode here:
https://www.todayfm.com/podcasts/weekend-breakfast-with-alison-curtis/kids-apartments-
diarmuid-gavins-top-tips-gardening-self-isolation

Diarmuid has also started 'Gardening Conversations' on his Instagram Live every weekday at 7pm
and weekends at 11am.

1. Give Them Their Own Garden Beds:

Whether you use raised beds, containers or ground

plots, be sure to give each child his or her own
separate plot. Keep it small, very small for young kids.
Put their plots right in the middle of the action, with
the best soil and light. Set them up for success.

2. Grow An Avocado:

Grow an avocado from the Stone by suspending it over water for

a few weeks and watch the roots and shoots develop.

3. Reuse the Sandbox:

If your children have grown past their sandbox years, consider converting the old
sandbox to a garden bed. This gives the child continued ‘ownership’ of a familiar space
and encourages a sense of responsibility to the gardening project. Of course, a
productive garden bed needs to be in good sunlight and soil should be free of tree roots.
It may be necessary to relocate the sandbox if growing conditions are less than ideal.
 4. Show Off Their Work:

Share the gardening projects of your children with friends over Zoom, FaceTime, or
Instagram and be sure to point out their achievements. Take a photo of their harvest
and send it to the grandparents. The attention given to their work is the best motivator
for children to stay involved with a project.

5. Sunflowers:

A must for a child’s garden, plant just one or two, since

they take a lot of room. Sunflowers will sprout in one week,
become a small seedling in two weeks, and should be 2′ tall
in a month. In eight weeks, the buds will flower revealing
hundreds of seed kernels. Be sure to grow ‘confectionery’
sunflowers, the type grown for food. They will dry naturally
in the late summer sun; the seeds, rich in protein and iron,
can be roasted for snacks. Save a few for next summers’
planting.

6. Potatoes:

From mid-March until mid-May is planting time. Buy some seed potatoes online.....
they're little seeds with stalks coming out of them. Just put them in the ground and as
they begin to grow you put soil up around the stem. Make sure they don’t dry out, give
them loads of water and it’s remarkable, how easy they are. Then in the summer you
have wonderful new baby potatoes.

But also get children growing things like sunflowers, get an old yogurt carton and stick
in a few drainage holes with a knife or scissors and pop some compost in. Press the seed
down and water it. Watch it germinate. If you want something to grow really fast, and
see the wonderment on a child’s face, cress or mustard seed can grow really easily on
damp kitchen towelling. So, just dampen a piece of kitchen towel and sprinkles some
seeds on them. Within 24 to 48 hours they’ll be fully grown.

Below are some additional useful articles for those looking to take up gardening during the
lockdown.

https://www.nature-and-garden.com/gardening/coronavirus-gardening.html

https://blog.horkans.ie/gardening-during-covid-19/