Gardening is a perfect way of teaching children about plants and nature, suggests Jane Powers
Some people don't like onions. Some people don't like radishes and other "hot" flavours. Some people don't even like salads. I love them all. I think I have my mother to thank for that, because she helped me to grow scallions, radishes and lettuces when I was a little girl. Obviously, if a child has nurtured a food plant from seed to edible stage, she'll be keen on seeing what it tastes like. (Induct them young and they may well be gardeners for life.)
Kids are sponges, ready to soak up new ideas, especially if there is some "reward" attached. When you introduce them to the idea of growing things, kindle their enthusiasm by making sure that they can eat, smell or otherwise experience the fruits of their labours. Or help them to grow plants with plenty of wow-factor, such as sky-high sunflowers or fast-travelling nasturtiums.
Gardening is a perfect way of teaching them about nature, as well as encouraging qualities such as vigilance and caring - plus, they get to play in the muck, which is quite a bit of fun.
It's important to ensure that a child's first forays into gardening are successful - so quick-maturing and easily-cultivated plants are essential. Besides sunflowers and nasturtiums, other easy annual flowers to grow from seed include pot marigold (Calendula), amaranthus (A. caudatus is known as love-lies-bleeding because of its deep-red tassels), cornflower, annual mallow (Lavatera trimestris), love-in-a-mist (Nigella) and annual poppies. Don't forget the silken-petalled California poppy, whose Latin name Eschscholzia, offers nerdy type entertainment to older kids, as it contains six consonants in a row (including a double "sch").
Night-scented stock (Matthiola bicornis) and Virginia stock (Malcomia maritima) are both easy-to-grow annuals, and are traditionally sown together. The first is highly perfumed, but its flowers remain closed until the evening, and the second - which looks broadly similar - is scentless, but its flowers are open while the night bloomer's are shut. Noting the differences between the two will help hone a child's powers of observation. And if you plant the two stocks under a window, or bring a pot onto the windowsill, summer bedtimes will be filled with fragrance.
Annual twiners and climbers are also good plants for kids, as they grow at a satisfyingly rapid pace. Morning glories (Ipomoea purpurea) have richly-coloured trumpets of purple, blue and maroon; canary creeper (Tropaeolum peregrinum) has bright yellow, winged flowers with red-stippled throats; and sweet peas, with their rainbow palette of colours and heady perfume, are everybody's favourites. Sweet peas need more care than some annuals - requiring a fertile soil and copious watering - but the abundance of perfumed blooms (which must be picked regularly to ensure continual flowering) are a fine inducement to minister to their needs. Just make sure you get a highly scented kind when you are buying the seed: check the description on the packet.
The pods that follow on from sweet pea flowers are poisonous - but let's not ban them from the garden because of that. After all, most of us have grown up with gardens full of potentially lethal plants, and we've managed to survive. Plants such as sweet pea provide an opportunity to demonstrate that certain plants may resemble other species that are edible, and may even be related to them, but are not safe to eat. Interestingly, the Royal Horticultural Society says that most serious cases of poisoning by plants occur not in children, but in adults who have mistaken a toxic plant for an edible one, or overdosed on a self-administered "herbal remedy".
The only plant that I would definitely avoid in a garden with very young children is the rather gorgeous, shiny-leaved castor oil plant (Ricinus communis), often used as an architectural plant in bedding schemes. The seeds are used to manufacture the deadly poison, ricin. It should not to be confused with the false castor oil plant (Fatsia japonica), which is grown as a house plant or in shady courtyards. As an extra safety measure, when gardening with children, group the edible plants into a separate area - and teach them that everything else is not for consumption.
Pretty or unusual food crops are more likely to hold the attention of small people than serviceable cabbages and parsnips. Swiss chard, for instance, is available in multicoloured selections with stems of white, yellow, orange or red. Look out for 'Jacob's Coat', 'Bright Lights' and 'Rainbow' on the seed packets. Some beans and peas have purple pods, lettuces can be red, and courgettes may be yellow. Every seed company now has fast-growing mixes of salad leaves, where different taste, colours and textures can be compared. Runner beans - available with white and pink flowers, as well as the usual scarlet - are a sure winner, and may be grown to cover a bamboo-cane teepee or igloo.
All the plants I've recommended so far will progress from seed to flower or food in one growing season, which is a perfect way of getting a child to understand and enjoy the growing process. Parents, of course, will need to keep a wary eye out, so that pests or other problems don't sabotage the first hopeful experiments. To be sure, slugs, snails, aphids and other plant munchers offer opportunities for examining wildlife, but may need to be spirited away if plants are unduly threatened. The way I see it, if we're going to encourage another generation of gardeners, we may need - for a little while - to make things run a little more smooth than nature intended.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Royal Horticultural Society brochure on poisonous garden plants: www.rhs.org.uk/research/documents/c_and_e_harmful.pdf
Further reading: How does your garden grow by Clare Matthews (Hamlyn, £16.99)