The

• Gro-bags are an ideal way of introducing children to gardening.
  Give them their own gro-bag and a few cherry-tomato plants and watch their interest grow!
  
  
• Growing from an avocado stone.
  Stick three toothpicks in the stone and suspend it over a glass of water so only the bottom point gets wet. Once the root sprouts it can then be planted in soil.
  
  
• Grow and eat in a week
  Fill a glass or plastic bowl with soaked cotton wool or similar padding and sprinkle with cress seeds (or something similar - pre-soaked beans, wheat grain, alfalfa seeds etc.). Tie a plastic bag around the entire bowl until the seeds sprout in a few days. Remove the bag, snip and eat - great in a sandwich.
  
  
• Sweet smell of success
  Kids love rubbing leaves for scent and texture, so don't forget about planting herb seeds. Sage, rosemary, thyme will do nicely. Scented geraniums have a myriad of smells, from chocolate mint to rose and lemon - and are easy to grow from cuttings.
  
  
• Greens are good for you!
  A vegetable garden can be fun. Not only is the experience of planting and watching a thrill, but reaping the harvest and eating and cooking their own produce can create a real feel good factor. That cabbage might not seem so bad after all!
  
  
• Environmental awareness
  Don't hold the kids back. Gardening is a therapeutic lifelong hobby - for all the family - and fosters an appreciation of the world around us. It's something to do together at any age. A healthy and cheap pastime.
  
  
• Remember to stake your Sunflowers and feed regularly.
  
  
• This is an ideal time to buy things like the Venus flytrap and pitcher plant. Put them in a sunnier spot in the house, not direct sunlight though, and watch them do their stuff! It is a good idea to put the pot on a saucer of moss which must be kept moist to keep the air around it humid.
  

Kids In The Garden

This section of the Kids Korner lets all you youngsters tell us how you are getting on in the garden. Email us with any stories, tales, advice or anything of interest and we will do our best to tell the rest of the Gardeners Club how you are getting on.

Hazel And Jacqs sound like they are growing green fingers already,

Hello

My name is Hazel & me and my sister Jacqs help mummy do EVERYTHING in the
garden.

The last thing we did is to plant sweet peas in pots ready to put out in the
garden. We bought a "proper" xmas tree last xmas & when it is nice and warm
we are going to plant our sweet peas in with our xmas tree so it looks just
as pretty in the summer as it did with all the pretty lights at christmas
time.

Please give us lots of ideas of what to do in the garden!

Lots of love

Hazel & Jacqs (& mummy & daddy)