GARDENING TEACHES KIDS RESPECT FOR NATURE

Now that summer vacation time is here, many children are wondering what to do with themselves this long school holiday. Why not teach them the wonder and pleasure of growing a simple garden?

"What is best for the environment?" is a question often asked these days. One important thing best for the environment is teaching our children respect and concern for nature and its wonders.

One way to start the training is to have children actually participate in garden activities. It is important to give children the benefit of early success by allowing them an easily managed space. A few flowers or one or two tomato plants of their very own will allow them to discover the joy of watching their own plantings grown, mature and fruit.

Our former neighbors had four small children, and as the mother selected flowers for the yard, each of the children was given the opportunity to select a few flowers for his or her own flower bed. These they planted in a special area and each had the care and pleasure of a special flower bed, which included watering, weeding and cutting the flowers for their own bouquets. It worked out well because each had pride in showing "my own flowers."

As a child do you recall snapping the jaws of snapdragons, seeing the faces in the pansies or crushing the leaves of mint in your hand for the wonderful fragrance? These are all rewarding experiences to the senses.

In school and through children's programs on television, our youngsters are already aware of nature and what we can do for ecology. They are exposed to the beauties of our land, but first hand experience is still the greatest teacher.

Do not discourage children if there is no available outdoor spot. Vegetables and flowers can be successfully grown in pots and containers. A container garden on a balcony, patio or deck can produce both flowers and vegetables and it often makes the task of weeding easier. Remember, too, this is a learning experience and right here is where it is important to teach the difference between a weed and a flower or vegetable.

It is important to teach them that the weeds are "little bullies" and want to take too much room and too much food away from the good plants and must be removed.

The garden is an ideal place to talk about how plants grow, how they need sunshine, light, air, food and water. It is a good time to discuss the difference in the type of flowers some are annuals, which means that their life cycle ends at the end of the growing season and some are perennial, plants that come back year after year without replanting.

Children need to know that a seedling is a young plant started from seeds. This is also a learning experience. It is exciting to watch the plant break the surface of the soil and start to grow. In fact, during the damp weather we have had recently, once could look at the garden in the morning and nothing was visible, but by afternoon, the ground had small breaks and a planted seed was emerging. Small children will find large seeds, such as corn, beans and sunflowers easy to handle and plant.

Gardening also gives an opportunity to teach about recyling, which is an important part in our future. Grass clippings and shredded leaves can be put into a composting bin to be recycled into composting soil that is most nutritious for plants.

Children love to water particularly at full force of the hose. One must each that rain usually falls a little more gently and they should imitate the rain. Most children like to use their own sprinkling can, as this often lays a fine spray on the plant.

Easy to grow plants that can be planted at this time of the year are beans, corn, cucumbers and squash. If there is room for viney plants, maybe a giant jack o'lantern or a mini pumpkin will make the gardening experience last longer.

Flowers that can still be started from seed include alyssum, a low growing white or lavender annual; lunaria, the money plant that forms seed pods that can be rubbed and polished to resemble a silvery quarter-sized corn; four o'clocks, an easy to grown colorful flower that do not open until mid to late afternoon; zinnias, which have a short germination period and are available in many varieites, and marigolds, especially the Janie series.

The value of a garden has been proved with children in such cities as Dayton, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., where older children gardening progams have paid dividends in developing a sense of community respect for property.

Instilling love, respect and understanding of how nature works and how it affects us all is especially important for the future of our children and the world at large. This can all begin in a child's garden.