Home & Garden Tips
Make Gardening A Family Affair
By Roosevelt McWilliams County Extension Agent

Today's hectic lifestyles often leave families with little time to spend together. Gardening offers a perfect opportunity for a family to share and learn together while having fun at the same time. Many activities are suitable for family time in the garden.

• Planting a tree to celebrate a birth or other special occasion. A tree's early growth is much like that of a child. It starts small and young, as a seedling, and requires a lot of care and nourishment. Like a young child, a tree goes through growth spurts. Your child can see his or her own growth reflected in the growth of the tree and can appreciate the length of time it takes for a tree to grow to maturity. The love of trees that your child gains now will carry on throughout his or her life.

• Learning the names of interesting plants that are growing in your own garden or landscape. Spending time to learn plant names and what these words mean can be great fun for both you and your children. One of our most beautiful shade trees prized for its brilliant fall color is the red maple. Ever wonder how the southern magnolia, got its name?

• The genus, Magnolia, is given in honor of Pierre Magnol the species name, grandiflora, means large, showy flowers which aptly describes this particular tree. This is also a good time to learn which plants can be potentially poisonous, like poison ivy and poison oak. Teach your children to recognize poison ivy by recognizing the plants three-leaflets.

• Planting a vegetable garden. The rewards of growing and caring for a vegetable garden are as exciting to adults as they are to children, giving both a sense of accomplishment. Sharing the joy and excitement or even the disappointment and failure of a vegetable garden strengthens family ties.

• Making crafts from garden harvests. Projects such as making bird houses from gourds grown in the family vegetable garden or drying and arranging flowers that are grown in the flower garden offer times of sharing for family members.

• Sharing gifts of the garden. Giving gifts of handmade crafts and treasures from the garden is extremely satisfying, and I have never met anyone who was not delighted in receiving such gifts. Even fresh produce, such as tomatoes, squash and green beans, makes terrific gifts for people who do not have a garden. Offering these gifts give children and adults alike a great opportunity to show that they care about others.

The garden provides a fertile ground of opportunities for families to grow together and learn more about each other. It offers many opportunities for children and adults to share ideas, to talk and most importantly, to listen to each other by working together, to communicate the many messages that must be said without words.

Gardening develops self-esteem, a sense of nurturing and the quality of generosity. Start now to involve your child in the planning of your spring garden. There are many books for children to educate and excite them about gardening. Seed catalogs can be a source of fascination and are perfect for craft projects after the plants have been ordered. The garden, is indeed, a wonderful family room.