Making Gardening Fun for Kids
As a master gardener, I work with kids of all ages on projects like tree planting and caring for beds of flowers and vegetables in neighborhood community gardens. Since I don’t have kids of my own, I’ve had to learn by trial and error what gets them excited about gardening and what pushes them into boredom and the dreaded eye-rolling mode. I’ve also learned to carry a box of Band-Aids — in case of earthworm bites. (More about this later.)
People talk a lot these days about how kids just want to sit in front of computers and never go outside. But my experience has been that most kids love the outdoors just like we did back in the prehistoric technology days of CB radios and eight-track tapes. All they need is a little help getting acquainted with what nature has to offer.
Read More»Coping With Hail Damage
- On June 12, 2008
- By Meleah
- In Annuals, Perennials
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I’ve been gardening for many years, so I guess I should count myself lucky that only one hailstorm has ever come my way. To be honest, though, as I look out at my shredded garden, which was pummeled by marble-size hail (not small marbles, the shooters) on May 31, I don’t feel very lucky. And that’s the big reason why I wanted to write about this topic.
In the big picture, having your garden flattened by hail is a small problem when you consider all the bone-crushing things going on in the world right now. But I admit, I could barely speak as I watched chunks of ice fall from the sky and squash my tomatoes and peppers, rip limbs from my shrubs, make mincemeat out of my hostas, and tear all the flowers from my newly blooming bleeding hearts and Virginia Bluebells.
Read More»Butterfly Gardening
I saw my first butterfly of the season the other day. I am but a rookie lepidopterist, so I don’t know what kind it was. All I saw was a streak of black, not nearly enough to be of help when looking it up in my field guide. As it swooped over my brown, sleeping garden, I worried about what in the world it would find to eat in these early days of spring. What was it doing here so soon?
The only thing I’m sure of is that it wasn’t one of our Eastern black swallowtails. It’s wings didn’t have the right yellow spots and blue patches. I say “our” swallowtails because for the last two summers my husband, Mike, and I have tried raising swallowtails on our front porch. We got the idea, or I should say I got the idea and my ever-patient husband went along with it, from a man named Jim.
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