Gardening With Children At Home: The Best Tips

Children have great fun gardening. But what should you do if you don't have a garden or if the weather doesn't allow you to go outside? We give valuable tips.

Even if you do not have a garden at your disposal, you do not need to be discouraged. There are great ways Getting children excited about gardening - and that simply in the apartment on the windowsill etc. We have put together the best methods for you below.

Regrowing for children

If you don't have a garden or balcony, you can still start fascinating cultivation projects. Do you already know the new trend from the USA, which is "Regrowing" is called? It is a good example of how you can always think a little further about sustainability. Whole, new plants can grow from lettuce stalks, dried-up ginger leftovers and beet cuttings - and that often doesn't take more than a little bit of earth, light, water and patience. Experiencing this little natural wonder is guaranteed to be fun not only for children. Incidentally, the regrowth of vegetables shows in an impressive way how we can live in a resource-saving way, avoid waste and save costs.

The basic principle of regrowing is based on the vegetative regeneration ability of a certain tissue part of the respective plant. This part is first placed in a water bath until you can see delicate growth and root formation. Now the plant gets a pot with fresh soil and if the conditions are right, it can be harvested after a few weeks. The most certain successes come with romaine lettuce, spring onions and leeks, but with a little practice and patience you can also grow exotic plants such as pineapple or avocado. You can find detailed instructions on regrowing in the book "Regrow your veggies“By our Plantura co-founders Melissa Raupach and Felix Lill.

Favorite plants on the windowsill for children

In addition to the fascinating regrowing plants, various herbs, seedlings and ornamental plants can also give the little ones a lot of joy.

• Herbs for children: They are part of the basic equipment of all young gardeners. The big advantage with the standard herbs chives, parsley and basil in the pot is that you can easily bring them from the garden or balcony into a warm house when winter comes.
• Seedlings: Most of us know the cress head, where cress seeds are made from a substrate filled with substrate old tights in the shape of a head germinate and it looks as if the Kressemann "hair" grow. But not only cress can be grown very quickly and spontaneously (and therefore child-friendly) with a little help from adults, many other seeds are also suitable for germination. Beetroot sprouts, radish or alfalfa are a nutritious and tasty addition to the menu. When cultivating the seedlings, you should pay close attention to adequate ventilation so that mold does not stand a chance.

• Oddities for children: Like many adults, children succumb to the fascination of the exotic and the special. The brood leaf (Bryophyllum sp.) combines both: The easy-care thick leaf plant has "babies" and is a medicinal plant against everything. Even “freckles” can be found as an indication. The African plant reproduces vegetatively through many small "Kindel", which grow on the leaf edges, then fall off and colonize the surrounding potted landscape. A plant that, so to speak, takes over the regrowing all by itself. Goethe supposedly loved this plant as much as his Teltower turnips. A permeable substrate, lots of sun, little water and a slightly cooler winter - that's all you should consider when caring for the breeding leaf. This makes the exotic plant an ideal houseplant for children.

Children process the harvest further

It fills children with joy and pride to process their own harvest into jam, flower or herb salt at home. You can see straight away that regular and constant care of the plants pays off. Being able to eat your own harvest is certainly a motivator for the coming season. But even if you don't have your own garden: some products can be easily combined with the Produce little ones from wild collections, such as the vitamin-rich and tasty "Dirndl honey" (cornel cherry, Cornus mas), the delicately scented elderflower syrup (Sambucus nigra) or the intensely green wild garlic salt (Allium ursinum). The self-processed products can be nicely packaged and then given away as small presents by the little ones. Below is a favorite recipe that is easy too.

Wild garlic salt: When the tender wild garlic leaves poke through the dry leaves in March, it's time to take the little ones for a walk in the forest and start collecting. The lush green color can be preserved in an impressive way for a few months if the fresh herb is ground to a fine powder with the salt. Let the salt dry for a few days, turning it several times, before filling. It is especially loved on bread and butter by young and old. Alternatively, the herbs from the windowsill and wild herbs like Chickweed, Common vine, yarrow, nettle, dead nettle, field horsetail and so on into the mixture.

Bringing children closer to old gardening customs

Children are open to everything magical. Let them know that the garden and flora are magical and full of wonders by teaching you ancient customs and stories related to the garden. Children love stories - and there are so many beautiful classics that entwine around mysterious gardens and can bring the garden into the house even on a cold winter's day. For example, tell the story “Little Ida's Flowers”, in which the main character secretly observes how the flowers sway at night while dancing. Or read Oscar Wilde's fairy tale “The Selfish Giant”, in which a giant is allowed to learn that he is Eternal winter only leaves his garden when he welcomes the exiled children back into it called.

Teach your offspring old gardening customs. Knowing about it can inspire your own creative interpretations. In Sweden, for example, there is the beautiful custom of the dream bouquet: at the summer solstice you have to climb over nine pasture fences to pick nine different flowers. This little bouquet under the pillow makes the picker dream of her future husband that night. Or do you know the many games that you can play with the flower heads of the plantain (Plantago sp.) can play? Or do you know that the Lindworm under the linden tree (Tilia sp.) lives?

Another idea is to look up the magic effects of old witch herbs and home remedies together. The real houseleek, for example, was used to plant peat-covered roofs to protect against lightning strikes, and also as a good luck charm for the yard.

Crafting and painting with plants

You can paint directly on paper with flowers and parts of plants. In such a “Florell”, surprising effects can sometimes be found, for example with the yellow flowers of the St. John's wort (Hypericum sp.) achieve a red color on the paper. You don't need your own garden for this: Lots of coloring wild plants - such as goldenrod (Solidago sp. - yellow) or the berries of the elderberry bush (Sambucus nigra - dark purple) can be collected during walks in the (city) nature. Other plants include the common horn clover (Lotus corniculatus - yellow), bluebells (Campanula sp. - blue) or plain grass (green). Many common and easy-to-cultivate garden plants are also good for coloring eggs or textiles. Here are the Marigold (Tagetes - orange) and the hibiscus (Hibiscus syriacus - lilac) as examples.

Creative garden design with children

If a garden or balcony is available, but spring is still a long time coming, handicraft projects to beautify the "children's garden" can shorten the waiting time:

Smooth stones can be painted and varnished yourself in order to later serve as a border. The little ones can shape name tags out of clay, make colorful windmills and garlands, wrap supporting branches with colorful scraps of wool, and make tealight holders out of old jam jars. For the bigger young gardeners, it might be interesting to build a seat out of old Euro pallets. Such simple means create identity and help maintain interest in the garden year after year.

Tip: Enthusiastic design can also be easily combined with animal welfare and sharpens children's awareness of ecological relationships. The little ones are enthusiastic when it comes to building an insect hotel and piling up piles of leaves Support hedgehog in autumn (it is essential to layer larger branches under the foliage) or Bird feeders and building nesting boxes for birds.

the best plants for gardening with children we have summarized it for you in a special article.

And more great ones Tips for urban gardening with children You will find here.