Little Green Space

LITTLE GREEN SPACE

Originally published in the Peak Advertiser on 20 April 2009

Pupils from Matlock Bath Holy Trinity School's Gardening Club

The glorious spring weather over the past couple of weeks has had the whole family out in the garden. After some sessions of serious digging, we have created a bed where the children can grow their own vegetables and flowers. It is just a small area, about three metres long and a metre wide, but space enough for them to grow a few plants independently.

The children have even helped with the preparation of the ground by throwing on handfuls of compost and forking it into the soil, then carefully raking the surface to create a fine texture all ready for sowing seeds into. Great, mucky fun!

Getting kids growing

Most kids love to get their hands dirty, so getting them out into the garden or allotment is not usually too difficult. By providing children with their own little patch, you can instil in them a love of gardening and nature that could remain with them for life. And being able to grow your own is a useful skill that could stand them in very good stead later on.

You don’t need a huge garden to get kids growing. Many vegetables can be grown in containers on the patio, and can be started off in pots on a sunny windowsill.

Salad leaves and baby carrots, such as ‘ Nantes ’, ‘Parmex’ or ‘Paris Market’ are ideal for container gardening. Pea seeds are easy to sow for little fingers, and germinate quickly for almost instant results. And most children like to eat cherry tomatoes, which are ideally suited for growing in patio pots as long as you choose an outdoor variety. Even potatoes can be grown in containers, and are easy to plant and fun to dig up.

If you are able to offer your kids a little more space, the ever popular sweetcorn is a good choice for children’s gardens. It must be one of the sweetest vegetables available, and even more so if picked and cooked immediately, straight from the plot. And how about growing your own pumpkin for Hallowe’en? Sow the seeds now, and you could have enough pumpkins to make pie, as well as carving into lanterns.

Weird and wonderful veg

Another benefit of growing your own vegetables with the children is being able to grow unusual varieties that you just won’t find in the shops. Yellow carrots such as ‘ Yellowstone ’ and yellow tomatoes like ‘Sungold’ taste sweet and appeal to children. Or how about purple climbing beans, or the multi-coloured rainbow stems of Swiss chard ‘Bright Lights’?

When all the hard work is done, you can have a lot of fun on the plot, too. You could make scarecrows by stuffing old clothes with newspaper, or design other types of bird-scarer using ribbons, old CDs and tin foil. Old terracotta pots can be livened up with a bit of paintwork, and plastic pots can be decorated with stickers. For more ideas visit www.thekidsgarden.co.uk

Growing at school

Many schools are now including fruit and vegetable growing as part of the curriculum, and have made space in the school grounds for vegetable gardens, fruit trees or even a greenhouse!

Children at Matlock All Saints Infants School are about to embark on a fantastic vegetable growing project. Staff and parents have spent several weekends clearing out an overgrown shrubbery to make way for new food-growing areas. Volunteers from Transition Matlock have offered to help build raised beds and compost bins. And the school has been fortunate enough to win a greenhouse in a national competition. Complete with its own solar heating system, the new greenhouse should have the kids growing their own produce almost year round.

Amongst other things, Little Green Space has helped out with the project by providing three fruit trees, which were planted in the school garden in March.

We have also planted fruit trees at Matlock Bath Holy Trinity School , where an excellent after-school gardening club provides kids with lots of opportunities to grow vegetables and flowers.

The educational benefits of getting children growing fruit and veg are huge. Children who grow their own know where their food comes from. They can recognise which foods are in season in our local area, and which have to be flown or shipped in from afar, at a cost to the environment. Watching seedlings grow and caring for plants gives children knowledge about the world around them.

And just being outside, instead of stuck in front of the television or computer, is great for kids: all that fresh air and exercise will ensure they sleep well!

We are always hearing of government concerns about childhood obesity and the health of the nation, and encouraging children to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day can be a challenge. But peas popped straight from the pod, or an apple fresh from the tree, will be hard for a child to resist – especially if they have grown or planted it themselves.

And even if you end up with a mountain of carrots that no-one wants to eat, you can always bake a cake!

Carrot cake with orange icing

125g soft light brown sugar

125g butter, softened

125g self-raising flour sifted with 1 teaspoon baking powder

2 eggs, beaten

2 medium carrots, peeled and grated

For the icing:

75g icing sugar

1 tablespoons orange juice

Cream together the butter and sugar, then add the flour and beaten eggs, a little at a time, mixing well until all the ingredients are smoothly combined. Or put all these ingredients together in a food processor and blend until smooth. Mix in the grated carrots.

Put the mixture into a greased 20cm cake tin and bake at 170 ˚C/Gas Mark 3 for about 30 minutes, until golden brown and well-risen. Leave to cool.

For the icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl and gradually add the orange juice to make a smooth, slightly runny icing. Drizzle all over the cooled cake, allow to set, then serve.

Penny at Little Green Space