She's here! (and "Children in the Garden")

I just have to share the newest addition to my garden... well, she will be in my garden as soon as possible. Granddaughter Ella arrived 8/21 and we've all been too busy adoring her to do much else. Here's my digital "grandma's brag book": http://www.flickr.com/photos/maggieminder/222169195/in/set-72157594247330741/ , and here's my grandmother blog: http://happybuela.typepad.com/happybuela/ .

Okay, just so this thread can be here legitimately, lol, I do want to know if any of you have hints to share about having children in the garden. I've been checking out websites and all, but wonder what things you may have done to make the garden a special place for children? I hope to have a special part of the garden just for Ella, and let her experience mud squishing between her toes, etc. I want to introduce her all things gardening, like sprouting seeds, looking at bugs, making compost, providing food for the birds/bees/butterflies, etc.

What are your ideas?

Congrats! No kids here yet so I've no solutions on kids in the garden.

Congratulatons to you and your entire family. Ella is precious, and I love her name.

Congratulations. You must be so proud.

My only suggestion would be to plant either a plant with her namesake. Or, better yet, something like a tree, or something, that would be a lasting memory of her birth.

You could point to that tree as she gets older, and say "that tree was planted when you were born. It is the same age as YOU." Ü
-T

you could plant a little garden of plants that are made to be walked on....I've seen them at my fav nursery...and they are tough but soft little plants specifically for bare feet...esp wee soft little baby feet... :) And I love the tree planting idea....just precious....and a beautiful name....I know another Ella who just turned 97... :)

Melanie

diapers as work of art??? Buela, you've got it bad

CONGRATULATIONS to you and all and welcome, dear Ella

Congratulations Mary, she is indeed beautiful!!!!

Woo...woo!! She is finally here!! So happy for you Mary!! Little Ella is a beautiful child. I know you are beside yourself with joy. We will expect lots of pictures at the swap in Oct.
Sheila

Congrats on the new grandbaby! I often say grandchildren are Gods way of thanking you for not killing your kids when they were teenagers! I have a almost two year old and a 4 month old. The 4 month old has flaming red hair! His mom is Hispanic and when he was born and they showed her the baby, she said "that's not my baby, he's really white and has red hair". We have a lot of red heads in our family and my son was standing beside her at the birth and he said "Hey, remember me!" I thought that was just too funny. When each of my own children were little, I bought them their own little trowel, tiny shovel and gloves. I still have their little gardening gloves. They got to plant seeds and watch them sprout and I planted each a tree. My oldest loved planting seeds. I came home from work one day when he was 6 to find him and two neighbor children watering and patting down soil in the middle of the front yard. I asked if he had planted his pepper seeds. He said "No we're growing chickens". I thought I was surely raising a city boy and explained that chickens come from eggs and can't be grown that way. He got all indignant and said "I know that chickens come from eggs! We PLANTED eggs!" It was all I could do not to crack up. I had a dozen eggs in a hole in the front yard!

maggiemoo...Congratulations, granny! What a beautiful name...Ella. I love the idea of planting a tree. I think I'll borrow it for my grandson's first birthday next month!


crowellli.....I absolutely loved your posting about grandchildren,... and planting eggs! Actually made me laugh out loud.

me too, corwelli

lol....love your egg-planting story, crow...too funny... :D

Maggie, I realize Ella is not quite a week old, but here is this, for your files

http://www.plantsforkids.com/index.html

Mazel tov, Maggiemoo! That's wonderful. I'm getting grandchild #2 within a few weeks. There's nothing more perfect. It's better than roses.

I put three raised beds in my back yard, and my 4 yoa granddaughter, Cali, gets to plant whatever she wants in one of them. It's just her garden. (Of course, I'll have packets of seeds and tell her she can plant what she wants from those -- no eggs...) She has her own gardening stuff (small hoe and rake, gloves, hat, etc.) and loves to dig. She was a bit alarmed by the toads right at first, but when I picked one up and wasn't squeamish she decided she loves them.

When I told her she could have the raised bed, she pointed to the others and said I could have one and her mama could have the other. I said, fine, as long as her mama wants to plant leeks and onions. Her mama, of course, said that's exactly what she wanted to plant. Good kid.

Mary, it is so wonderful that Ella is finally here. What a blessing. Hip, hip, hooray! You have an excuse to tend to a gift from God other than plants. :o) She is indeed beautiful.

What a precious little girl! I can just feel your excitement. ;) She is just beautiful. I remember the feeling not so long ago when our little grandbaby girl was born. She is three now and still a joy. Dh and I sort of feel like she is our baby. We have kept her so much.
I bought little gardening tools for her and she has her own little pink garden gloves. One of her favorite things is to look at and place the garden critters around the garden which includes fairies, frogs, turtles, and a gnome. She knows many flowers by name. The rock garden is like her own little garden. She can dig and play in the soil to her hearts content. She loves to water the plants and fill the bird baths. I have planted many plants to attract butterflies because she loves to look at butterflies. She is fascinated by them. She loves to put out the bird seed. I have a place in our yard where I just toss out seeds on the ground so it is easy for her.

Crow I laughed out loud about the chicken eggs! I also laughed at what your daughter-in-law said about her little red headed baby. How funny
Lin



This message was edited Aug 25, 2006 6:08 PM

Here is our little one watering the plants.

Oh, Mary! She is precious! Congratulations! This is one of God's greatest blessings! I now have 6 with two due within the next two weeks. Each one is a miraculous event! Warm fuzzies to all of you!

I am jealous that yours is nearby. I have mine in my home usually once a year, each - occasionally more. I do like the idea of planting a tree, and I will attempt something of the sort for the two coming...

Haleigh (4) and DH and I take walks through the garden, where we visit with the flowers and critters we find. This June, Haleigh (from Tennessee) & I were walking along - she was a little ahead of me - and she came upon a snake sunning itself on a boulder. She wasn't afraid at all! We stood and watched the snake - who watched us too, with her tongue flicking in and out - and we were able to chat about the snake very calmly. It was a good experience, with learning, too. DH lets her help him weed, and carry trimmings, etc...She adores it and him. You do have to watch carefully, though. LOL I am into insects, so she has her bug catcher and critter cage with a magnifying lid. My grandaughter Amanda (from Arizona), who is 8, has a biosphere for insects. They are raising their kids right!! LOL

I am so excited for you!

Mary --- I wondered what you had been up too! She is perfect, so little and cute... Are you ready to spoil her rotten?

Mitch

Maggiemoo, congratulations to you and Mommy and Daddy too, Ella is precious! Some of my most precious moments are in the garden with granddaughter, Sidda, short for Sydnee. Do you have a garden swing or rocker to rock her in the garden while she's too small to "garden." My granddaughter loved to sit in the swing with me and look at things, she especially noticed sounds, like birds, airplanes, cars, dogs and other kids. At about 1 1/2 years old she began to help me water, holding the hose with me. Now she wants to hold the hose herself. I let her "water" by herself a while then I finish. She loves for me to barely turn on the water and let her play with it. I use it for a distraction when she is trying to help me with something and I don't really "need her help." She loves it! Be prpared for her and you to be all wet before she's finished. I think it's important to let them do some things their way as much as possible. Sidda learns by watching me more than by my teaching. She wants to do things just like I do, so I let her do it the best she can. When I'm prunning I let her (at 2 1/2 years) have a kids scissors and trim what ever she wants (as long as it's not some special plant). After all in a week I'll be dead heading those same plants. She likes to help me pot things, which usually means filling some pots with soil till she gets tired. She ALWAYS wants to go out and "help" me in the garden. I know you'll make many happy memories with Ella in the garden.

Oh what a doll! :) Congrats Grandma. What a wonderful gift you all have been given. Your son looks smitten with both his girls.

Maggimoo, I thought about some other things that that I enjoy with my Sidda. Discovering the animals, all lizzards in our yard are named Larry. You can make up stories about the animals. Her latest thing is going out and chasing off the birds that are eating the pears. She notices the different kinds of birds, we have humming birds now. We had a bird build a nest on a shelf of my potting rack that the grandchildren could see up close and personal. She ALWAYS points out the moon to me, in the daytime when she sees it. I usually have not noticed it. The other day we saw a rainbow. In fact the garden is a wonderful place for children to discover the world outside their home. It's a wonderful place for them to realize how great God is through His creation. When my 2 older grandchildren come down for visits I let them take turns cutting a bouquet to bring into the house. It's fun watching what they think are pretty flowers. Sometimes it's flowers that I have overlooked. One likes all the different colors of zinnias while the other wants one of everything that's blooming.

When my sister's grandchildren were small she would put a blanket outside and they would lay on it and look at the sky, the clouds, the birds.

Two of my loves, beside my DH, are my grandchildren and gardening. Put them together and I'm in heaven. I know some of you have other ideas, please share them. The photo below actually goes with an earlier post, but I wanted to share it.

I was working in the garden this morning and thought of some cautions we need to remember when children garden with us. I remembered the day Sidda got a measuring spoon out of my garden tool box and stuck it in her mouth before I could get it away from her. Thankfully, I had washed it, but it scared me that it could happen so quickly. Now when I use something that could be harmful I wash it really well before putting it up. When I use insecticides I ALWAYS close the cap and wash the measuring spoon EACH TIME, even if I'm going to use it 2 minutes later. I have been known to get distracted (a phone call) and forget that it's out. Papaw keeps Sidda in the house when I'm spraying insecticide or anything similar. Those little ones are so inquisitive about everything and they don't realize the danger of garden sprays, fertilizer, liquid seaweed, etc. Oh, I used to keep alcohol and root stimulator in small containers in the tool box, but no more. The slow release fertilizer and perlite looks like something to eat that she has been very interested in so I keep it where she can't get to it. Sharp knives or razor knives or razor blades aren't in my tool box any more.

I've compensated for not having things in my tool box that I carry with me by putting things that I use often on the top shelf of my plant rack.

Do any of you have other safety tips for gardening with children?

Excellent thought, barbur. Children's nervous systems are not fully developed and chemicals (pesticides) are so much more dangerous to them.

Aww... I watched the whole slide show. Made my day :-)

I loved the pic where Mary and the baby are looking at each other like they are having an animated conversation...Do you know which one I mean? It is just so durn cute. A really beautiful baby - and look at that hair!!!! Mine were bald.

Maggiemoo, I just now ran across this thread. Oh my, the slide show made me cry. What a gorgeous baby!! I love the one where she is looking up at you all wide-eyed. How adorable. Thank you so much for sharing!!! What a true blessing!!!

Michelle

TOO CUTE. Grandkids are so very special. When ours get around 2 years old we pick out a tree and they plant it. Each time they visit they run to check out how big their tree has got. If you don't have room for a tree maybe a shrub will work? Or better yet get her a Kumquat plant and have her help you pot it up in a planter. Make sure it's a sweet one and you will find she will look forward to picking them each year.
I have one 8 year old boy who would rather garden than play. He helps me start seeds and cuttings and will spend a lot of time repotting them with me. Of course his big thing is digging the holes for the plants.