Gardening project that kids can dig!

Getting their hands dirty

Getting the hands of youngsters dirty and showing them an appreciation of nature and growing is the aim of National Children’s Gardening Week.

Starting on May 28 and running up until June 5 the green-fingered week celebrates the fun that gardens hold for kids and also the benefits for parents, grandparents, schools or garden businesses.

As the National Children’s Gardening Week site says: Children love growing plants and love being involved in the garden but they’re often impatient, wanting to see instant results. National Children’s Gardening Week aims to capture children’s enthusiasm at a time when results are immediate.

This means that pretty much throughout the UK they can plant all the popular plants with little fear of weather damage or the need for complicated protective growing.

National Children’s Gardening Week was the brainwave of Neil Grant, managing director of Ferndale Garden Centre near Sheffield who is also BBC Radio Sheffield’s garden expert and co-presenter of their weekly garden phone in, and it’s widely supported by the whole of the UK garden industry.

It’s now an annual festival of fun that’s embraced in homes, schools, and community groups across the country, and supports the amazing Greenfingers charity, which is dedicated to providing magical gardens for children in hospices suffering from life limiting illnesses.

Also getting involved in the exciting green week is home and garden retailer Christow, which has a vast collection of gardening products to help the whole family to get involved this year.

The Week takes place in collaboration with Green Fingers Charity, to share their belief that time spent outside in a natural environment can be enormously beneficial.

Last year, the week leading up to the event saw a 51 per cent increase in searches for ‘tips on gardening with children’, suggesting the interest in gardening with children advice is particularly encouraged by National

Children’s Gardening Week. Growing fruit and vegetables is one of the easiest ways to get children intrigued and allow them to reap the benefits of their hard work.

During National Children’s Gardening Week youngsters can make a mini pond or mini garden, construct a snail race track or go on a garden treasure hunt, make a homemade suncatcher or pine cone bird feeder and much more.

For a host of ideas for fun garden projects and activities visit the www.children’sgardeningweek.co.uk website.Christow has a range of greenhouses to choose from that are suitable for growing crops.

For those wanting to create a workstation with their children, Christow’s Potting Table With Wheels is the perfect option and avoids adults needing to hunch over.

If new gardeners are in need of somewhere to store their equipment, Christow’s Narrow Sheds have plenty of storage for all of the essentials without taking up too much garden space.

All products featured, as well as hundreds more gardening products are available from www.christowhome.co.ukwebsite.