The Children’s Garden

There are two ways of getting your children into the garden and away from their Xboxes and Playstations. Either you can lock them outside and ignore their frenzied screams, or you can buy them a book like this.

The Children’s Garden is written with parents in mind. it has lots of great ideas and projects, so that youngsters can actually enjoy their time in the great oudoors. You can have a lot of great fun, with very little money if you do simple things such as pond-dipping or going on bug hunts to uncover beetles and woodlice and other creepy crawlies

The book has chapters devoted to simple things such as growing vegetables, including potatoes and spring onions, which can all be done in just about any container. And it makes the very valid point that children are more likely to eat things that they’ve grown themselves. And they can have lots of fun growing flowers from seed such as nasturtiums and sunflowers – which are really great because they are completely edible so even if the seeds end up in a toddler’s mouth, they won’t do any harm.

This book is a handy size – not too big – and has lots of great pictures. And if you want to inspire your child with a lifelong love of gardens and gardening, this is a great place to start.

The Children’s Garden by Matthew Appleby is published by Frances Lincoln, £14.99

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