KIDS GARDEN •
School’s Out Get the kids into gardening this summer by Meghan Shinn photographs courtesy of Mohonk Mountain House IS IT ANY COINCIDENCE that the school year
ends just as the gardening season is really ramping up? There’s no better time to encourage children to get outside and grow something! For inspiration, look to Mohonk Mountain House, a historic Victorian castle resort located 90 miles north of New York City with an engaging and educational Children’s Garden. Kids are invited to be themselves here; they can touch, taste and smell the plants, and it’s hoped that they get a little dirty! Mohonk’s Greenhouse Manager, Cindy Muro, says, “young visitors to the Children’s Garden are invited to ‘Please Touch.’” The garden’s plants and design appeal to their curiosity. For example, they can see how a potato grows by watching an “Eco TV” as they sit on a sod sofa. The sod sofa is structured by a wooden frame that surrounds a wire cage of soil. The sod’s roots grow through the wire mesh, into the soil, while the grass provides comfortable seating. “The Eco TV is something like an ant farm,” explains Muro. From the sod sofa, kids of all ages can see the roots of the potatoes as they look it. You may not create something as elaborate as a sod sofa, but never fear. Kids respond to the simplest encouragement in the great outdoors. So get them out into the garden this summer!
LET’S GET GROWING Cindy Muro shares the following fun tips to interest kids in gardening: 1. Give them the opportunity. Gardening is the fancy word for playing in the dirt. Children are already excited about it, so make sure you encourage it. 2. Start small, but have an open mind. It’s all a learning process. Start with a little plant to care for, and help your youngsters look up the care that their plant needs. 3. Let them get their hands dirty. Encourage them to get a little grubby; it’ll make the experience more fun! 4. Make sure it fits your lifestyle. Whether it’s a small fairy garden on the window, flower pots on the porch or a 20-by-20 vegetable patch, pick the best garden for your family.
Near right: At the Mohonk Mountain House, hotel guests or day visitors can sit on a sod sofa and watch potatoes grow in the blue Eco TV in the Children’s Garden. Far right, top and bottom: Signs encourage children to touch the plants and experience their textures and scents.
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GARDENERS ON THE GO!