Bob Flowerdew is an English gardening "guru" with several books out on organic methods.  I enjoyed lingering on his latest publication "no-work garden" recently acquired by our library.  The book is rich in beautiful pictures and is certainly the result of much real-life experimenting, two essential qualities. 

But one small thing he wrote let me speechless.  I quote: "as to children and vegetables, these do not mix.... I'd advise any couple expecting kids or with young ones to put the whole garden to grass or fruit trees."  What a riot! It is got to be that this guy has a major kid issue (he is not a dad).  Let me correct this loud and clear. I would advise any couple expecting kids or with young ones to start a vegetable garden if they did not have one.

Kids can be at their happiest in the garden.  Mine,  Manon (age 7) and Marcello (age 5), have spend most of their outdoor life in the garden, sometimes right by me, sometimes inventing games, finding insects and bugs, cutting grass, running around and always respecting the basic rules of the garden set by Daddy such as not stepping on beds or pulling plants.   This year actually, I went one step further and told them they could not get in the strawberry patch and they did not.   In the past, with a much bigger garden, I used to plant an area in strawberry and cherry tomatoes just for them to graze and I recommend it as a good way to confine them. 

In their early gardening life, they have already learned much and sampled the joys of pulling carrots and eating fresh peas.  They know when to pick and can tell beneficial insects from the bad guys.

Work is a different matter and here I agree with Flowerdew who writes:" young children cannot be coerced into any consistent form of work".  My kids will get bored easily and I have chosen to not impose any garden chore on them (yet).  Still, Manon will spend up to 30 minutes at a time helping me with transplanting, something she enjoys.  I plan on introducing them to work later in exchange for some form of reward.  And yes I hope they will fall in love with the whole thing.

As for dogs and cats?  Cat is easy: I rank a good mouser as the most precious garden protector.  I found my cat in my barn, a wild thing if any.  I am a dog type but I looove this cat.  She has saved countless crops.  She kept my beans alive in the pasture when the whole place was rocking with bunnies.  She is now keeping squirrels out as they are eyeing my garden from the oaks like wild monkeys.  Some gardens are mole infested:  I recommend to keep a fixed, outdoor cat which can hunt.  And cats never disturb plants.  They are the perfect garden creature.

Dog is tricky.  Dogs did not belong in my first mentor's farm.  He disliked them almost as much as goofy apprentices like me.  My best gardening friend is Buster and he is a dog.  Before the kids showed up he would not never part from me.  Buster knows to walk on paths and is not a digging dog.  I did with Buster what I also did with the kids, I taught him to behave in the garden.  I know plenty of farms who also depend on dogs to keep marauding predators away and those dogs have learned to keep away from the beds.  A dog house can be set inside the garden for maximum protection at night but barking is an issue especially in town.   Untrained dogs , on the other hand, can be very bad and I worry when friends show up with their dog in tow.

As to other animal-helpers in the garden, I have never risked chickens, ducks or geese as a way to control slugs and insects.  Chickens are notorious for going after ripe tomatoes,  and, 4 years ago, following a market, I came back to a bed of 300 heads of lettuce mowed to the ground by my flock of ducks which had found its way into the garden.  Hence, this is not my preferred area of experimentation.  I have had great luck however combining chickens and ducks  with a greenhouse.  The greenhouse is used for winter quarters by the flock and the plants benefit from the heat and Co2.  The birds were confined with a wire-mesh and kept on straw (later put to good use in the garden) with a day-time access to a connected outdoor area.  Results were better harvests of eggs and greens.

last modified on: Monday November 10, 2008 06:41 AM -0600