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Home & Garden readers might also want to read Keep it Green, a gardening column by Michael Womack.

Saturday, September 8, 2001
Growing gardeners
Kids don’t need a green thumb to help plants grow, just care and responsibility
By Cassandra Hinojosa
Caller-Times

David Adame/Caller-Times

Taylor Stout, 7, loves taking care of plants. He is enrolled in the Fall Children’s Garden program at the Botanical Gardens, which begins today.

Fall Children’s Garden
When: Begins today at 9:30 a.m. Sessions are from 10 to 11 a.m. each Saturday through mid-December.
Where: Corpus Christi Botanical Gardens, 8545 S. Staples St.
Cost: $24 for nonmembers, $21 for members.
Info: 852-2100

Seven-year-old Taylor Stout has never had a problem eating his veggies. And since he has learned to grow his own, he's not afraid to try new ones - like cabbage, turnips and black-eyed peas.
   "I liked picking the green beans and digging the potatoes," said Taylor, who has taken gardening classes at the Corpus Christi Botanical Gardens. "I'm looking forward to planting the carrots for the fall garden. My sister helps fertilize and picks the vegetable, too."
   Gardening is a family affair in the Stout household.
   Taylor's mom, Diana, is studying to become a master gardener through the Nueces County Extension office. Taylor is enrolled in the Fall Children's Garden program at the Botanical Gardens, which begins today. The last day to enroll in the program, for children ages 7 to 12, is Sept. 15.
   Taylor's 5-year-old sister Katie is still too young to enroll in any of the courses, but she still helps her family plant, maintain and harvest their vegetable garden at home.
   "It's something that we can do together as a family that's inexpensive and not all that time consuming," Diana Stout said. "And it's outdoors, so we get to enjoy the weather and not be stuck inside. We shop for the plants together, weed together and fertilize together.
   "Even the dog, Cocoa, gets in on it - she likes to dig."
   Taylor also recognizes the importance of family time.
   "I would rather work on the garden instead of watching TV," Taylor said. "It's fun."
   Lesson in responsibility

David Adame/Caller-Times

Katie Stout, 5, helps her family plant, maintain and harvest vegetables from the family garden.

   Besides giving families more time together, children who garden learn responsibility because they have to water, fertilize and harvest on a regular schedule.
   "Just growing plants teaches responsibility," said Paul Thornton, general manager of the Corpus Christi Botanical Gardens. "If you don't water it, it will be dead the next time you come back. Gardening is not something you can start and walk away from."
   And kids don't have to have a green thumb right away to enjoy it.
   "(Gardening is) very forgiving," Diane Stout said. "If it doesn't work, you can plant another."
   Helping hands

David Adame/Caller-Times

Caring for indoor and outdoor plants teaches children, such as Katie and Taylor Stout, about responsibility, says Paul Thornton, general manager of the Corpus Christi Botanical Gardens.

   In the Botanical Gardens class, children will learn basics such as how to prepare soil, plant seeds, and learn which types of vegetables are appropriate to plant for each season. They'll also learn how to water, fertilize, and identify pest problems and judge when vegetables are ripe for harvest.
   Classes meet every Saturday through mid-December, so tending to the garden becomes part of the child's routine for one hour each week.
   By the time Thanksgiving rolls around, children can already start taking home some of the vegetables they've grown from their own section of the Children's Garden.
   The children also have the option to help out with a separate garden whose vegetables will be given to Corpus Christi Metro Ministries-Loaves and Fishes, a non-profit agency that provides meals for the needy in the community, Thornton said.
   Some typical vegetables for the fall season include tomatoes, peppers, squash, beans or peas, broccoli or cauliflower and cabbage, Thornton said.
   Planting for fall

Kid gardening tips

Ages 2 to 3:
Let them help in the garden, flower beds
Buy toy tools to provide ownership

Ages 4 to 5:
Supervise weeding, watering of flowerbeds
Let them plant easy flowers (zinnias, marigolds) or easy vegetables (radishes) from seed
Take children to garden center and let them pick out colors

Ages 5 to 6:
Watch plants grow from cuttings in water
Let child be responsible for one plant in the garden. Let them plant it, water and fertilize it and harvest the fruit

Ages 7 to 8:
Take children to the nursery to pick out a potted plant of their own
Let child grow his or her own mini vegetable patch.
Start a compost pile

Ages 9 to 10:
Start cuttings in soil making mini-greenhouses using bamboo sticks and cleaners bag
Plant a pineapple top and watch it root and grow
Give child responsibility to water all the plants on the patio
Mulch flowerbeds to conserve water

Ages 10 to 12:
Assist neighbors with yard work
Take some vegetables from garden to food bank, homeless shelter
Adopt a spot to plant flowers and beautify your neighborhood or school
Have children read more books on gardening
Source: Michael Womack, Nueces County Extension Horticulturist

   Twelve-year-old Brody Hayek knows firsthand how fun gardening can be. He started gardening with his grandfather when he was 6 years old, and has been involved in the West Oso 4-H Club. Brody enjoys gardening with his mother, father and younger sister Sarah, 8.
   "We all go out together to pick green beans when it's time," his mother Imogene Hayek said. "They tell me a lot of things when they're out there together, probably things that they would not tell me when the TV is on - the little things that happened in school that day."
   This year, Brody will try to raise cantaloupe and watermelon before the weather changes.
   "I garden with my grandfather when we plant seeds or cantaloupe," Brody said, who looks forward to his mom's fresh cantaloupe sorbet every season. "We talk about what I have to use to take care of the plants to keep them from dying."
   Brody said that he likes everything about gardening, including getting the ground ready, planting and watching the vegetables grow.
   He imagines that when he's an old man, he'll still be outside, tending to his garden.
   "This is a skill children will carry with them all their lives," Thornton said. "Most kids that start gardening and learn to enjoy it will come back to gardening at some point in their lives."


Contact Cassandra Hinojosa at 886-3617 or hinojosac@caller.com

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