When we moved into our new house, one of the first things we did was to grow plants. This may seem like an odd thing to prioritize since there were the umpteen boxes to be unpacked, calls to neighbours to be made and rooms to be cleaned and recleaned. Yet, what better event to mark our new home, than to plant saplings. Over the years we would watch them grow. The ‘Christmas tree” is now as tall as 6 yr old Joy and the bougainvillea towers over the roof of our porch, where its fuschia blooms cascade like some quizzical waterfall.
Gardening also put things into perspective. So what if the books weren’t properly shelved by the end of the week?
Since our garden plot wasn’t very big, we used pots for planting potatoes, carrots, onions and radishes. We bought small spades so Joy could do all the digging she liked and a child’s watering can so she could tend her plot of earth. Her garden gave her something to care for, as we couldn’t deal with a pet at the time. Whenever she stepped out the front door, she would go to her pots and see if leaves had sprouted. She wanted to dig them up to see if there were any changes happening underneath but of course we said, no. And so there was the opportunity to teach her about patience and about the reward of waiting.
You can grow plants from fruit and seed pips. Cover them with potting compost. To keep them warm and damp, add some water ( not too much) into the soil and then cover the top of the pot with a plastic bag. You needn’t water them as water that evaporates fall back onto the soil because of condensation. You could try mango pips, kiwi fruit seeds, orange, lemon , papaya and lime seeds.
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