Gardening for Young Gardeners by Auntie Sue

Okay, Okay! You have all twisted my arm! Rebecca had been begging and pleading for me to teach her and her friends all I know about gardening and looking after plants, so I will! Teaching gardening for young gardeners is close to my heart! I’m Auntie Sue, Rebecca’s youthful playful and hopefully cool Auntie. You can read more about me in Rebecca and the Strangest Garden! First of all, it started when Rebecca came to stay with me one summer. She had no idea that my garden was quite unique! More of that later.

Plants in Summer

Rebecca noticed that I love my garden with all the beautiful and different colours from the plants and trees. My first opportunity to teach gardening for young gardeners was Rebecca herself. She visited me during her summer holidays and heard my secrets on gardening. At the time of writing to you, it is August and summer is well and truly here. Are you on your summer holidays too?

Caring During a Heatwave

We have experienced a massive heatwave here in the UK. The poor grass is like straw, the flowers are really parched and needing to be watered regularly. You do recall how the plants in my garden moaned miserably at the thought of not being watered. Well, just imagine how unhappy the flowers would be in this heat! Therefore, my first lesson is about looking after the garden in a heatwave. My question to you is: What do you do to protect the flowers from becoming dry and parched like the grass?

Five Tips for Gardening for Young Gardeners

First of all, here are my top five tips for caring for the plants during the summer heatwave:

Check the soil. Is it dry and the leaves wilted? Ensure the plant is nicely watered. Do make sure its not over watered as that will not be very good.
If you are going away on holiday, ask nice neighbours to help with watering the plants. There are clever devices you can insert into the soils to irrigate the flowers if you are away.
As well as water, the flowers and plants may need plant food. Remember Rebecca offered her drink of elderflower water? Well, that’s not the nutrient they need. There is special food for plants and flowers. They need to be handled safely therefore an adult will help you with these. I have given some examples here.
Can you see the signs of the bugs nibbling the plant’s leaves?
At this time of year, the bugs are around in the hundreds! As a result, look out for them and alert an adult who can help you to get rid of them. Above all, some of them are harmless to us humans, but they are a real nuisance. In contrast, they can destroy the roots of the plants. Furthermore, some nibble the leaves. Others fly around laying more eggs, another family of hundreds are birthed weeks later.
Remove dead leaves which can help the plants and flowers to stay healthy and look prettier. In my garden, we have had to remove sooo many dead and dried leaves. After all the ‘clipping and snipping’, as mentioned by my Miss Bateman, the flowers looked lovely again.

Well, that will do for now. I have given you all something to think about and your homework is….tell me how much of the five tips you were able to do!

Look out for lesson 2 which is coming soon!!

Auntie Sue xx