Argggggghhhhh...do children and gardening really go together?

[Mung]

DD has just pulled off my last red tomatoes and enjoyed treading on them to watch them splat .

Once she got a taste for my blueberries she pulled off loads, including green ones.

Both DCs ate all my peas and broad beans before I could get my hands on them.

I may just stick to growing a lawn!

yeah, i like to think ill do gardening with my dc. in fact i am too much of a control freak and banish them from my veg patch coz they just Do Stuff Wrong

wrt them eating all the goodies... that is kinda the point, no?

(flame disagrees re last point btw)

at least they are eating healthily

eating the peas and broad beans didnt bother me too much...its pulling off the green blueberries so they cant grow and just stamping on tomatoes that annoys me.

Perhaps I should just get off here and go outside to police them....

Try giving them their own little plot

I got mine some mini tools and they loved digging. My boys have just made slug traps for me with jam jars and they are loving checking for the results!!!

mine have been coming to allotment with me for years. Sadly, they have never got the gardening bug, and they only like to whinge while eating all the raspberries and peas and ask ''can we go home yet '' every 5 mins.. And dig enormous holes to flood with water...and hit each other with bamboo canes. And throw worms at me. and each other. And look for caterpillars. and ldybirds. ANd dig more holes.

When they were smaller, I got a snadpit and filled it with composty soil and let the play in that while I did 'serious' gardening.

i have a lrge pot and a trowel a watering can and dirt

my nephew jsut digs and makes a mess.

suits me

mine pulled the ripe looking plums off the tree - one by one - took a bite and went yuck (not ripe) and threw them on the ground - they stripped the whole tree a week before they were ripe - and they are lovely plums and we got NONE - grrrr.

Gardening and young kids don't mix IME - they want to help but actually hinder.

I find I have to work in the garden when they are not around.

they do love digging great earthworks - so if you have room you could give them a patch to do that in - on the understanding that they don't spread on to your patch.