YARMOUTH, Maine — Getting your kids to join you in the garden can be a terrific way to spend time together. We join Tom Estabrook, from Estabrooks Garden Center in Yarmouth, who has some suggestions for keeping the time in the garden fun, and giving your child some garden activities that will keep them engaged.
"It's not about the plants, it's about the process," says Tom Estabrook. Tom urges us to get the kids out in the garden to do something other than ... gardening! Teach them to water the plants, and get invested in taking care of a plant, or area of your garden. If they can grow -- and pick! - something from the garden, and see it go in to dinner preparation, they just might be more inclined to want to grow things themselves.
"Gardening starts inside," says Tom. In the off season, or on a rainy day, work with your kids to pot some houseplants that they can care for indoors. Another great way to engage your kids is through feeding the birds -- both with flowers that attract the birds, and feeders that they can help fill and keep an eye on.