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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – Gardening with children can be one the most fascinating and enjoyable experiences or it can be one to the most trying. As pint-size green thumbs would rather pick than plant your posies, its hard to keep tempers from flaring. There is a solution though, and a very sweet one at that – fruit gardening!
Small fruits and berries are ideal for cultivating the interest of young gardeners, notes Stella Otto, award winning author of the Backyard Berry Book: A hands-on guide to growing berries, brambles, and vine fruit in the home garden. Most berry bushes and vines are large enough to keep from being trampled by exuberant feet. Yet, they are short enough to put a bountiful harvest of berries at the perfect height for junior fruit pickers. Fruit gardening is also the perfect way to get those vitamins to the picky eater, on the sly. While lots of children would just as soon pass up the broccoli or peas, few will turn down fresh blueberries or a mouthwatering pear.
A novel baby gift can find its home in the garden. As today’s families struggle to get back to their roots, a symbolic family tree can be the perfect commemoration of an addition to the family. Dwarf fruit trees make the perfect heirloom. Most will start bearing fruit at four or five years of age, just as the newest gardener is at a stage when he or she will be brimming with pride over the first harvest from “my very own tree”.
The family fruit garden makes an excellent outdoor science lab as well. One of my most memorable moments with my son occurred while we were visiting a local nursery, recalls Otto, also author of the Backyard Orchardist: A complete guide to growing fruit trees in the home garden. As I prodded my then 3 1/2 year old to climb down off an old apple tree and move along to another section with me, he urged me to “come see this first. It’s really cool!”. Indeed it was. I was treated to something I had never seen in over 15 years of fruit growing and consulting. Together, we watched as a moth emerged from its pupal case. Although my son, having regularly accompanied me on my orchard consulting visits, was fairly well versed in fruit growing, I’ll never forget my amazement the moment he turned to me and said “Wow, it’s a codling moth, mom”, which indeed it was!
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