Gardening is a terrific way to get children involved with nature. It has the power to teach kids about the beauty of flowers and vegetables, whilst also teaching them valuable life lessons like patience and self-confidence. It equips them with critical skills that can help them in other areas of their lives.
Below are some of the main benefits children can experience by helping in the garden.
Engage all the senses
With gardening, kids can touch and feel the dirt, seeds, flowers and leaves, see the vibrant colours and varied sizes of the plants, hear the sound of the vegetable when it’s taken from the plant, and smell the amazing scents of the flowers. Allowing all the senses to be involved helps kids understand and grasp the concept of gardening and, in turn, teaches them to appreciate nature.
Encourage healthy eating
Getting children to eat their fruits and vegetables can sometimes be a challenge. When they are involved in every step of the process, however, they gain an interest in eating them too. Even the pickiest eaters won’t be able to resist trying veggies they’ve grown themselves!
Enhances fine motor development
Gardening and fine motor skills go hand-in-hand. In the garden, children must move around a lot to tackle tasks like watering, fertilising, pruning, digging, weeding and bending. As kids do these tasks, they develop important motor skills that will help them improve their academic skills such as writing, cutting and typing.
Develop social skills
Gardening can be a very sociable activity, especially in schools. Children can learn to work together and will enjoy discussing different types of flowers and plants, and the process they have carried out to plant their seeds. Gardening presents wonderful opportunities for children to bond and help each other look after and nurture their plants.
Teach responsibility and patience
Kids learn that they must take care of their seeds each day for them to grow into healthy plants. They will quickly learn they get out what they put in; if the plants aren’t regularly watered and taken care of, they won’t flourish.
Gardening is a great way to teach responsibility, but it is no overnight process. Kids are used to immediate gratification; however, gardening is often a slow process. They must learn to be patient when waiting for their flowers and vegetables to grow.
Enhance the ability to plan and organise
For those that garden regularly, you understand that planning and organising a garden can be time consuming and somewhat of an art form. You must know which flowers bloom during whoch time of year, how long it takes a seed to turn into a vegetable and when is the best time to plant your seeds.
Involving kids in this process helps increase their planning and problem-solving skills. It also enhances their organisational strategies, which can be carried over to every facet of life!
Highlight the importance of taking care of the environment
When children garden, they realise how important it is to take care of the Earth if they want their garden to grow and produce healthy plants. It creates the perfect opportunity for parents to talk to their kids about concepts such as pollution, pesticides and recycling.
There are so many activities you could try with your kids, to get them back into nature. Plantland has a cool Little Seedling club that you can sign up to, which sends you a box filled with gardening goodies each month, for you as a family to enjoy!
It is important to get our kids back into nature for a healthier and happier home.
While your garden is peaking and is filled with vibrantly coloured flowers during spring, it is precisely the right time to create a stunning bouquet from the fruits of your labour, so that you can enjoy the sights and smells of the garden inside your home. It only takes one gusty wind or heavy summer rain to destroy your beloved blooms anyway, and cutting guarantees that at least some of your flowers will be spared that cruel fate! Another reason to cut your flowers is that it encourages more flowering on your plants throughout the summer months and even into early autumn.
Read and follow the following tips and tricks on how to cut your garden flowers and use them inside your home:
When to cut
Early morning is the ideal time to cut fresh flowers, when the flowers have had the benefit of cool night air and morning dew. Their stems are filled with water and carbohydrates, meaning that they are firm to the touch. When harvesting, have a bucket of water on hand to immediately put the flowers into. We suggest using a plastic bucket rather than a metal one because metal can affect the pH balance of the water.
Different types of flowers must be harvested at different stages in their development. Cluster flowers with multiple buds on each stem, such as an Agapanthus, should have at least one bud showing colour and one bud starting to open before being cut. If gathered too early (while they’re still tightly budded) these flowers will not open in a vase of water. By contrast, flowers that grow on individual stems, such as roses, should be cut when fully open.
Cutting tools and techniques
Always use clean, sharp utensils when cutting flowers. Knives, clippers or shears can be employed, but never use ordinary household scissors! The gauge on scissors is set for paper or fabric, not for flower stems, which are bulkier. Using scissors will crush their vascular systems and prevent proper water uptake.
Cut all flowers about 3cm from the bottom of a main stem. Make the slice at an angle of about 45° as it will provide a larger exposed area for the uptake of water.
Water temperature
Use lukewarm water (between 37°C and 43°C) for your cut flowers to get the best results. Warm water molecules move faster than cold water molecules and so can be absorbed by flowers with greater ease. The objective is to get water and nutrients as quickly as possible to the head of the flower.
Preservatives
Using a preservative increases the longevity of cut flowers. To survive, flowers need three ingredients: carbohydrates, biocides and acidifiers. Carbohydrates are necessary for cell metabolism; biocides combat bacteria and are necessary for maintaining plant health, and acidifiers adjust the pH of water to facilitate and increase water uptake.
To make your own, use 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1 teaspoon of household bleach and 2 teaspoons of lemon or lime juice.
Care of cut flowers in an arrangement
Here are some general rules that will help you make your cut-flower arrangements last:
Don’t overcrowd the flowers in the container;
Check the water level in the vase and replenish it frequently;
Flowers that go limp are not drinking well and need to be recut;
Always discard wilted blooms;
Keep flowers away from drafts, direct sunlight and ripening fruits.
There are few things nicer than walking in your garden, soaking up the sun, smelling all the different fragrances of the flowers and hearing the bees humming away. One specific plants comes to mind when picturing this image, and it is the lovely Lavandula dentata ‘Elegans‘.
As they dance in the wind with their long dainty stems topped with a vibrant purple, we now understand why bees absolutely love these shrubs!
Lavendula dentata ‘Elegans’
A bushy shrub with fragrant dark green leaves and dark purple flowers from spring to summer, they love to be planted in the sun where they can cope with all the shine in your garden! The Lavendula dentata ‘Elegans’ grown by Malanseuns is excellent to use for cut flowers and can be used as pot-pouri as well.
When you think of planting lavender, don’t limit its use to garden beds bedding – use the lavender as a fragrant hedge in your driveway or try it in a beautiful pot on your patio to enjoy.
What benefits would you enjoy from this delicate perennial?
Lavendula dentata ‘Elegans’ is a very versatile plant that can be used for cooking, for decorating and for aromatherapy apart from using it in your garden. We would say yes to choosing this plant for all these wonderful reasons!
Bringing the lavender fragrance indoors
Savouring the Lavendula dentata ‘Elegans’ in your food is a treat, from baking with lavender to savoury dishes or making a soft lavender ice-cream – lavender brings a floral-earthiness-minty type of flavour and aroma to food. How delicious!
If you’re not sure how to use lavender in your food, always choose to use it sparingly because its scent can be a little overwhelming, like vanilla. We suggest to rather start mixing a little bit with your dish, along with other great pairing herbs such as thyme and rosemary, and as you get used to the taste explore with different combinations. You can use freshly picked lavender or ground dry buds that you can keep as spice in your cabinet, for you to explore with in the kitchen.
Easy chicken and lavender recipe:
We found this easy and delicious chicken recipe for you to try. Thank you www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com for this recipe! Enjoy readers.
Ingredients:
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
3 – 4 chicken leg quarters (or other chicken pieces)
1/2 cup white wine
1 tablespoon honey
10 cloves of garlic, peeled and halved
Several sprigs of fresh lavender leaves
1 lemon, cut into slices, rind and seeds (mostly) removed
Seasoning of your choice, including freshly ground pepper
Instructions
Preheat oven to 200°C.
Heat an oven-proof pan over medium heat, then add the olive oil and swirl around to coat the bottom of the pan.
Fry the chicken till the skin is golden brown on both sides (not to cook the chicken, just to brown it).
Remove the chicken from the pan, drain the excess fat, add the wine and honey, and swirl around to deglaze the pan.
Arrange the chicken pieces in the pan, sprinkle with pepper and other seasoning, then sprinkle with lots of lavender leaves and add the lemon slices on top.
Set the pan in the oven and set a sheet of aluminium foil on top for 20 minutes.
Remove the foil and let cook for another 20 – 25 minutes or until the juices of the chicken run clear when poked with a knife.
Add some fragrance to your garden
Next time you visit Plantland, remember to add the Lavendula dentata ‘Elegans’ to your trolley: you will be amazed as to all the astounding things you can do with this perfect lavender.
Absolutely anyone can master patio or container gardening. These are words that will make beginner gardeners dance with joy, especially if you know nothing about gardening!
Most plants aren’t finicky about the type of pots you plant them in; you must simply remember to give them space to spread their roots.
Container or patio gardening is a benefit for everyone – those with enough land to grow a beautiful garden with pot plants placed in a shaded area as well as balcony gardening for those who have limited space but would like to create a beautiful quaint plant-filled portion.
Benefits of patio gardening:
Versatile gardening
One of the biggest reasons why patio gardening is popular is that the pot can be moved around. Just imagine placing a pot of rosemary right outside your kitchen – culinary convenience at your doorstep. When you’d like to move it, it’s as simple as picking up the pot and moving it to its new space.
Low maintenance
Plants in containers require less maintenance, as there is a smaller area to tend to attention than a garden bed. Patio gardening is great for beginners because it requires also less care and attention, as it is easy to control the quality of the soil in the pot, which helps to control disease and insect pests.
Be creative
Container planting allows for maximum creativity. There are all sorts of pots you can buy, with different colours, patterns and textures for you to choose from. If you really feel creative, you could take it a step further and paint an old terracotta pot to look like a face and then plant a carex so that it has ‘hair’.
Patio gardening does require a little work
It is true that a patio garden is much easier to care for than a garden, but it requires more watering as the plants dry out faster. Luckily, Starke Ayres new Hydrocache water-retaining gel offers a great solution to get around this problem.
Also remember to fertilise your planted pots for them to get all the nutrients they need to grow strong and healthy.
Get started with patio gardening
First, you will need to assess the amount of space you have for the plants you plan to grow. This will help you visualise your garden and make your trip to a Plantland garden Centre much easier.
Also consider choosing plants that pair well together; this will benefit plant growth as time goes by. We say it is best to pair plants with similar needs to make the care process so much easier– pack them together!
How many times have you walked past a house in a lovely neighbourhood, and all you could smell was the aroma of the food being cooked that almost makes you feel like asking for a seat at that dinner table. It is as if the herbs and spices they’ve used are calling you, and your stomach begins to growl.
We don’t know about you, but we always aim to fill our homes with the comforting smell of food, and we also know for sure that fresh herbs add extra love and delight to any meal.
Benefits of growing your own herbs
Fresher tastes
Fresh herbs in your garden mean meals packed with much more flavour. There is nothing that can beat the fresh taste in your infused water or the stew you plan to make for Sunday lunch.
Adds variety to your meals
Having a broad variety of fresh herbs allows you to experiment with different flavours. When you are looking at doing a leg of lamb, the best herbs would be thyme, rosemary and even a little basil. We bet you can smell it already!
Antioxidants
Herbs are a good option when looking at living a healthier lifestyle. Most herbs are packed with antioxidants that help to clean your liver.
Relieves stress
Tending to your own herb garden will help you get rid of the stress built up during the week, being one with nature and learning about the benefits the different herbs have to offer.
Start Simple
Growing herbs from Starke Ayres seeds is good for intermediate gardeners who know a little more about sowing seeds and the requirements, and there is the wide variety on offer by Starke Ayres. There is also an option to choose from Plantland’s seedling varieties, which enables you to plant a seedling that has gone through all the growing pains and is ready for you to enjoy. Herb seedlings are good to start off with if you are a beginner gardener.
Choosing the perfect pot
It helps to know where you want to plant your herbs; by your kitchen windowsill or in pots outside your kitchen, or wherever would work best for your needs and setting. Once you have the perfect spot for your herbs, you will need to pick the perfect pot. We absolutely love the Tuscan style a terracotta pit gives, or if you are more a herb-crate type of gardener, Plantland has all the styles you could dream of! If you are creative, you could always create or paint your own pots. There are endless possibilities.
Introduce herbs to your everyday lifestyle
Whether you are a beginner herb lover or an expert herb gardener, we encourage you to explore with herbs. Use them in your teas or when you cook, and you will have a whole new culinary world to escape to.
When you’re ready to buy herb plants, check Plantland’s online store where you can shop for your favourite herbs from convenience of your own home.
It’s that time of the year again where the green industry plays an important role in reminding people about the importance of planting trees.
Arbour Week has been celebrated since 1800, founded by two lovers of nature, husband and wife team Julius and Carrie Sterling Morton. They were distressed by the lack of trees in Nebraska and quickly planted trees, shrubs and flowers in their own garden to start out with. Soon the trend followed.
“Trees were needed as windbreaks to keep soil in place, for fuel and for building materials, as well as for shade from the hot sun,” says daff.gov.za
Plant a tree
It is the year 2021, and we are still encouraged to plant trees for reasons that will remain pertinent forever. It is said that you do not plant a tree for yourself to enjoy, but for the enjoyment of future generations. Therefore, it is important to make sure that we have trees standing and providing us with shade for generations to come.
Trees are important to us for the following reasons:
Trees help to hold soil in place and prevent soil erosion.
Trees are an important habitat for wildlife; some animals spend their entire life living in trees and others depend on the forest for survival.
Trees feed us – just think of all the nutritious fruit and nuts we pick from trees.
Trees help increase property value by 5% ,or even higher depending on the size of the tree.
Trees help with saving energy by providing shade in summer and blocking strong winds in winter, therefore saving us energy we spend trying to cool and heat our spaces.
Trees help reduce loud noises in urban areas when planted strategically.
Some trees provide medicine for our use, such as tea tree and moringa trees.
The list of benefits from trees is much longer than these 10 point, such as how they help to regulate local water cycles by holding the water, therefore preventing flooding and maintaining water vapour in the air!
How to plant a tree
Plantland has a wide selection of trees available to choose from. You can choose indigenous trees or deciduous trees, flowering or evergreen. Just make sure you choose a tree you will enjoy looking at for years to come.
Tree planting procedure:
Dig a hole twice the height and width of the container of the tree. Fill the hole with water.
Mix the soil with a nutritious soil (like Malanseuns Compost) and add some bonemeal to the mixture to ensure healthy root growth.
Remove the tree from all packaging and place it in the hole, then fill up with soil to the top of the tree roots.
Press down firmly to ensure the tree is stable. Build a dam around the hole, to make sure the water will drain to the roots when watering.
Water your tree thoroughly twice a week until the tree can sustain itself.
Fertilise with 2:3:2 fertiliser when needed.
Trees are good.
Planting trees, even just one or two, can make a huge difference. Trees are our lifeline to cleaner air and a healthier environment as trees improve air quality by producing oxygen. We need trees now more than ever! Teaching our children from little to appreciate trees will do the world good. View our wide range of trees on plantland.co.za or in store
We are complicated beings that experience all sorts of complex emotions, from the ones we enjoy, like feeling love or contentment, to the emotions we wish we never experienced, like anxiety and sadness.
From the green we see to the peace we feel
Most of us live in a fast-paced work environment and have also been dealing with a pandemic for 2 years now. Many of us are working from home, some have lost their jobs, and there are so many other stresses that came along with this pandemic.
Many of the activities we used to enjoy to help us relax have been put on pause, like enjoying fun nights out with friends and attending a public event.
Luckily we still have plants. We have learnt that plants help us to relax and are good for our wellbeing, but what we would like to fully understand is what goes on in our brains and bodies when we are around them.
How do plants help us relax?
We experience wonder, a feeling of mysteriousness, curiosity and abundant love. It could even be called oneness.
The Merriam Webster dictionary defines awe as, ‘an emotion variously combining dread, veneration and wonder that is inspired by authority or by sacred or sublime.’
Would you not want to be in state of constant sublimity?
What we know for sure is that being in a garden helps our immune system. Unconsciously, without noticing, we become quiet and hear the buzzing of the bees and the singing of birds.
Having a plant or two in your bedroom purifies the air your breathe, making it easy for your body to rejuvenate and sleep better. Some say that paying attention to the symmetry, fractals and patterns of leaves or flowers is also what helps to reduce stress and direct our attention outside of ourselves.
To summarise, you need plants to help you relax!
Greenery is good for the brain, body, and soul
When you do not have the opportunity to go outside often, bring plants to your workspace and home to help decrease your blood pressure.
Helps remove toxins from the body
Plants are natural air purifies and remove toxins from the air.
Plants are therapeutic
Looking after plants is a natural form of therapy.
Helps reduce background noise
Big leafy plants help with creating a tranquil mood.
Plants help sharpen our attention
If we pay attention to plants, it will help with concentration.
Plants help us recover from illnesses
Plants can help speed up your recovery.
Plants can help with productivity
Studies have shown that people in workspaces with plants take fewer sick days off work.
Plants could help with your outlook on life
Just pay attention to plants, their textures and colours, and experience a feeling of being both a big and a small part of the ecosystem.
Plants provide us with a sense of companionship
You can talk to them, tell them private things and give them names, all of which help a lot.
Get the ‘in’ on plant relaxers
Having plants can be a source of pleasure! Sharing your space with living breathing beings can make your environment feel happier and healthier.
While this was just a small collection of relaxing benefits, there is so much to explore on the importance of plants. To get more info visit Thanks Plants!
Imagine trying to teach a child about the laws of nature and how the ecosystem is one big cycle of giving, and then you’re suddenly inspired to grow some plants that attract insects. This would be great! These insects will help pollinate plants, and the child can actually see the entire process happening in many ways, bringing them closer to nature and how it works – all right in front of their eyes.
Teach them to enjoy gardening
When you plan and tend to your garden with your children, they will grow to understand that they exist as one with every living, breathing species they interact with, and plants are a big part of the process. For this we should be thankful for plants. This is a much better and more affordable way of educating our children than trying to educate them with toys.
Gardening from a young age teaches our children a sense of responsibility, caring for their first plant and tending to its needs. They will love the feeling of accomplishment when their plants start flowering, and they can show it off to their friends.
Let’s teach our children to garden, to grow their own food and to appreciate everything plants do for us and help them by bringing them closer to nature!
Urban structures turn green
Many of us live in urban areas with tall cement buildings, and we constantly find ourselves seeking out a little nature to surround and comfort us. Imagine the benefits if we all planted a tree or filled our homes and balconies with at least two plants – how much more hospitable we would find our concrete jungle as the plants softened our hard buildings and purified the air we breathe. Our productivity would increase as plants helped us to relax, making it easier to enjoy the space we live in.
It has also been said that patients in hospitals that integrate plants as part of their furnishing recover quicker. Yay for plants!
Enjoy being closer to nature
Just think of how relaxed you feel when you’re out with friends in nature, camping or taking a walk in a nature reserve. Or when you fill your home with indoor plants, or while you are outside gardening – you naturally feel at one with yourself! You interact with nature, which is alive and healthy, your spirit gets recharged because humans are nature themselves.
Once we have a mutual respect for plants, we will understand that they are here to assist us. We will go out into the wild to be surrounded by tall trees, we will listen to the gentle waves of the ocean, we will admire the sun shimmering on us, we will hike and camp more often. Our plates will be filled with more vegetables, and we will even create mini natural spaces in our offices. We will start noticing that the places we visit, such as restaurants, are bringing in more natural greenery for our goodness. We will keep our plants alive for sure!
We all need to get closer to nature
‘Eco-therapy’ is a great word to describe the effects of nature on our mental state, because we definitely experience a feeling of higher life satisfaction when surrounded by nature. We need to realise that we shouldn’t take nature for granted just because we experience it for free when we step outside every day. We all need to learn to love and respect nature, and to impart this love and respect to our children too.
Visit Plantland for more information, tips and ideas.
If you’ve recently purchased a house or are experiencing a need to change your Feng Shui into a modern jungle, your goal should be to turn your concrete environment into a comforting home you can blissfully flourish in. Indoor plants can do just that!
A world filled with indoor plants
Adding a bit of greenery will make a world of difference to your living space. For instance, if you add an Aloe vera plant to your bedroom, you will not only be decorating your room but will also likely sleep much better, due to their air-purifying abilities. With a few cute décor elements and a lot of plants, your house will soon become a warm, soft and inviting space to live in.
Where do you begin if you feel like you have the opposite of ‘green fingers’?
Invite Some Green into your room
The colour green is alive, vibrant, and never goes out of season, especially this year! It’s even better when plants hang from your walls or chill in a nicely lit spot in the living room, or if you have some herbs growing in cute jars on your kitchen windowsill. Lush green plants bring a sense of fresh air into any space!
When you add plants to your home, make it a personal experience! Decide what do you like first, and take it from there. If you visit a nursery such as Plantland in Pretoria, you can have a lengthy and informative conversation about your plant needs with the knowledgeable staff.
Must have indoor plant collection
Chlorophytum comosum, known as the spider plant, just so happens to be indigenous to South Africa, and makes a great addition to any room. They are easy to care for, so even habitual plant killers will have to try really hard to knock this one off. Loads of indirect sunlight and a good watering a few times a week are all it needs. This plant is especially great if you have kids or pets because it is non-toxic.
Sansevieria, also known as snake plant or in Afrikaans as ‘skoonma se tong’, is an easy-to-take-care-of plant that can take different levels of light, so it can be placed anywhere in the house as long as there is some sun seeping into that room. This plant is amazing mostly because it releases oxygen while removing toxins from the air. Let’s not forget to mention that it is a cool-looking plant.
The peace lily (Spathiphyllum) creates a relaxing mood even when you just think of it. Its beautiful leathery leaves, its stunning white flowers and its ability to help reduce dust in a room by 20% are all big points in its favour. And when you water a peace lily, magic happens thanks to something called its high transpiration rate, which helps bring back moisture into the room.
Greening your house one room at a time – Thanks plants!
Adding nature to your space is immediately grounding and calming, and we hope our tips help you to start your journey towards living in a semi-jungle that you can call home! When you need a little help with which plant fits in what room, read Indoor plants: choosing the best one for every room.
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