Help from our toddler

by Colleen
(Halifax)

Last summer my son was 18 months old. Walking and running everywhere was his main goal in life. Hubby and I love to garden and enjoy having lots of container plants on our deck. Over the summer months, our little man became the keeper of the plastic garden pots that the plants come in from our local nursery. He would spent hours unstacking and restacking those plastic pots (yes, we recycled them all afterward).

Gradually, this awareness for gardening, led to an eagerness to 'help' with the planting and general maintenance of the plants. But how do you explain to a toddler the different between deadheading, pruning the old so that new will grow, picking flowers for a vase or just plain old smelling a flower? Poor kid was very confused by the end of the summer!

I’ve attached a pic that was taken in the fall last year – Nikolas’ first ride in a wheelbarrow. What kid doesn’t love a wheelbarrow ride! We are looking forward to this summer when the gardening help from our toddler won’t actually create more work for us!