0 Fun with your little seedlings

...Evelyn Neier, state coordinator for the Kansas Junior Master Gardener Program, says all those seed catalogs are great for kids, too.

…Older kids can read them and younger ones like the pix.

…As HA has said in these pages, gardening can provide safe,organically grown veggies, too.

…Take your kids to the garden center with you. HA’s daughter was wild for snapdragons when she was young. She called them dragonsnaps and pooched their little cheeks to make the blossoms “talk.”

…HA’s grandmother also helped her make ballerinas from Hollyhock flowers—attach the tutu-like flowers together with a toothpick.

…Plant things that nestle in leaves like pumpkins or eggplants—or underground like carrots. Kids like to hunt for the harvest.

…When HA was a kid, she started bean seedlings in wet cotton. They grew without dirt! She also put fish sticks in with corn in the ground as fertilizer, like the Pilgrims did with dead fish.

…Mixing in flowers—like marigolds that repel insects--gives the kids bouquets to pick for Mom.

…Plus kids are outside, chitchatting with their parents, and observing and smelling nature. Even the bugs are entertaining.

…Actually bugs and fat, horned caterpillars are the best part—if you’re five. After that, they pale.