Short attention span?

planting patio potatoes

First day of the school Easter holidays.

The sun was shining and I was foolishly optimistic about engaging my children in a spot of gardening.

In fact I thought I’d found the perfect project 🙂  I was given some patio potato planters for Christmas and the seed potatoes were chitted.   What better to hold a child’s short attention than this quick and simple 3 step project:

Step 1 – fill container with compost to a depth of 30cm.

Step 2 – place 5 chitted potatoes on compost surface.

Step 3 – just cover potatoes with more compost, label and water.

So did it work?  Noooooooo, we managed a whopping 40 seconds of step 1 before they got bored and ran off to hang upside down on the climbing frame.  A personal best in our house for short attention spans.

Organic “grow your own” – a threat to childrens’ health?

The results of a year long study have been published today, with the alarming conclusion that allotments may be harming our childrens’ health.  The study,  commissioned by the Government’s Minister for Children, was asked to investigate the impact of the recent “grow your own” craze on children.

Whilst many commentators were surprised by the conclusions drawn, Mrs P, an experienced allotment holder and mother of two from West London agreed with the findings.  “It all started with good intentions” she told our reporter.  “I thought it would be good to take the children to the allotment to see where food comes from.  I even planned to discuss the concept of growing food organically with them.  But, after seeing blackfly infested broad beans, maggots in pea pods and whitefly on brassicas, the list of vegetables they’ll eat has reduced dramatically.  I’m at my wit’s end.  The final straw was when my eight year old found blossom end rot on her tomato plants last weekend.  She used to love tomatoes.  My advice to all grow your own enthusiasts is keep your children well away.”

A local council spokesman who declined to be named said “Thank *** for some common sense at last.  Now we can get on with flogging all that land to developers at a huge profit which will do no end of good for my chances of re-election.”