A garden wonderland A garden wonderland (January 24, 2003)

Teaching children about the cycles of life

by Andrea Moore

A teepee made of bean stalks, a hut made of grapevines and fairy houses made of plants are just some of the ways to bring children into gardening, according to Debbie Melmon, who's been designing gardens specifically for children for the past 10 years.

A former garden manager at Hidden Villa, Melmon is also a certified arborist. She'll be teaching adults how to design gardens for their kids at home on Feb. 1 at Common Ground.

Gardening "teaches them a lot about things they are intuitively aware of, breeds compassion and teaches them how to care for something," Melmon said. Children "don't have enough unstructured time to play at home," and they "need an enclosed space" where they can express creativity, she added.

Centering on the person who is 3 feet high, the Children's Garden Design class will focus on plants and designs for year-round gardens to benefit children. Melmon's main focus is on making a child-scaled area of circular land about 3 feet in diameter with plants that are at a child's level. She'll deal with how to make kid mazes, tepees, huts and garden art using topiaries to make "symbolic pieces," such as figures of horses that children can "interact with."

Plants that are great for kids range from edible flowers to herbs, to the "three sisters: corn, beans and squash," she said.

Melmon teaches that there is a cycle to everything and that when you plant something in the Earth the "soil works hard for you and it needs to be replenished." Corn, beans and squash echo this sentiment in that corn is a staple food, beans replenish the soil with nitrates, and squash, a bottom dweller, smothers the weeds and keeps the ground moist.

Another benefit to having herbs and vegetables in the garden is that children can see the results of what they worked on and how the plants can be used for preparing food. Children need a garden where they manage on their own and where they can pick the herbs and participate in making dinner, according to Melmon. This not only helps teach responsibility, it gives children a sense that they have an important role in the daily goings on of family life.

Melmon also teaches about decay, as part of the cycle, mainly through composting. Since children love soil, composting is an easy way to show them how to create soil for the garden. She incorporates vermiculture into the class as well. "Raising worms doesn't require space, you can just have a box under the sink," she said, adding, "Kids love worms."

While the class is not centered on any particular season, Melmon will discuss a variety of winter plants including greens, potatoes, onions and garlic. She will also focus on making year-round gardening activities fun with such ideas as weeding and seed-collecting contests.

Melmon developed her interest in children's gardening when she worked for Hidden Villa in 1988-1991 and was responsible for the children's garden there. She began to develop her own ideas for gardens based on the children's reactions at Hidden Villa, and after she left, she became a certified arborist and also did maintenance for clients.

Many of her clients asked her to create gardens specifically for their children. When she had children of her own, gardening with and for children became even more key to her. Soon she was instrumental in starting a garden program at her children's school, Lucille M. Nixon.

Melmon points to the benefits of doing a garden for children: Not only do they learn about responsibility and using their imagination, they also "learn about death and renewal. It's very spiritual." It is important for children to have a place such as a garden where there are no rules, no right or wrong, and freedom, she said. Even kids who have trouble in classes or have harder home-lives manage to express their personalities when they get in the garden, she said. While they are playing they can see the tangible "results and it gives them a sense of accomplishment."

To her the class is not just about teaching children how to garden, but about the cycles of life.

Andrea Moore can be e-mailed at amoore@paweekly.com

What: Children's Garden Design When: Saturday, Feb. 1, 10:30 a.m. to noon Where: Common Ground, 559 College Ave., Palo Alto Cost: $17 Info: Call (650) 493-6072.