Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots: Gardening Together with Children

by Sharon Lovejoy

Overview

Pizza Patches & Bean Tunnels: Kids' Garden Projects to Cultivate Wonder

Here are 12 spirited, easy-to-implement ideas for theme gardens that parents and kids can grow together, connecting children to nature through gardening. Each project includes a plan and the planting recipe—as well as a "Discovery Walk," activities and crafts to make with what you grow. And each is illustrated with author Sharon Lovejoy's lyrical watercolors.

There's the Pizza Patch, a giant-size wheel garden planted in "slices" of tomatoes, zucchini, oregano, and basil. A Flowery Maze to get lost in. A Moon Garden of night-blooming flowers, including a moonflower tent. And Mother Nature's Medicine Chest.
Discovery Walks teach kids how the gardens work, and a chapter on gardening basics includes a child-friendly 10-Minute Plan for planting and maintenance, plus a list of the top 20 plants guaranteed to make gardeners out of kids.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761110569
Publisher:	Workman Publishing Company
Publication date:	05/01/1999
Pages:	176
Sales rank:	176,195
Product dimensions:	8.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	4 - 10 Years

About the Author

Sharon Lovejoy, an author, illustrator, lecturer, and teacher, is the children's garden adviser to the American Horticultural Society, and has been a guest on Today at NBC, PBS's Victory Garden, and the Discovery Channel. She speaks at conferences and gardening organizations around the country. She has four grandchildren, and divides her time between San Luis Obispo, California, and South Bristol, Maine.

Read an Excerpt

FROM THE INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO MAKE A MOON GARDEN:

f you think that nothing happens in your yard after dark, you're in for a big surprise. Magic happens and miracles unfold when you plant a garden with nightblooming flowers. Under a full moon, your garden looks enchanted, glowing luminously in the night. Critters you never see in daylight stop for snacks; some stay to raise families. And you'll be able to watch it all happening from behind the leafy walls of a vine-covered tent.

Fragrance is the color of night. When evening comes in the Moon Garden, pale flowers that look bedraggled and tired during the day lift their heads, open, and release their potent perfumes. Giant, fairylike moths slip from hiding places and follow invisible pathways of fragrance through the moonlight. Bats awaken, stretch their wings, and fly overhead in search of insects. Toads, frogs, glowworms, and fireflies become your guests. Spread out your flowery welcome mat and wait for darkness to fall.

MOON GARDEN—Ingredients

Inside the Crescent:

2 seedlings, jasmine tobacco

2 seedlings, evening primrose

2 seedlings, four-o'clocks

2 seedlings, evening-scented stock

The Borders:

2 six-packs, white alyssum

2 six-packs, white petunias

2 six-packs, white yarrow

The Tent:

6 seedlings, moonflowers

rope

5 6-foot bamboo poles or 2-by-2-inch lumber

Excerpted from Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots by Sharon Lovejoy. Copyright (c) 1999. Reprinted with permission by Workman Publishing.

Table of Contents

Introduction

TOP 20 PLANTS FOR KIDS

THEME GARDENS:
The Pizza Patch
Sunflower House
Buckets, Boxes & Boots
Snacking & Sipping Garden
Moon Garden
The Flowery Maze
A Garden of Giants
Mother Nature's Medicine Chest
Zuni Waffle Garden

GARDENING BASICS:
How to Plan, Plant & Care for Your Garden

Appendix
Resources
Bibliography

What People are Saying About This

Barbara Youngblood

Barbara Youngblood, Children¹s Literature

Talk about a powerhouse book on gardening, this is it. From the "Top 20 Plants for Kids" to specialized gardens like the Moon Garden, Giant Garden, or Zuni Garden a wealth of information is presented to the reader. Several short vignettes and poems about gardening are found throughout each chapter. Ideas that can be achieved in small spaces are quite fun and challenging. I think I¹ll try the Flowery Maze myself next summer. What fun!

Editorial Reviews

Sure to make kids want to get into the garden.”
—Newsday

“Sure to make kids want to get into the garden.”

—Newsday

 

From the Publisher

Sure to make kids want to get into the garden.”

—Newsday

Newsday

This is a beautifully illustrated book that serves as an invitation to all adults to celebrate the earth with a child, by taking the time to garden together and journey together into your back yard, thereby establishing 'roots.

Art Vision Arts & Entertainment Guide

Wow! I really like this book...from the incredibly charming illustrations to the profuse amount of gardening information, Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots is a winner. It¹s aimed at getting children to connect to nature through gardening, and through the many entertaining and downright wonderful ideas for theme gardens that shouldn¹t be too hard...It¹s a perfect way to both get your kid interested in gardening and provide inspiration for yourself.

Koen Book Distributors

June 1999 "She (author Sharon Lovejoy) writes clearly and with the casual authority of long standing expertise. Sharon Lovejoy has created a career out of as noble an activity as you can imagine-teaching children to stay connected with the earth. Gardening painlessly teaches patience and foresight, encourages imagination, and demonstrates how the natural world works.
—Book Page

Michael Sims

If I owned a book like this when I was growing up, I might well have learned to enjoy gardening at a much earlier age, but as Lovejoy points out, it is never too late to be a child at heart.
—The Herb Companion

Theresa Loe