Garden centres are being urged to get involved with the inaugural National Children’s Gardening Week, scheduled for the last week of May, to encourage the gardeners of the future.

 The event is the brainchild of Neil Grant, MD of Ferndale Garden Centre near Sheffield, who is also BBC Radio Sheffield’s garden expert and co-presenter of the weekly garden phone in. He hopes it will become an annual event.

The first National Children's Gardening Week will take place from 23 and 31 May 23, half-term for most of the country’s schools. “Children love growing plants, love being in the garden, but they are often impatient growers, wanting to see instant results,” Grant says. “The event aims to capture children’s enthusiasm at a time when results are immediate. Pretty much throughout the UK children can plant all the popular plants with little fear of weather damage or the need for complicated protective growing. “

For the first year a ‘soft launch’ will allow garden centres to have a go and learn what children and their tag-along adults respond to. “All any garden centre needs to do is put on events, and activities during the week that children can take part in and take home,” Grant explains. This year, contact is via a Facebook page, where anyone can post event details and the results and download a logo.

“I want garden centre to encourage young gardeners in a way that suits their business style and market. The only co-ordination we’d like is to use the logo to make it recognisable as we grow the idea. After that it’s all your own project.

 “There are many reasons why this is not a great week to run events like this, especially as it’s such a busy week for garden centres – but that’s also one of the advantages. Gardening is proving to have many benefits to our lives and if we can encourage gardening and growing at a young age then the health benefits could become part of a healthy life. Apart from that, it is good fun if results are achieved quickly.”

 The initiative has already won the support of the Conservation Volunteers charity, which has licensed the ‘Moshi Monster Gardening’  brand for a range of children’s gardening tools and accessories and has plans to join in.

Neil Grant 07831 382478, 01246 412763 (Ferndale Garden Centre)

Email : neil@ferndalegardencentre.co.uk

Facebook page: www.facebook.com/pages/nationalchildrensgardeningweek

Moshi Monster Gardening: http://www.tcv.org.uk/