Garden centres across the country are taking part in this year’s National Children’s Gardening Week (NCGW) which started this weekend and with such a buzz around children’s gardening at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show this week it is a great time to get involved.
The aim of NCGW is to get as many schools, children and their families involved, gardening and having fun in their gardens. The initiative, which is supported by the HTA’s National Garden Gift Voucher scheme, is now in its 5th year.
The NCGW website www.childrensgardeningweek.co.uk features innovative ideas and projects including: Cascading strawberries, The right trousers, Grow a pallet garden and Build a bug hotel. Some of these project ideas, including ‘create a pizza wheel’ and ‘build a bug hotel’ are on show this week on the ‘Helping Children Grow’ exhibit, co-ordinated by the HTA and supported by National Garden Gift Vouchers, at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show – helping to spread the word amongst parents, teachers and grandparents. As well as picking up project ideas and visiting the website, visitors are encouraged to visit their local garden centre too.
This year there are a record number of garden centres taking part by providing information instore or running their own events through the week. On Facebook over half a million people have already been reached with fun gardening project ideas, with many more being reached by the free point of sale for the week that’s available to garden centres.
The website also features a listing of member events happening across the country during National Children’s Gardening Week. These include:
- Write your name in salad at Patrick’s Patch in Hampshire
- Treasure Hunt at ACW Garden Centre in Bradford
- Decorate a terracotta windowsill pot at Scotsdales Garden Centre in Cambridge
- Seed planting at Aylett Nurseries in St Albans
- Miniature Garden Making at Whitehall Garden Centres in Lacock, Whitchurch and Woodborough
Dobbies Garden Centres are celebrating 10 years of their Little Seedlings Club during NCGW and will be hosting ‘Get Buzzy about Bees’ workshops at their centres.
National Children’s Gardening Week Ambassador Chris Collins comments, “It feels like we have come a long way with children’s gardening in the last 10 years. Campaigns like National Children’s Gardening Week have brought the subject of healthy eating, growing plants and mindfulness to garden centres and schools across the country. We need to celebrate this incredible rise in the numbers of young gardeners and inspire even more young people with simple ideas and fun projects to encourage them, their parents and grandparents to have a go.”
NCGW also helps raise awareness of the Greenfingers charity whose logo features on the point of sale and children’s activity sheets as well as the voucher wallets and gift card hangers – providing valuable extra exposure for a great cause.
Follow National Children's Gardening Week for all the latest news and events taking place.
https://www.facebook.com/nationalchildrensgardeningweek/
https://twitter.com/ncgw_
