Garden book nurtures kids

ROOTS, SHOOTS, BUCKETS & BOOTS by Sharon Lovejoy, Workman Publishing, New York, hardcover, $24.95.

I’ve found the perfect book to kindle a healthy anticipation of spring: Sharon Lovejoy’s “Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots.” It’s a book on gardening with children that goes way beyond equipment and techniques to nurture children’s curiosity and their precious relationships with parents and other caring adults.

Lovejoy’s theme gardens are not Better Homes and Gardens spreads. Instead they are designed to help children engage all five senses in the joy of learning and discovery. The creation of each is detailed from planting to harvest.

Some gardens introduce children to homegrown food and drinks. A circular pizza garden clusters vegetable toppings and spices into slide-shaped wedges. A shamrock-shaped snacking and sipping garden is full of treats children can sample or incorporate into recipes. Mother Nature’s medicine chest is composed of ancient herbs that can heal or soothe many common ailments. The patchworklike Zuni waffle garden teaches children to plant in mounds like the Iroquois did and to understand the interdependence of vegetable trios such as the “Three Sisters of Life”: corn, beans and squash.

Other gardens give children their own enchanted kingdoms. What youngster would not treasure a living playhouse constructed of sunflowers and morning glories, a moon garden tent of night-blooming flowers that attract giant moths, or a flower maze?

Lovejoy sees parent-child gardening as a means to togetherness and mutual learning through discovery. The entire book is rich in suggestions for fine-tuning one’s ability to observe the wonders of the world of nature. And each garden chapter contains detailed instructions for a discovery walk.

Lovejoy, who summers in South Bristol and yearns for Maine the rest of the year, gained her own love of gardening from her grandmother who created and sustained a “little Garden of Eden.” She was also influenced by her son. “He helped me see what I’d forgotten — how many magical things are out there.”

To encourage family sharing, the book is written for adults and illustrated for children. “They can look at the pictures; identify dragonflies, bugs and bees; and get excited.” The sturdy binding and pages also make it toddler-friendly.

Crafts, projects and recipes transform gardening from a summer hobby to a year-round one. Herbal bath bags, sweet dream pillows, Indian corn jewelry, and gourd birdhouses are some of the creations that can ease families through cold, barren Maine winters.

Having very little space for a garden doesn’t prevent you from making this book your own. The container garden chapter shows how to transform the most humble of objects — even an old boot, hat or glove — into a thing of beauty. Likewise lack of knowledge or experience won’t stand in your way. Lovejoy’s instructions are encouraging and specific enough to engage even the most novice gardeners.

Lovejoy ends the book’s introduction with a quote from mentor Rachel Carson:

“If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructable that it would last throughout life. … If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder without any such gift from the fairies, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in.”

If that doesn’t inspire you I don’t know what will!