Hey kids, are you bored with the same routine in this scorching heat and long days while sitting home watching TV and bugging your siblings and mum? Roll your sleeves this weekend and let’s have fun with dirt!

Yes, you read it right, we are going to get our hands and clothes dirty this weekend by creating My first garden — a site which will guide kids to fun and clever gardening and will ultimately bring out a gardener in them.

Quite interesting at first glance and easy to explore with main sections being: Show me the basics, Gardening fundamentals, Planning my garden. The basics tell the essentials of starting a garden such as what spots should be considered; what kind of soil is good for planting, and how much water plants need, etc.

Kids who have space in their houses such as lawns, should take permission from their parents to use a part as their adventure garden, while those living in apartments can buy pots of different sizes to make the best of starting their little garden.

‘Gardening fundamentals’ will allow kids to making a plan, list items, make a journal, tools they’ll need, seeds, etc. They first need to decide whether they want to grow flowers or vegetables; as they are guided accordingly about which vegetable to grow in which season and how much water, sunlight it needs, etc. similarly they can learn about flowers and their seasons and tips to grow them healthy in ‘Planning my garden’.

And when it comes to creative ideas, sky is the limit! So the site also encourages children to think of unusual and unbelievable places to grow their plants, for instance, we all have old, discarded shoes in our houses, have you ever thought of reusing them as unique plant pots? Try one!

The site has kept the language easy and illustrations/pictures quite colourful to attract most kids towards gardening.

To start with your little garden, visit: http://extension.illinois.edu/firstgarden/index.cfm

Published in Dawn, Young World, June 18th, 2016