Topic: child freindly

[matgill]

 ;Di work with children and families and at the moment i have already set up three allotment sites. we have built the raised beds and slowly planning what to plant for next year.
we are going to be conditioning the soil now for the spring, but this will involve using lime and manure which could be harmfull to the children. i was wondering is there any child freindly materials or ways to condition the soil that will not be harmfull to children. thanks mat

[Old bird]

Matgill

Can't think that there are any different materials that will do the same thing as lime and manure!  What about disposable rubber gloves for the little dears!

Generally suggest that they don't eat the stuff too!

Good luck with your work - you obviously have a lot more patience than I have!  I think as you age you grow more intolerant - I couldn't do it!

Good for you though!

Old Bird

 ;D

[matgill]

i know its never as straght forward as when you just do it yourself, cheers anyway. somebody suggested chicken pellets in place of manure but will have to check that out.

[Old bird]

Hi again Matgill

It depends on whether you need a soil conditioner or just a fertilizer.

Obviously the manure would do both - but if you just wanted a fertilizer - chicken pellets would be good!  I don't know if there is a substitute for lime though!

Old Bird

[PAULW]

MATGILL
You could put the lime on and turn it in when the children are not there, manure is not harmful to children unless they eat to much of it.

[Carls3168]

Hi,
My undergardener is 5 - and theres nothing he enjoys more then coming to the stables with me to get some manure! He even has his own wheelbarrow at the plot to help me shift it!

Just use common sence when there around it... bit of muck under there finger nails is good for them - I recon sitting about infront of the telly all day would do them more harm!

If your really bothered about kids not going near manure try growing green manures

[matgill]

thankyou all for your comments, i probably will just do the lyming on my own and the children could help with the manure if i keep an eye on them ;D

[sazhig]

Not sure on the lime, but would sowing a crop of green manure be something you could do instead of using animal manure?

[SMP1704]

The most child friendly approach is to teach the children and their parents (if needed) how to handle the materials, explaining how it can be harmful.

Removing everything that might be even slightly harmful is in the long-run more harmful to children as they have no concept of common sense because we have done all the thinking for them.

I agree with others posters, issue gloves and/or apply the lime when they are not there.

Perhaps there is a learning opportunity here that would really engage the children.  As you have raised beds you could use one bed per experiment, e.g. manure in two beds and plant one with manure loving crops and the other with root crops and have an ugly carrot/parsnip competition.  Use two more beds for brassicas, one limed and the other not but with lots of manure - note and record differences in growth and crop.  Use two more beds, one dug over and left for winter and the other planted with a green manure, then use a soil test kit to note any differences.

Could be fun.

[Tee Gee]

What ever you decide DON'T apply the lime and manure at the same time.

My preference is manure in the autumn and lime just before planting out.

By the time you get around to planting, the manure will have virtually disintegrated and if you rake in the lime on application there will be minimum contact with it.

BTW;

All soils have lime in it to varying degrees (pH) so the kids should not notice a thing.

As with most chemicals; problems generally occur on application, if you gear up correctly i.e. perhaps a face mask, goggles and gloves although I would have to admit ....I never use them.... all should be OK

[Plot69]

There's two types of lime, the powdery white slaked lime which is highly caustic and there's crushed limestone which is not.

I bought a box from a garden center last year and it supposedly does the same as the toxic stuff.