Archive | Growing with Kids RSS feed for this section

bean teepee

Sowing Those Beans

    Time to sow. I run a children’s gardening website, but strangely enough I rarely get around to writing a blog post about the sowing and growing process.  Absurd really as it is the essence of gardening.  As a family we grow quite a few vegetables though my son is not always involved in […]

Continue Reading
Easter Egg Grassheads and Cressheads

Easter Egg Grass Heads

Growing Ideas for Easter   Easter is prime sowing and growing time in the garden.  So why not try to make these Easter egg grassheads and cressheads.  They are fun, you may have most of the ingredients already in the house and they germinate and grow very fast.  In 2/3 weeks the eggs should have a […]

Continue Reading
snowdrops

What to Grow and Activities for your Kids in the Garden in February

We are still full of resolution in February, but it’s not really the month when we can get out into the garden for any length of time.  The focus has to be on growing indoors, general garden maintenance and preparation and planning for the growing season.  Ideas for Indoor Growing with Kids You will need […]

Continue Reading
Freshly harvested radishes

What to Plant with your Kids in July

There is still time to sow and plant vegetables in July and see them harvested either before the end of the summer holidays or by late autumn.  The good thing about growing this time of year is that you can sow directly into outside pots or the ground.  No need to worry about sowing indoors […]

Continue Reading Comments { 3 }
Wildflowers Olympic Park

The Day We Sowed Wild Flowers

  A couple of weeks ago I posted about planting our Willow Wigwam and I am pleased to report that it has already started to sprout.  I can now reveal that around the wigwam we plan to have an annual wild flower meadow and we spent Sunday preparing the ground and sowing this. I wanted […]

Continue Reading
small willow wreath

Our Willow Wigwam

  I had been thinking about one for years.  I’ve written about them, recommended them to people and talked about them.  At last this week we have been playing out in the garden and building a willow wigwam. A trip to collect the willow wigwam kit from the World of Willow, a local supplier, was […]

Continue Reading
cosmos family friendly plant

Floral Friday: Cosmos – Family Friendly Plants

The Cosmos is the sort of flower that you may have seen in other people’s gardens and thought I would love to have that displaying in my garden.  It’s a lovely statuesque cottage garden flower, usually with very pretty pastel colours and feathery leaves. It is rather magical for toddlers as it grows to just […]

Continue Reading

Floral Friday – Michaelmas Daisy – Family Friendly Plants

Bee on Aster A good late summer performer for the garden is the Aster or Michaelmas Daisy. So called because it has daisy-like flowers from pink, purple to blue and it flowers at the time of Michaelmas, on 29 September when in parts of Europe remember Archangel Michael. Its reliability and hardiness help to make […]

Continue Reading

Floral Friday – Chives – What to plant with your Kids

Chives It is its versatility that makes chives such a great plant to grow with your kids.  It is of course a culinary herb and part of the onion family, but its flowers are beautiful – a delicate ball of pinky, purple.    The child and family friendly properties of the chive plant Allium Schoenoprasum include […]

Continue Reading

Nasturtiums – What to Plant with your Kids

If you are not too sure what flowers to plant with your kids this is a good one to get going with.  It is an easy- grow annual.  This plant’s family friendly features include:- Large seeds which are easy to sow. 8 Weeks from seed to flower. Short waiting time – Very child friendly! It […]

Continue Reading

Floral Friday: Edible Flowers – Courgette Flowers

Today I am introducing Floral Friday. A regular post every Friday on flowering plants to grow with your kids, and to have in your garden. All the plants featured will be ‘family friendly’. By this I mean they will either:- Grow easily and be a ‘good doer’. May self –seed. Will have a point of […]

Continue Reading

PLANTING SPRING BULBS WITH YOUR KIDS

Planting spring bulbs must be one of the easiest kids gardening activities. Many do deserve the label ‘easy grow’. All you need is a trowel, bare patch of soil and bulbs. There are loads of easy grow bulbs. Simply either follow the instructions on the packet or from your supplier. If planting direct into the […]

Continue Reading

CLAY PIPES AND TIME CAPSULES

Major building works to our house over the past year has meant lots of digging.  Not so much of the gardening variety, but of the foundation and soakaway type.  One unexpected result has been finding some real treasures and snippets of social history in our soil. My son was delighted when this clay pipe was […]

Continue Reading
Radishes

Growing with Kids 1 – Radishes

Radish harvest     We are adding a few more veg to our repertoire this year.  Lots of kids gardening books suggest that one of the easiest vegetables to grow with kids are radishes and guess what they are right.  Our little bunch above were planted at the end of half term, in early June […]

Continue Reading