Get arty and have a go at our new childrens competitions

On the Gardening With Children website we have just launched two new free Childrens Competitions, with a chance to win some great Wildlife and Gardening Goodies for your home or school.

1.  In the Family Zone and Kids Zone

To help the Bees in your garden why not enter our competition for a chance to win

 

 

A Solitary Bee Hive

 

 

 

A Butterfly/Bee Nectar Feeding Station

 

 

 

and a Guide to Solitary Bees

 

What you need to do

‘Bee’ creative and design a poster with the heading ‘Bee kind to Bees’  or  ‘Bee’ artistic and draw a picture of a Bee in your garden.

Send your drawing to us with an entry form before the closing date of 30^th June 2013 and our favourite will win. Click here for full details and an entry form.

 

2.  In the School Zone

Win a Scarecrow for your school garden.

 

For a chance to win one of our Scarecrow Kits complete with a hand crafted Head why not enter our competition, your Scarecrow will make a fun addition to the school garden; why not dress him in your School Uniform or a local Football Team Kit.

 

What you need to do

Simply draw or paint a picture of a Scarecrow, then give him/her a name and send it to us with an entry form before the closing date of 30th June 2013 and our favourite will win. Click here for full details and an entry form.

 

Congratulations to the winners of our last two competitions

The winner of our March/April School Zone Competition was Ludworth Primary School, Stockport, they have won a Kids Raised Bed Growing Table and the winner of the Family/Kids Zone competition was Lydia Clarkson from Leeds who won a Yeominis Childrens Wheelbarrow and a Haws Watering Can.

Well done to them, we hope they enjoy their fabulous prizes.

 

Gill

Could Cucumbers be the next superfood – why not grow your own?

Cucumbers are often only thought of as an ingredient in a salad but there is a lot more to cucumbers than you think.

A Cucumber is classed as a fruit not a vegetable and consists of 95% water, it also contains potassium and vitamins K, C and B5 which help to restore water to your body whilst removing toxins. Cucumbers are beneficial to your eyes and skin and can help fight against different types of cancer, cucumbers contain 15 calories and no saturated fat or cholesterol making them very healthy indeed.

So why not celebrate National Cucumber Day on 12^th May 2013 by sowing some seeds and growing your own:

Sow seeds individually on their edge in small pots 1cm deep in seed compost, place in a propagator and once they have germinated grow them on somewhere cool and light (not in direct sunlight).

When the plants are well established plant into good vegetable compost in large pots or grow bags in the greenhouse or outdoors (check the seed packet) and provide canes, wires or strings to train the plants up. Outdoor Cucumbers ideally need a sunny and sheltered position; these plants will need hardening off before planting out after all danger of frost has passed. Keep plants well watered and feed regularly.

I planted my seeds at the end of April and will be planting them in large pots in my greenhouse towards the end of May.

Gill

Enjoy your Bank Holiday in the garden, or the kitchen

It’s Bank Holiday weekend, giving me an extra day to get busy in the garden, go out for a walk or if the weather is not great I usually find myself in the kitchen baking. The walk is planned for tomorrow, I was in the garden yesterday and so today with a light drizzle falling I have dug out a recipe.

I usually have a jar of honey in the cupboard and honey and lemon is such a lovely combination – we can take these on our walk tomorrow.

Honey and Lemon Fairy Cakes

Ingredients

• 150g Butter/Margarine
• 100g Caster Sugar
• 150g Self-Raising Flour
• 2 Medium Eggs
• 50g Clear Runny Honey
• Finely grated zest of a Lemon
• 3 tbsp Lemon Juice

For the icing

• 100g Icing Sugar
• 4 tsp Lemon Juice or Water
• Sprinkles, Small Sweets or Sugar Flowers to decorate.

How to make your cakes

1. Line a bun tray with 12 paper bun cases.
2. Preheat oven to 190°C/fan 170°C/gas mark 5.
3. Mix together the Butter/Margarine, Sugar and Honey in a bowl until pale and creamy.
4. Beat the eggs and add gradually, mixing well.
5. Stir in the lemon juice and zest.
6. Sift the flour and add gradually, mixing well until light and fluffy.
7. Divide the mixture between the 12 bun cases.
8. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
9. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the icing

1. Place the icing sugar in a bowl, add the Lemon Juice/Water gradually and mix until it is smooth and runny.
2. Spread or drizzle the icing on the fairy cakes, add your decorations whilst wet then leave to set.

If the weather is fine there are lots of things to do in the garden click here for some ideas.

Have a lovely weekend

Gill

Don’t miss out – enter our Free Childrens Competitions before the end of April

On the Gardening With Children website we currently have two free Childrens Competitions with some great Childrens Gardening Goodies to win so why not have a go before next weeks closing date on 30th April 2013.

1.  In the Family Zone and Kids Zone

This Month grab your wellies put on a warm coat, get outside, and spot 3 signs of spring for a chance to win

a fantastic Yeominis Childrens Wheelbarrow

and a pair of Childrens Embroidered Gardening Gloves

both are perfect for budding young gardeners.

For full details and how to enter take a look here.

2.  In the School Zone

All you need to do is to find 10 hidden words in our Gardening Wordsearch for a chance to win

a Kids Raised Bed Growing Table

Designed for children they are a perfect height for kids to stand at and around, to sow, grow and harvest their very own vegetables.

 

For full details and how to enter take a look here in the School Zone.

 

Have a look today and get your entries to us as soon as you can before the closing date on 30th April, 2013.

 

Gill

Why not grow your own Strawberries this year?

This year I decided to treat myself to some new Strawberry plants, the ones on my allotment are over 3 years old and their stems have become old, woody and they will now produce less fruits, it is recommended that you replace your Strawberry plants after 3 years each time replanting in a new position or new compost if they are grown in containers.

Strawberry plants are available now in garden centres, supermarkets, on the high street and via mail order. There are so many different varieties to choose from, cropping at different times in various shapes and sizes but all of them equally delicious, why not plant a few different varieties to give a continuous crop over the Summer months and into Autumn.

Bare root runners

Yesterday a white padded envelope came through the front door, it was from one of the large seed companies, inside there were growing instructions and a small white bag containing my new Strawberry runners they didn’t look very inspiring but with a little care and attention they should produce some delicious Strawberries this Summer.

Strawberry Table

The variety I chose is ‘Buddy’ it is new this year and is ‘ever bearing’ or ‘perpetual’ which means that it will produce Strawberries over a long growing period from Spring into Autumn. After their arrival I put my bare root runners in water straightaway and then planted them individually in pots in the greenhouse in good compost to become established before planting outside. Strawberries can be grown practically anywhere – in the ground, raised beds, strawberry tables, pots, hanging baskets, troughs, window boxes and in Strawberry bags/tubs and are ideal for children to grow.

Strawberry Planter Bag

Click here for a full guide to growing your own Strawberries.

Gill

Celebrate National Gardening Week next week 15th – 21st April

National Gardening Week was launched by the RHS to get the Nation Growing.

The benefits of gardening are felt by people of all ages and abilities and from all backgrounds, gardens promote a sense of purpose, and an escape from daily routine as well as providing valuable habitat and food for our wildlife and insects and of course good, home-grown, healthy fruit and vegetables for our table.

Throughout next week there are lots of Gardening events across the country organised by communities and groups as well as the RHS have a look at the RHS website for events near where you live.

It has been said that Britain is a nation of gardeners and I couldn’t agree more so what better way to celebrate gardening by getting involved with community groups, young peoples organisations e.g. Cubs, Brownies and with Schools and share your passion, experience and knowledge of this truly amazing pastime.

Dust off your trowel, put on your warm wellies and a good pair of gardening gloves and get gardening.

Gill

When do you plant seed potatoes?

I have had an ‘Ask the expert enquiry ‘from Ceri Sawyer in Cumbria and one of the questions that she has asked is

What time of the year should you plant a seed potato?

I thought that I would share my reply with you -

There are three types of seed potatoes

First Earlies

Plant in late March to early April – you can expect to harvest these approx. 10 weeks after planting.

Second Earlies

Plant early to mid April – you can expect to harvest these approx. 13 weeks after planting.  

Maincrop

Plant in mid to late April – you can expect to harvest these approx. 15-20 weeks after planting.

These planting dates are a guide, if you live in the south you may be able to plant a week or two earlier or if you live in the north a couple of weeks later it also depends on our unpredictable weather which at the moment is predictably very cold, even if the ground is not frozen it is still very cold and crops simply will not grow.

Seed potatoes can be planted now in potato growing bags filled with vegetable compost and placed in a greenhouse or polytunnel where they will be protected from the weather otherwise cover your vegetable beds with black plastic or cloches to warm the soil up until there is an improvement in the weather.

When you get your ‘seed’ potatoes put them into egg boxes/seed trays with the ‘rose’ end upwards this is where you might see tiny shoots or the ‘belly button’ end facing downwards and place them in a cool, frost-free and light (not sunny) position. This is called chitting and helps the potato to produce strong buds which speeds up growing once they are planted, all seed potatoes especially first and second earlies benefit from chitting. When the shoots are about 2-3cm they are ready to plant, don’t leave it too late to buy your seed potatoes, once the weather warms up the demand will be high and your choice may be limited.

My seed potatoes are sat patiently in their egg boxes.

Gill