With Mother’s Day fast approaching the shops are filling up with gift ideas. As a mum and a gardener I’ve been thinking about what gardening-themed gifts I might like to receive. Here’s my top 5. A special plant Every gardener has one thing in common: they never believe they have too many plants, so a lovely new specimen is always a great idea for a gift. You could go for something with particular relevance to the recipient, such as a rose ...
How Does Your Community Garden Grow?
This week we’ve been exploring the Arkwright Meadows Community Garden in Nottingham. Situated very close to the city centre, this previously unloved playing field has been completely transformed into a fabulous outdoor space that the local community now cherish. My kids love to come here because there’s lots to explore and they like comparing the crops with our own at the allotment. Here it really is all about bringing local people together ...
The planting begins…
My seed order arrived this week. Do you think I’ve overdone it a little?! In my defence I fully intend to plant everything I’ve ordered, but I can already tell we’re going to struggle to find room for everything. It’s the same every year, I always end up juggling what goes where - you’d think I’d learn but apparently not! I’d rather this than not have enough plants though, I can’t handle the idea of big patches of ground that aren’t growing ...
How to make your garden a home for wildlife
Have you ever looked at your garden through the eyes of the wildlife that visits it? Probably not. You should though! When I was sitting with my kids deciding what they would grow on their allotment plots this year, we talked about which flowers were good for pollinating insects. This led to a lovely discussion about what it must be like to be a bee, buzzing around all the gardens and deciding which one had the most tempting flowers to visit ...
Woodland wanderings
I think this week has been the hardest so far this Winter for me to find any garden inspiration. The weather has been pretty foul and our garden is looking a bit like I feel; rather drab and in need of a bit of colour and sun to liven things up. Ah January, how we love you.... So with little to inspire us on the doorstep, and with Lily keen to continue her never-ending mission to find the perfect stick, we headed to our local wood to blow away ...
Family fun with the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch
Over the weekend we took part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. We wrapped up warm, grabbed the camera and spent an hour counting the wild birds that visited our garden. It was absolutely brilliant! The Birdwatch takes place every year with the aim of building a national picture of the wild bird population, which is a barometer for the health of the countryside in general. As well as contributing to the national survey it was the perfect ...
New life in old pots
This has been a very low-input week for us gardening-wise; we’ve been decorating Lily’s bedroom which has sucked up all potential outdoors-in-the-frosty-sunshine time. To make matters worse, after wrestling with a wonky stepladder I’m now the proud owner of a badly cut finger which means no ‘proper’ gardening for a few days. Not happy! Anyway, after feeling sorry for myself for a bit I finished my seed order, which got me fired-up for getting ...
Help! We’ve Got An Allotment
Getting that phone call or email telling you that you’ve reached the top of the allotment waiting list can be a bit of a surprise. If you’re anything like me, you’ll have put your name down ages ago, been warned it could be a few years before you hear anything, then promptly got on with raising a young family and almost forgot all about it. Then comes the call or email and before you know it, you’re being shown your new plot and quizzed on what ...
6. How Does Your Garden Grow: Planning the kids’ plots
Last weekend I sat down with Sam and Lily and a seed catalogue. It was the nicest hour of my whole week. I’ve been doing my own planning for this year’s garden and allotment this week, so it was a great opportunity to get the kids thinking about what they want to grow in their own little plots down at the allotment (see my Family Allotment Adventure post for more about what they got up to last year). I think it’s important to involve your kids ...
RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2015
Finding things to do in the garden with the kids at this time of the year can be tough. My two are quite happy to romp around in the freezing cold, but with so little actually happening in the garden it’s hard to grab their attention and get them engrossed in an activity. The RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch is perfect for doing just that though. All you have to do is spend an hour over the weekend of 24th and 25th January counting the birds ...