Growing Family

UK home and garden blog sharing ideas, inspiration and tips for busy family life, written by Catherine Hughes

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Woodland wanderings

January 29, 2015 by Catherine 18 Comments

woodland walk

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 ...

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Filed Under: Exploring Nature Tagged With: Children, Family, Flowers, HDYGG, Moss, Snowdrops, Trees, Wildlife, Winter, Woodland

Family fun with the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch

January 26, 2015 by Catherine 2 Comments

hanging up bird feeder

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 ...

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Filed Under: Exploring Nature Tagged With: Activity, Birds, Birdwatch, Children, Family, Garden, Homemade, RSPB, Wildlife, Winter

6. How Does Your Garden Grow: Planning the kids’ plots

January 15, 2015 by Catherine 23 Comments

children raised bed

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 ...

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Filed Under: Gardening with Children Tagged With: Activity, Allotment, Children, Family, Flowers, Garden, HDYGG, Homegrown, Planning, Planting, Plants, Seeds

RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2015

January 14, 2015 by Catherine Leave a Comment

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 ...

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Filed Under: Exploring Nature Tagged With: Activity, Birds, Children, Garden, Wildlife

5. How Does Your Garden Grow?

January 8, 2015 by Catherine 20 Comments

sweet peas

This week’s post comes from our allotment.  Having not made it down there since November I’ve been badly missing my visits; obviously because of the lack of gardening time, but also because they provide perfect calm time where I can gather my thoughts and slow things down a little.  So when my first child-free day of the new year came around this week I was there like a shot! It was cold and as you’d expect in early January not much is ...

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Filed Under: Grow Your Own Tagged With: Allotment, Children, Crops, Flowers, Food, Garden, Greenhouse, HDYGG, Homegrown, Planning, Planting, Plants, Seeds, Vegetables, Winter

4. How Does Your Garden Grow?

January 2, 2015 by Catherine 6 Comments

choisya frost

Happy New Year! We spent the last days of 2014 under a blanket of snow which was wonderful on many levels.  Everything looked obligingly festive whilst also giving the feeling of a clean slate for the New Year, we were all suddenly desperate to get outside and burn off some energy which made for fab family time and rosy cheeks aplenty, and the light was just incredible, like a shot in the arm during these dark days. Inevitably I started ...

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Filed Under: Garden Tips Tagged With: Children, Frost, Garden, Grasses, HDYGG, Plants, Snow, Winter

3. How Does Your Garden Grow?

December 18, 2014 by Catherine 15 Comments

wicker star light

I found myself in a reflective mood whilst working on this week’s post.  I wandered out into the garden with my camera and was completely stumped for anything interesting to shoot.  Well it is December, I know, but the fact that there was so little to excite despite all our hard work this year wasn’t exactly uplifting. This is the essence of gardening though; so much of it is transient and at the whim of the elements, you just have to embrace ...

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Filed Under: Garden Tips Tagged With: Buds, Children, Christmas, Garden, HDYGG, Winter

2. How Does Your Garden Grow?

December 11, 2014 by Catherine 21 Comments

wintry garden

Last weekend we had a big family gathering at my sister-in-law’s house; she has a wonderful garden so our rather bare patch at home is off the hook this week! These photos were taken quite early in the morning; there had been a heavy frost but the Winter sun was working it’s magic before my eyes as I wandered around with the camera.  Here’s a few of the things that grabbed my attention and made me linger long enough to lose the feeling in my ...

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Filed Under: Garden Tips Tagged With: Children, Compost, Containers, Flowers, Frost, Garden, HDYGG, Homemade, Minibeasts, Vegetables, Winter

A family allotment adventure

November 25, 2014 by Catherine 2 Comments

When we first set foot on our allotment we were ready for a new family adventure.  We were full of enthusiasm and grand plans for our little plot, but we were also a busy family with limited time and knowledge.  We knew we wouldn’t get everything right first time but we were determined to have fun trying! Here’s a visual record of our first few months.  I think it shows how a plot can be developed, but it’s also a great introduction to what my ...

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Filed Under: Grow Your Own Tagged With: Allotment, Children, Compost, Crops, Family, Flowers, Greenhouse, Harvest, Planning, Raised bed, Seeds, Shed, Vegetables

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Hi, I’m Catherine. Welcome to Growing Family, a top UK home & garden blog sharing ideas, inspiration and tips for making the most of busy family life, indoors and out.
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Catherine Hughes is a home & garden blogger sharing ideas, inspiration & tips for making the most of busy family life, indoors and out.
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