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Growing Family

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

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What to plant now – March

March 5, 2019 by Catherine 8 Comments

crocus meadow in march

The arrival of March really is the start of the growing season in my mind - even if the weather isn't in agreement and it’s still freezing outside! If you’re raring to go in the garden or allotment, here are some ideas for what to plant this month. Peas I’ve always planted my peas direct into their growing site later in the spring, but this year I’m going to get them started earlier.  This month you can sow peas (and broad beans if you haven’t ...

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Filed Under: What to Plant Now Tagged With: Allotment, bulbs, Flowers, Garden, Greenhouse, Homegrown, March, Planting, Plants, Seeds, Spring, Vegetables, What to plant now

What to plant now – February

February 5, 2019 by Catherine 3 Comments

what vegetables to plant in february chillies

We’re almost there.... February is underway and spring is just around the corner.  I still want it to hurry up though! It really won’t be long before I’m up to my neck in packets of seed and fussing over my labelled pots like a mother hen.  But the fact remains that it’s still winter, and most plants just won’t tolerate being started off until the weather warms up a bit and the light improves.  There are some that will happily get ...

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Filed Under: What to Plant Now Tagged With: Allotment, Crops, Family, Food, Garden, Greenhouse, Grow Your Own, Homegrown, Planting, Plants, Seeds, Top Tips, Vegetables, Winter

What to plant now – January

January 14, 2019 by Catherine 4 Comments

what to plant in january sweet peas

If you’re anything like me, by January you’ll have had enough of being content with looking forward to sunnier days and will be longing to get outside and plant something.  I dearly love the whole process of coaxing plants into life and it feels like an age since I last pushed a seed into some earth and willed it to grow.  I think I have the gardening equivalent of itchy feet! To satisfy my cravings I’ve been looking at what will actually ...

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Filed Under: What to Plant Now Tagged With: Allotment, bulbs, Children, Crops, Family, Flowers, Food, Fruit, Greenhouse, Planting, Plants, Salad, Seeds, Top Tips, Vegetables, Winter

3. The 10 minute gardener: spring garden prep

January 8, 2019 by Catherine Leave a Comment

hellebore spring plants

The start of a new year has worked it’s magic on my gardening enthusiasm, as it always does.  I’ve replaced the frenzy of Christmas with a gentler form of excitement, and my mind is buzzing with ideas for the garden and allotment this spring and summer.  We may be still in the depths of winter but I do love a good bit of looking forward, don’t you? My problem is getting beyond that looking forward.  This is what normally happens in our ...

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Filed Under: The 10 minute gardener Tagged With: bulbs, Children, Christmas, Flowers, Greenhouse, Houseplants, Maintenance, Plants, Salad, Seeds, Top Tips, Winter

Tips for controlling plant diseases

June 13, 2017 by Catherine 4 Comments

Fungus Fighter Plus roses

Plant disease: it’s not the most glamorous of gardening topics, but it’s an issue that’s highly likely to have affected your garden at some point.  To be honest, in the past I’ve struggled to understand and recognise plant diseases beyond a very basic level.  Yes, I could tell when a plant has suffered from under or over watering, and recognise leaf scorching from bright sun, but beyond that I was pretty much out of my depth! I have noticed ...

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Filed Under: Garden Tips Tagged With: Allotment, Crops, Garden, Garden tips, gardening, Greenhouse, Outdoors, Plant diseases, Plants, Top Tips

Review & Giveaway: Greenhouse Sensation plant watering kits

June 7, 2016 by Catherine 106 Comments

greenhouse peppers

Welcome to a new giveaway, courtesy of Greenhouse Sensations.  I'm giving away a brilliant Quadgrow Planter worth £42.90, which is perfect for taking the hassle out of plant watering.  If you grow plants in a greenhouse of any size, you'll be familiar with the task of regular watering.  I've had a greenhouse on my allotment for a couple of years now, and I've learned the hard way that it only takes a day or two to create drought conditions in ...

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Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: Allotment, Compost, Crops, gardening, Greenhouse, Harvest, Planting, Plants, Reviews, Vegetables, watering

A Home-grown Health Kick

April 21, 2016 by Catherine Leave a Comment

premier polytunnels home grown health kick infographic

Do you grow your own fruit and veg?  We started our grow-your-own journey a few years ago, and it has made such a difference to the amount of fresh produce we eat on a regular basis.  We've found home-grown to be fresher, tastier and a really convenient way to manage a healthy diet. I've recently come across this great infographic from Premier Polytunnels, which has loads of ideas for getting more fruit and veg into your diet.  There are some ...

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Filed Under: Food Tagged With: Crops, Food, Fruit, gardening, Greenhouse, Harvest, Homegrown, Plants, Vegetables

Exploring Clumber Park

September 11, 2015 by Catherine 29 Comments

clumber park bridge

Visiting Clumber Park is one of those days out where the minute you arrive, you just know it’s going to be brilliant.  We’ve been meaning to visit for such a long time and we finally managed it over the bank holiday weekend. Covering over 3,800 acres of parkland, heath and woods in North Nottinghamshire, Clumber Park was once the country estate of the Dukes of Newcastle.  The original house is no longer there but there are lots of other ...

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Filed Under: Days Out Tagged With: Autumn, Children, Days out, Family, Flowers, Food, Fruit, Garden, gardening, Greenhouse, HDYGG, Nature, Outdoors, Vegetables, Wildlife

An unruly Summer allotment

July 16, 2015 by Catherine 22 Comments

summer allotment

It's been a while since I shared any pictures of our allotment.  This hasn't been deliberate, I just haven't got myself organised! I feel like I've been behind the whole way with the allotment this year.  Last year I had the plot rotavated in early Spring, which meant I was good to go with the planting nice and early.  This year however there's a greenhouse slap bang in the middle of the plot, a few raised beds and some permanent fruit canes, ...

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Filed Under: Grow Your Own Tagged With: Allotment, Children, Crops, Family, Flowers, Food, Fruit, gardening, Greenhouse, Harvest, HDYGG, Homegrown, July, Plants, Raised bed, Summer, Vegetables, Weeds

The oldest allotments in Britain

July 2, 2015 by Catherine 23 Comments

st anns allotments

I bet the word ‘allotment’ conjures up an image in your mind something like this: a small-ish site, plots laid out in rectangles, each one completely visible, lots of sheds, greenhouses and compost bins.  St Anns Allotments are nothing like this. St Anns allotments are the oldest detached town gardens in Britain, possibly the world; it’s history goes back over 600 years.  The Grade 2 listed site is huge - 75 acres with 700 plots.  550 ...

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Filed Under: Days Out Tagged With: Allotment, Community, Food, Garden, gardening, Greenhouse, HDYGG, history, Homegrown, Wildlife

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I’m Catherine, mum, wife, writer and fan of wellies. We love exploring, creating and growing things and my blog shares 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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