This is a review post in collaboration with Envii Harvest time!! I do love this time of year, when all those days of warm weather are paying off in the veg patch. We're enjoying a particularly bumper harvest of tomatoes this year, having spent a few months using Envii's Maximato organic tomato fertiliser. Envii specialise in unique premium quality garden, pond and home products that are environmentally friendly. Maximato is an ...
Five easy ways to encourage outdoor play
Collaborative post If you’re a parent or carer, you’ll no doubt be well aware of the constant presence of screens and the internet in your children’s lives. And you probably spend quite a bit of time and energy trying to strike a healthy balance between screen time and other activities. One really great way to achieve that balance is to encourage outdoor play. Getting kids active outside has so many benefits: it encourages ...
How to eat organic food on a budget
Collaborative post Do you try to eat organic food where possible? The last fifteen years have seen a huge increase in the availability of organic meat, fruit and veg and dairy products, reflecting the growing consumer interest in the benefits of choosing organic food over conventionally grown alternatives. Those benefits include a healthier diet with less artificial additives, reduced impact on the environment from synthetic ...
Grow Your Own for kids: how to grow salad
Over the last few years my kids have got involved with lots of different aspects of gardening; they've sown seeds, harvested crops, dug, planted, watered, weeded and simply played in the mud. They love all of it, but if you asked them what their favourite gardening job was, they'd say growing plants from seeds every time. I can understand why. There's just something so magical about planting a seed, watering it, and watching ...
How to grow potatoes in a bag
It's potato planting time! I think it's impossible to beat the taste of homegrown new potatoes, and they're not difficult to grow at all. In fact they're a brilliant veg to grow with kids; they're nice and chunky to handle when planting, the kids get to pile soil on them as they grow, and harvest time is basically a treasure hunt as all those lovely spuds are unearthed! If you've got lots of room in the garden or at an allotment, you ...
Why gardening is good for you and the planet
Collaborative post Are you someone who’s been gardening for years? Someone who’s only recently discovered the joys of gardening? Or maybe someone who’s never even picked up any gardening tools before, but curious to find out what the hype is all about? Well, gardening engages the body, stimulates the mind and uplifts the spirit! Not only can gardening provide many mental and physical health benefits, but it can also provide environmental ...
What to plant now – Container Vegetables
So we’re into April - which means the growing season is well and truly underway and you can really get cracking with sowing seeds. You may not have an allotment or a large vegetable plot in the garden, but there are lots of vegetables that can be grown really successfully in containers. Here are my top container vegetables to plant this month. Carrots Carrots have a bit of a reputation for being tricky to grow, because they don’t like ...
The kit you really need for growing seeds
We may still be trying to wave goodbye to winter, but if you’re even remotely green-fingered your thoughts are bound to be turning to what plants you want to grow this year. I’ve already spent a lovely afternoon with the kids planning what to grow on their plots, and a couple of evenings working out what I want to grow in our garden and allotment over the coming months. I've done my seed order and now it’s a case of waiting for the ...
What to plant now – February
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 ...
How to grow radish
Radish can really perk up a salad, and it's speed of growth makes it great to grow with children too. This guest post has lots of tips to help you get a bumper harvest. Radish is very easy to grow, and doesn't need any complicated care measures. It handles low temperatures well and the vegetation period is short, so it is perfect for cultivation in early spring, although you may also sow it at the end of summer for the autumn ...