Garden Classroom – Page 7 – Tracie's Treasures

My Dad and Rosie

Posted on 11th Mar 202111th Mar 2021 by Tracie Dowling

This is my dad Alan, he and my mum started my passion for Gardening and outdoor learning when I was young.

My dad worked in the Horticulture business for many, many years. He’s now retired, so he has all the time he needs to potter around his garden, instead of maintaining other peoples’ gardens.

Dad’s garden is amazing, he lives in Boston, England in the middle of the most amazing countryside. I think he should share his knowledge and garden with us all, so I am adding him to our Garden Classroom blog.

One of his lifetime ambitions is to have a beehive and this year he is finally making that dream come true.

This is Rosie, my step mum. She has been encouraging my dad to set up beekeeping and has been busy growing a wildflower meadow for the bees to collect pollen.

Rosie is also passionate about their garden and providing wildlife which will enhance the bee’s environment.

My brother Jonathan bought Rosie a camera to go in her bird box for her birthday a few years ago.

This year a bird has already made themselves at home! We will follow the bird over the next year to see what they do.

Garden Classroom, Seedlings, wanderers

Exercise in Lockdown

Posted on 18th Feb 202119th Feb 2021 by Tracie Dowling

We all made the most of our hours exercise today in Stanley Park. Jacey made everyone laugh pricking his bottom on a Yucca bush.

The children went on a treasure hunt and they found some Snowdrops, Purple Crocuses, lovely Red Dogwood and a Mugo Pinewood which looked very prickly.

family, Garden Classroom, rangers

Garden Challenge 2021: Chloe Sowing Seeds

Posted on 12th Feb 2021 by Tracie Dowling

Chloe helped her mum, Gemma to plant seeds in the warmth of her home. She used egg boxes and recyclable coloured flower pots.

They will be putting them on the windowsill in the conservatory, until they have germinated and grown enough to be planted in their garden.

Garden Classroom, Seedlings, wanderers

Avocado Growing

Posted on 9th Feb 202111th Aug 2021 by Tracie Dowling

Two years ago we decided to grow an avocado stone. The Little Seedlings tried the Avocado fruit. Only one out of five Seedlings liked it!

We had another go last year. This time we placed the stone into water using a special ‘Avoseedo’ tool. We waited for it to grow and after about nine weeks the stone started splitting.

About six weeks later, a small sprout appeared at the tip and roots began to form at the bottom. Two months went by… then the roots and shoots began to get stronger. In June, we planted the small tree into a pot with soil.

We were given another stone by our neighbour and decided to try growing that too. We now have two thriving trees.

Garden Classroom, Seedlings

Icy Outdoor Play

Posted on 8th Feb 202111th Aug 2021 by Tracie Dowling

On our walk around the garden today we found everything had turned to ice! Theo pointed to the spade and Fearne tried to pick it up. When we carefully moved the spade we saw it had left a print in the ice in the shape of a spade!

We decided to look around the garden and find different shapes and frozen solid items.

While we were looking for frozen areas around the garden, Fearne found:

Theo copied Fearne, looking around and found:

Its lovely to find winter treasures in our garden! What have you got growing or freezing in your garden this winter?

Garden Classroom, Seedlings

Hand Picked Flower Printing

Posted on 5th Feb 202111th Aug 2021 by Tracie Dowling

While we were all out it the garden, the Little Seedlings kept trying to pick the pretty flowers. We made it into an activity by making some amazing flower prints on fabric and paper. First we got some cotton napkins, placed the flowers on one side and folded the napkin in half to cover the flowers. We all had fun bashing the napkin with a rolling pin.

After a few minutes, we opened up the napkin and carefully peeled off the squidgy flowers. The patterns made by the flowers were very pretty and printed on both sides of the napkin like a butterfly.

The children enjoyed this activity and extended it by mixing paints to make different colours, shades, prints.

family, Garden Classroom

Garden Challenge 2021: Tracie’s Focus Area

Posted on 4th Feb 20218th Feb 2021 by Tracie Dowling

Tracie has a lot of nooks and crannies where she grows in her garden and she has decided to use the back end of the garden (where she gets the most sun!) for her growing challenge.

family, Garden Classroom

Garden Challenge 2021: Gemma’s Garden

Posted on 3rd Feb 20218th Feb 2021 by Tracie Dowling

Here is Gemma’s garden on a sunny day in February! Let’s get digging!

family, Garden Classroom

Garden Challenge 2021: Phyllis’ Garden

Posted on 2nd Feb 20218th Feb 2021 by Tracie Dowling

This is Phyllis’ garden in January 2021. It was very cold that week and we have had some snow.

Phyllis’ little Kitten is Hebe and we’re sure you’ll see a lot of him during the challenge.

family, Garden Classroom

Garden Challenge 2021

Posted on 1st Feb 20218th Feb 2021 by Tracie Dowling

We are three generations of gardeners starting a gardening challenge to see the difference in the ways we garden and grow!

We will all have the same seeds and grow them in our own ways. We will give regular updates and are looking forward to sharing the results. Follow the Garden Challenge with our hashtag GardenChallenge2021!