At the beginning of May, Gemma sent us some pictures of her garden vegetable raised beds that she had made. They have come on so well and are all starting to grow nice and strong.
Its mid-May now and only two weeks since the above pictures and the raised beds have grown so much! Gemma and the children are doing so well, they must all have green fingers!!
Chloe has been helping Gemma after school with watering and trying to keep Cooper their dog from jumping on them! All our pets want to join in with gardening!
Today the seedlings and Tracie went over to the greenhouse to check on their strawberry seeds.
Georgia said she thought there will be loads of strawberries all ready to eat! Tracie said it was too early in the year for strawberry picking, we just want strong healthy plants at the moment.
Over Crowded
We opened the door and peaked in, Georgia huffed, “No strawberries in here!”
Tracie took a tray from the side and showed everyone. These are the seedlings we sowed and they have all grown really well, in fact, so well we need to re-pot them so they can get bigger!
Tracie explained to a disappointed Georgia and Sophie that the plants need to grow big and strong. When it’s June and we have lovely hot weather little white flowers will appear, then the strawberry fruit will soon be here.
Cut Toilet Rolls
Filling them with Soil
Pots for the Strawberries
Tracie took the trays of strawberry plants over to the table where she had prepared soil, toilet roll inserts, scissors and gardening tools ready for repotting the growing plants.
First the seedlings cut each toilet roll inserts into 3 pieces. Then they carefully placed them all into a tray. The seedlings took turns to fill each roll with soil.
Using a fork tool, Tracie carefully moved each seedling into a roll. The Seedlings took turns to gently push them down into the soil.
The plants now have little individual pots to give them space to grow.
All the seedlings worked hard together as a team to re-pot them and are really looking forward to the summer when we can all eat strawberries for afternoon tea. Maybe a game of tennis too!!
Today we have all been on a trip to Croxteth Park Hall and joined in the ‘Liverpool Kindness Rocks’ challenge. We had to look high and low for painted rocks hidden around our parks.
Some stones have been placed with paint for you to take home and decorate yourself. Once decorated you then hide them in a different park. I wonder who will find the most, seedlings, rangers or wanderers?
Emma
Thank you George and Oliver
Everyone said Emma would win! We were all right, she found not one but two! A lovely shiny leaf and a ‘Thank You NHS’, they were both in a tree stump.
Thank You Lisa
Jacy found the next one, he remembered he had seen something a week ago when he was in the park with his mum. He didn’t go and investigate it then, but he went over to the place he thought he had seen it and it was was still there! One to the Rangers!
Sparkling Leaf by JJO
Georgia from the Seedlings found this beautiful ladybird rock near the playground, one to the Seedlings!
Georgia Left One on a Log
Beautiful Ladybird
Georgia loved the shine on the ladybird and said it was really smooth and pretty.
We Left These Stones For Someone to FindWhere’s This One We Hid? Good Luck Finding it! Rocks We Found at Walton Hall and Hid in Croxteth Park
Exercise in the Park
Pasta Salad
Georgia Loved the Cake
Emma Filling her Face
Jack and Jacy
Tracie Camara Shy
Mason Looked High
Camp Making
Climbing Trees
Jacy was a Caveman
Jacy and Jack
It was soon time for lunch and we all sat next to the park and the older children went on the exercise equipment and worked up a hunger so came back and had lunch.
The Rangers loved climbing the trees and getting stuck, luckily they were able to help each other to get over and off them. They worked well together and made treehouses.
We all thought Jacy’s was the biggest and brightest of all.
Cooling Marshmallows
Last but not least we went home and ended our day by the campfire roasting marshmallows nom nom.
Today Mason asked to help out in the garden. We decided to plant the bedding plants in the front garden as it’s looking bare before all the bulbs and wildflowers start coming through. Mason was extremely careful and gently took the plants out of the pots and planted them into the soil.
Looking in the Cold Frame
All Done
Jacy Sowing Sunflowers
Mason had a sneaky peek in the cold frame to see how our plants are doing. He noticed the pansies needed thinning and the marigolds are getting stronger.
Our Wildlife Wanderer sowed some Sunflower Seeds along the wall area, we are hoping they will grow very tall and strong.
Look who Jacy found in the garden!!
Big Spider!
All the children wanted to have a look but were very scared incase he jumped at us!!
Spinning a Web
Tracie made a run for it when putting out the bins, she tripped up the step while rushing too fast and nearly fell into the Spider! Scary or what!!
Today Tracie took Georgia for a walk in the sunshine to calm her down, she was having a tantrum while the babies slept and we didn’t want them waking up.
Winter Jasmine
We looked at all the plants and flowers to distract Georgia, her favourite flower was the Winter Jasmine, she said she loved it because it was bright yellow like the sunshine.
Peonies
New Flowers
Buddleia
Climbing Hydrangea
While we walked around the garden, Tracie showed Georgia the new shoots and buds growing on the plants. Tracie explained to Georgia that they were her favourite plants, this is because it meant everything is beginning to grow and we are going to have lovely weather soon for trips to the forest and parks.
Georgia got excited and said she wants to go to the Zoo! Tracie said that we will see how things go and when they reopen we can, we will have to all go on the train. Georgia jumped up and down so much she forgot we came out into the garden because she was having a tantrum.
Wiggly Worm
Sowing the Onions
Being Careful
Once Georgia had settled Tracie decided it was time to sow the Onion sets, so she got Georgia digging, looking for worms and sowing the Onions. What a perfect way to forget about a tantrum? Gardening is like therapy for me and I love to share that with the children.
Today we have welcomed our new friend Charlie to our setting. He has been a little ray of sunshine with his amazing smile.
Charlie
All the children have welcomed Charlie and made sure he had lots to play with.
New Friends
Free Play
Getting Stuck In
Fearne made sure that throughout the day Charlie had his rabbit and dummy nearby.
The Duplo bricks were a firm favourite and Charlie loved just swishing the bricks around making noises. It was funny because Alfie kept asking him to be ‘shhh’ but Alfie is actually the loudest off them all!
In half term, the Wildlife Wanderers used various different types of tubs from the recycling box to sow their seeds. This is how we got on.
Cauliflower Growing Strong
Chloe chose an old mince carton, as you can see they have turned out very well! Chloe sprays them with water in the morning before school and will soon be planting them into the raised beds.
Oops Not Doing Well!
These seeds were sown by Jacy in old sausage tubs, he thought that with the grooves it would be good to sow in rows. They started off really well, unfortunately the grooves were too shallow and the plants dried out too fast and wilted.
Tall Nasturtiums
These are amazing! They are Poppy’s nasturtiums and have grown so fast. We will be planting them out in the garden this week.
She used some seed trays that we brought last year, they have holes in the bottom so she has placed them in another tray without holes and waters them from the bottom. This is definitely a good way to grow seeds.
Jacy found this old Bisto tub and thought it would make a good planter for his Tomato Seed. He put the lid on the bottom to stop the water seeping through. It has so far worked very well and the tomato plant looks tall and healthy.
Jacy thinks that when the tomato is big enough he can take off the plastic lid and place the whole pot into the ground, and the roots will push through! We will have to wait until the last frost to plant out and see if he is right!
2 Cucumbers and 2 Tomatoes
Growing Strong
Martie’s Radish
Marigolds
Chillies
The Little Seedlings
In February, the little seedlings planted Chillies, Radish, cucumbers and Marigolds. Everything is growing so well, we even had some surprises!
We sprinkled at least 20 seeds in the seed tray but again like last year only 2 have grown! And a second surprise was 2 tomatoes have grown in their tray, Mason said that maybe they are ‘cuematos’! Maybe we have made a new salad crop!!
We will keep you updated at the end of March about how our project is going.
Tracie and the Seedlings have been working hard sowing seeds ready for planting out in the veg trugs. We have ordered a ton of peat-free compost and look forward to it arriving and getting stuck in filling the trugs.
Tomatoes
Fast Growing
Veg Trugs
Growing Tall
At half term the Wanderers got stuck in and sowed strawberries, thyme, coriander and peppers.
Ivor Sowing the Seeds
Martha Filling the Eggboxes
Ivor Using the Trowl
Jacey from the Wildlife Rangers sowed the cucumbers. Last year we had only two plants survive and gave us about nine good sized cucumbers. This year we want a bumper crop so hoping for good germination, so keeping them under glass.
Its only 9.45am and the Little Seedlings have had a ball this morning! We are celebrating World Book day and everyone has come as a Character. Emma came in as Matilda a lovely story by Roald Dahl, about a little girl who lives with her parents and brother who do not appreciate her. When her principal tortures her and her kind-hearted class teacher, she uses her telekinetic powers to settle scores.
Tracie Emma and Georgia
Emma chose this as it was one of her favourite books/films when she was much much younger.
Tracie loves the story “The Little Christmas Tree” written by Scott Edge. Tracie chose this story because “The Christmas Tree Story” is an attempt to help you and your children reclaim a beautiful, enduring symbol of the season, The Christmas Tree! It is one of her favourite Christmas time stories.
Georgia came in dressed as Snow White a story written in 1812 by The Brothers Grimm and retold in a film by Walt Disney in 1937. This is Georgia’s favourite Character. (She’s not as light footed as Snow White!!)
The story is about Snow White, a beautiful princess, who is exiled by her stepmother, an evil queen who wants to kill her, she runs into a forest. Soon, she is rescued by seven dwarfs who form a friendship with her.
Fearne and Martie
Marty came in as a cute Lion from Madagascar, a film made by DreamWorks. It’s a story about the New York Zoo, where all the animals lived. This was fine until one of them decided that he wanted to go wild.
Fearne came in as Hermione Granger from ‘Harry Potter’ written by JK Rowling. The story is set in Hogwarts, a school for young witches and wizards. The main theme of the mystical story is about a group of friends Harry, Ron and Hermione who get into some scary situations.
Who’s This?
We had a surprise guest pop in to celebrate with us! Can you guess who it is?? It’s our Emma! Dressed up as Super Mario from Leo’s Nintendo game!
The Grufflo’s Child
Our little Seedling Alfie wanted to join in so we looked in the dressing up box and up popped somebody we all know! He had knobby knee’s, turned out toes, a small baby wart at the end of his nose, purple prickles all over his back. Could it be? Possibly be! “O no! O yes it’s the Grufflo’s Child.’
We all sat down after lunch and watched Madagascar the movie and it was the perfect end to our day.
Tracie's Treasures 