Posted in Garden Classroom, rangers, Seedlings, wanderers

Spring is here!

This Easter holidays have flown by so fast. The Seedlings, Wanderers and Rangers have all been so busy in the garden and their efforts are paying off with an abundance of seedlings growing strong.

On the first shelf in our greenhouse we have Marigolds growing, we will be planting them between the tomatoes, Chillies and Cucumbers to help fight away the aphids, this is called companion planting. We do this instead of using pesticides which is better for the environment. The Wanderers are growing Pak Choi, radish, cauliflower and sweetpeas.

On the second shelf we have used toilet rolls as pots, filled them with peat-free compost and sown peas, swede, beetroot and spring onions.

The Little Seedlings helped Tracie to sow the Phlox seeds, Alfie tried so hard to pick a seed up from Tracie’s hand using his pincer grip, but the seeds were just too small. Tracie gave Alfie the packet to sprinkle over the toilet roll pots. I’m sure they will set seed soon and we will thin them out individually if over crowded.

The middle shelf has tomatoes and pansies growing well. We made sure they all have plenty of water and tomato feed to help produce strong stems.

The top shelf is bursting with Chillies, sweet peppers, chives and lavender. Jacy from the Rangers has the strongest tomato plant growing, the Bisto pot is still going strong!!

Last week, Georgia helped to sow the onion sets. This week she noticed they had grown, she asked if she could sow some more. Tracie asked Georgia to help prepare the soil for the seeds, Georgia got stuck in by raking the soil.

Jack came over and asked if he could help, Tracie gave Jack baby sweetcorn and carrots to sow. He then helped to cover the raised bed with mesh, this is because the birds keep attacking the onion sets and seeds.

Posted in Garden Classroom, Seedlings

Gardeners’ World Recommends…

Every Saturday morning and my day off, first thing I always do is stick the kettle on, get the tea pot out and pop in a bagel to toast.

I then go into the snug and pour out my first cuppa of the day (and I have quite a few!!)

Next it’s feet up, cat on lap and on goes Friday night’s Gardeners’ World. Our Monty Don brightens up the morning. He tells me how to grow all the fruit and vegetables the children love to eat. I have my jotter ready for recommendations and what I need to do for that weekend.

This week our Monty recommended Padron Chillies. Well my face dropped! I can’t stand Chillies, way too hot for me! Monty went on to say they are not hot but fruity!

Our Monty

Shall I give them a go? I chickened out, thinking there’s no point getting them when we have other types chillies growing for the children and our families.

Monday morning who’s ringing my door bell? It’s Granny Smith waving a bag of Padron Chillies!

She says “Our Monty recommended these chillies last night on Gardeners’ World!”

“Really?” I said “I never watch it!” Hehehe.

Monty Recommends Padron Chillies

So I think about it for a while, well if I have to try them, Emma and the children do too!

Georgia did a thumbs up, she said it was delicious.

I Eat Anything! It’s Delicious!

Emma thought it was sweet but it repeated on her.

Sophie and Luke wouldn’t try it at all

I was so brave, I had two bites! It wasn’t hot in-fact, it’ll be lovely in a Chicken Kebab! Mixed reviews from the children, but thanks Monty Don for recommending the Padron Chillies!

Tracie x

Posted in Uncategorized

Wildlife Rangers helping in the Garden

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.

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!!

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!!

Posted in Uncategorized

Garden Therapy: Georgia Soon Forgot She Was Having a Tantrum!

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.

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.

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.

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.

Posted in family, Garden Classroom

My Dad and Rosie

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

My Dad and I

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.

Posted in Uncategorized

Garden Challenge 2021: Using Different Materials

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!

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.

Posted in Uncategorized

Garden Challenge 2021: February Edition

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.

At half term the Wanderers got stuck in and sowed strawberries, thyme, coriander and peppers.

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.

Posted in Uncategorized

Wildlife Rangers Recycling Pots

Jacey looked in the recycling box and found this Bisto tub. He thought it would be good to use for his Chilli as it needed potting on.

He thinks that as the tub is quite thick, it will last longer than the toilet rolls we usually use. Jacey has put the plastic lid on the bottom to stop the water coming out.

Jacey also thinks when the plant has grown, he could just place the tub into the ground without the plastic lid ensuring the roots don’t get disturbed as the pot should break down and let the roots escape.

Jaceys Gardening Crown

Jacey wants to be head gardener so made himself this crown. He decorated it with leaves.

Posted in Uncategorized

Big Garden Delivery

Today the children all got excited with the delivery of a ton of peat-free compost.

We watched the Lorry driver use the big crane to put the massive sack into the front garden.

Vegetable Trugs

Next week we will be filling up the vegetable trugs to transplant our crops.