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, rangers, Seedlings, Uncategorized, wanderers

Finding #liverpoolkindnessrocks

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?

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!

Beautiful Ladybird

Georgia loved the shine on the ladybird and said it was really smooth and pretty.

We Left These Stones For Someone to Find
Where’s This One We Hid? Good Luck Finding it!
Rocks We Found at Walton Hall and Hid in Croxteth Park

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.

Last but not least we went home and ended our day by the campfire roasting marshmallows nom nom.

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 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 family

Queen Bee

Today while Gemma was digging her borders she watched this cute bumble bee come out of the ground.

Queen Bee

Gemma stopped what she was doing, so she didn’t disturb her. Gemma looked up different types of Bees and found out it was a Queen Bee.

Gemma is hoping she will build a beehive somewhere in the garden so she can watch what happens. But she will keep away from her as she doesn’t want to get stung!

Posted in Seedlings, wanderers

Recycling and Growing Seeds

It was wet and windy today so we decided to stay indoors to sow our seeds. We used items out of our Recycling bin to fill up with soil and sow the seeds.

Martha found this egg box and said she thought it would be good to sow individual seeds. Ivor said we might be able to see the roots grow too! The children loved the marks the egg box made in the soil.

Posted in Garden Classroom, Seedlings, wanderers

Avocado Growing

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.

Avocado

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.

Posted in Garden Classroom, Seedlings

Hand Picked Flower Printing

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.