Not Now Later

The novice gardeners get dirty

Up until last year I had little to no interest in gardening. I considered it an activity better saved for my twilight years or at least my fifties.  Last Summer, however we finally had our garden revamped. We got some people in who gutted the lot and provided us instead with a rather lovely raised bedding area, some trellised bits, some nice stonework paving and a patio (I'm not entirely sure what a patio is, but I think we've got one.) 

Ok, so there's no fancy water feature, decking or boxed hedging and there is no escaping the fact that it is on the small side, but it's manageable. There are tons of pots, there is a cute playhouse for the children and of course, there is the fantastic kiddie-sized green house. And it looks infinitely better than the pitiful scrap of wasteland that came before.

So this year I've already got my hands dirty and done a bit of digging and planting. Today, yet again, I dragged the kids into the garden, thrusted trowels and seed trays into their hands and enthused about the joys of growing our own food. We planted peppers and lettuce, tomatoes and potatoes, french onions and peas and a variety of kitchen herbs. If they all grow I could have them both manning a fruit and veg stall come August.

 

At the beginning of the week I'd discovered Nuture Store's Sunflower Club  and it looked exactly like the kind of gardening Louis and Tilly would enjoy. We signed up and today, as well as all those vegetables, we planted the Sunflower seeds. We've also started a garden diary to record what we're growing and its progress. 

 

Let's hope some of this stuff actually grows, otherwise there could be tears. And I'm not sure it would be the kids crying.
 

The Bean Diary

Today was the last day of term and all the reception children came bounding out of class clutching plastic cups from which grew beanstalks of varying heights. This half-term's theme had been growth and one of the projects was for each child to germinate a bean and investigate and observe its growth. Today they were to take home their beanstalks.

After presenting me with a term's worth of junk modeling, a P.E kit bag, bulging school bag and an Easter basket, Louis handed me the cup. I peered inside to see a clump of soggy cotton wool and a moldy looking bean.

'Oh well, not to worry sweetie' I said as another parent marveled at their child's towering plant. Louis burrowed in my handbag for a snack and I balanced the cup on top of the heavily loaded buggy.

Later, back at home I discovered The Bean Diary in his school bag. On the front page was his name underneath which he had drawn a rather optimistic picture of a healthy, tall beanstalk with lush green leaves. The diary made dismal reading. He wrote,

Week One: A bin (accompanied by enthusiastic colourful sketch of bean in cup )

Week Two: No, my bin has not grown (accompanied by pencil drawing of bean in cup)

Week Three: Nothin (no picture)

Week Four: My bin is ded (accompanied by an angry black scribble representation of bean)

Tonight there were a few tears before bedtime as he considered his bean's failure to sprout. I reassured him that within the next few weeks seedlings would be appearing in the trays in the greenhouse and we could observe those instead. 

In the meantime I might just hurl his bean out of the kitchen window, but keep an axe close at hand, just in case.

Out of hibernation

I guess it's officially Spring. The clocks go forward on Sunday. I'm toying with the idea of switching footwear from my boots back to my old faithful Converse. We've been to the park four times in the last week. And finally, Cbeebies have got around to replacing the completely dismal Winter song with the distinctly more catchy and familiar Spring song. 

So, my dad has built the kids a greenhouse. Apparently his grandfather did the same for him when he was a child and he has such fond memories of it that he wanted to do the same for his grandchildren. Only difference being that his grandfather had plenty of time on his hands and wasn't a 60-something hipster art student. While dad found the time to build this fantastic greenhouse, I'm not sure he's going to be able to put in the hours guiding the kids in growing stuff in there. He can more often be found in some art space in Hackney than he can pottering in a garden shed. So that leaves me to get my hands dirty and get planting with them 

 

I ordered a copy of  Grow It, Eat It  which looks like a pretty good introduction for us all. Nice clear pictures and step by step instructions, plus recipes to encourage the kids to eat their fruit and veg. This weekend we'll take a trip to the local garden centre with a shopping list to get us started and send off for a Cbeebies free seed pack 

Watch this greenhouse.