A big Daisy welcome to our 2023 Green Shoots project 🌱

It's an exciting time of year with Spring just around the corner!  Soon tiny leaves will appear on bare branches, daffodils will pop through the soil and the ground will be warm enough to plant those tiny fruit and flower seeds.

To get the growing season underway, Daisy Garland Grow Boxes are winding their way to families whose children are taking part in this very special project.  Each box tailor-made to suit the needs of the child receiving it.  

We can't wait to roll up our sleeves and get started!  Happy Growing everyone!  

With love from The Daisy Garland X

(Pictured below:  Flossie the office pooch checking each box is securely sealed before the courier arrives.)

This project has been made possible through funds raised and donated by our Daisy Garland fundraisers and supporters.  We are enormously grateful to each and every one of them.

February

Our Daisy Garland Grow Boxes have been delivered to participating families from Cornwall to Scotland and Northern Ireland.  With the help of mums, dads, carers, siblings, grandparents and Monty the Mushroom, our 2023 Green Shootsers 🌱 are ready are raring to grow! Welcome aboard everyone!

Annabel (below) was very excited to receive her Daisy Garland Green Shoots Box, she told us: "My Green Shoots Box has arrived and I can't wait to start gardening!  I love my goodies and hoodie to keep me warm."  

Chloe (below) was equally delighted with her Green Shoots delivery.  Dad, Neil, told us:  "Thank you for Chloe's beautiful Green Shoots Box.  She's absolutely delighted to be involved and so excited to start planting, nurturing and harvesting.  And we will keep you well posted along the way.  Let the planting begin!  We can't wait!!"   

Amy's mum has been in touch to say:  "Thank you Daisy Garland for our wonderful Green Shoots Box!  Monty is a definite hit! Amy was very pleased with all the seeds but particularly delighted to find the courgette seeds!  I confess I am rather pleased with the seed storage tin to keep them all in!  We can't wait to get planting!  Thank you!"  Pictured below: Amy with Monty Mushroom and her growing seed collection!

Cash (below) is delighted to be part of our Green Shoots project, this is what his mum told us:  "Cash finished school early today as he had an appointment with his specialist... having his Daisy Garland Green Shoots Box to open after has really made his day!  His little sister, Camden, (she's 3), absolutely loved it too.  Since starting this project, Cash has now become obsessed with plants, so much so, he asked for garden centre gift vouchers for Christmas from his grandma.  He used them to buy a selection of weird and wonderful plants for his room.  Thank you for inviting us to be part of this very thoughtful project."  

Mum sent this message  a few days later:  "It's love yourself at school today for Cash... you had to dress in something that represents you.  He and his sister, Darla, went in their football kits and Daisy Garland hoodies 💚"   

More happy children delighted with the contents of their Daisy Garland Grow Boxes...

"Super-excited to receive our delivery and we can't wait to get planting."

Oran is very excited to be opening his Green Shoots grow box....

Come forth into the light of things, 

let Nature be your teacher.

     William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

Jake (above left) told us he can't wait to start sowing seeds with his granddad 🌱

Tia (below), was cock-a-hoop when she opened her seed tin and out popped Monty Mushroom! 

"Thank you Daisy Garland Lily was over the moon with her package and Monty Mushroom went to bed with her!"

Mum, Lucie, told us: “Someone (see below) was extremely excited to get this when we got home today 💕 we cannot wait to start growing stuff x "

Esme's mum told us:  "Thank you Daisy Garland for the most amazing Green Shoots delivery today.  Esme had a little help from Mabel to open it. We shall look forward to sowing seeds and enjoying the harvests this summer."   Pictured below:  Esme and her gorgeous dog, Mabel.

Anna's dad, Jan, told us:  "Anna (below) opened her Daisy Garland gardening box today.  At the moment she enjoys Monty the Mushroom and Let's Go for a Walk book.  We are both looking forward to growing and eating all the vegetables.  Thank you."

George is 21 years old and he very much enjoys being part of our Daisy Garland Green Shoots project.  Earlier this week George's mum, Marguerite, got in touch to say:  "Thank you all for this amazing package!! We returned from swimming yesterday to have the exciting package to open.  We all can't wait to get cracking on the project. The Hoodies are absolutely wonderful.  The tin and the variety of seeds is fantastic.  Something for everyone!  I was so overwhelmed to see George's reaction to it all.  For a young man that does not eat mushrooms, he loved the soft mushroom sensory toy.  We are going to read the book today.  What a beautiful book it is too.  Thank you all again for such a generous package for all the family."

Mum, Claire, told us:  "Thank you so much Jamie loves his seeds and can’t wait to get started "

Another lovely mum has been in touch... "Thank you so much for Poppy and Teddy's latest Green Shoots Box.  They were so excited to open it and cannot wait to get planting.  They love their Hoodies too!  We will keep you updated..."

We received this lovely message from Annabelle's mummy, Hannah:  "Thank you so much for our Green Shoots box of goodies!  Annabelle is really enjoying the noises you can make from tapping the tin and shaking the seed packets!  She is also loving chewing on Monty Mushroom as her molars are coming through.  Love you Daisy Garland! xx" 

Amy has been incredibly busy sorting her Green Shoots seeds. Mum, Julie, telling us:   "Now that we have a beautiful seed tin, it's time to get organised! Amy has sorted her seeds by the month they need to be planted to make it easier for us! Looks like April could be busy."

Amy couldn't wait to get started with her Green Shoots project...

Gracie's mummy told us:  'Here we have 60 sunflowers (below) hoping to plant them all in the garden to make a sunflower field"  Gracie your garden is going to be an absolute vision and we cannot wait to see pics of your sunflowers in bloom!

Jacob's seed sowing is well underway.  We can't wait to see those little Green Shoots 🌱 emerging.  Please be sure to keep us posted with regular updates Jacob!

Mum, Nicola, told us: "We finally planted some of our seeds, minus Ellie as she isn't well again, so she stayed in the warm and slept. Now to wait to see our little shoots grow "  

It's great that Ellie's sisters (below) were able to lend a helping hand to get the growing season underway and we hope you feel better very soon Ellie."

On receipt of their Green Shoots Box, Lachlan's mum told us:  "Thank you and the team so much for the box!!! Such an incredible set-up. All 3 boys rushed out to the green house immediately upon opening grabbing their gardening bags on the way. Lachlan wears the hoodie everyday after school. So cute.   Radishes and mustard seeds are growing like crazy!!"

Thank you to Amy's mum for today's update:  "One happy Amy in a hoodie! And our mustard seeds are coming along nicely. Thank you Daisy Garland for the hoodie for our growing girl!"  

March

The chilly days of February are behind us: with lighter, brighter days ahead and spring just a few weeks away it's almost time to sow some more of our Green Shoots 🌱seeds.  For the next few weeks we'll talk about when and how to sow for the best results, what to look for as your seeds send up their first tiny green shoots, explain the potting on process and discuss when to plant out.  We'll post tips and hints during the spring and summer so we will all have the the healthiest, tastiest and prettiest flowers throughout the growing season. Don't forget to chart your Green Shoots 🌱 progress with photos, videos, drawings and poems for our website.  There's lots of fun ahead!  Good luck everyone and happy sowing! 

Can anyone guess what the seeds below are?

That's right, they're mustard cress seeds!

Mustard Cress

I'm so excited to report that our mustard cress is sprouting! (See pic above).  I think mustard cress is a little miracle.  It can be sown and harvested indoors all year round.  You just sprinkle those tiny Mustard seeds onto damp kitchen paper or compost and leave on a warm, light, windowsill for a few days until they germinate.  Within a couple of days tiny shoots will appear and within a week or so you will have a little crop of dark-green mustard cress, bursting with flavour.  A delicious addition to decorate any meal or lunch box. 

Always read the back of your seed packet for sowing and growing information.  For more tips on growing mustard cress please click here.

Amy's mustard cress is coming on in leaps and bounds as you can see from the pic below.  Well done Amy! 

 

Mum, Claire, sent us the following lovely pics and videos of her son Jamie busy at work, telling us:  "We finally got round to planting our seeds this morning as the sun was shining….hoping for some little shoots soon "

 

As you can see from the pics below, Zelda is having a great time sowing her Daisy Garland seeds...

Paige (below) is getting stuck into some serious seed planting 🍅 Wow!  Just look at all those pots! Well done Paige, and please keep those fab pics coming!

Poppy has had a very busy weekend, sowing her tomato 🍅 and sunflower 🌻 seeds.  Each little pot carefully labelled as you can see.  Fingers crossed for some little green shoots 🌱 poking through the soil very soon!

Amelia's mummy sent this fabulous picture (below) of her sweet girl, telling us: "Amelia was super happy to finally get some seeds planted 💕 "

Cash's mum, Kelly, sent this fab update today:  "Cash convinced his dad to build him a small little vegetable patch so today himself and his little sister Camden started planting. I’m unsure how successful they will be as they refused any help But they had so much fun. Thankyou! x"

Green Shoots 🌱 Alert!

In September last year we sent out over 1,000 narcissi bulbs to our Green Shoots families - meet a handful of them below:   

From the moment our bulbs were planted we have all been waiting patiently to see some little green shoots appearing.   And here they are!  We hope to have more pics to share with you soon, but in the meantime:

Well done Gethin! ⭐️

Well done Poppy! ⭐️

Well done Sara! ⭐️

Well done Tia! ⭐️

Well done Gethin! ⭐️

Some serious seed sowing is underway at The Daisy Garland HQ!   Sara, CEO and Founder at The Daisy Garland, tells us:

"I spent some time going through my seed box over the weekend, deciding which seeds should be sown so early on in the year and opted for tomatoes and sunflowers.  Last year I used some recycled tin cans to get my seeds off to a good start so thought I'd do the same again this year, carefully filling each tin almost to the brim with compost.   When filling pots and containers with compost/soil it's important not to fill them right to the top, leaving a little bit of space to hold the water when watering your seeds (as shown below).

Tomato seeds are quite tiny and usually come in a foil-lined inner sachet (see below).

Because the seeds are tiny it's really important to carefully open the inner-sachet making sure you don't accidentally leave any little seeds trapped in the foil corners.  My packet contained 10 tomato seeds.

Each little seed will grow into a fairly big tomato plant giving you a steady crop of yummy tomatoes over the summer months.  You might want to plant all your seeds now so you can share some of your seedlings with friends, family and teachers, or you might want to plant just a few seeds this year, keeping some of the seeds back to sow next year."

For more information about sowing tomato seeds click here to visit the Thompson and Morgan website

"Sunflower seeds are much bigger seeds making them far easier to pick up and pop into the soil.

I planted all 14 sunflower seeds and I can't wait to see those little green shoots 🌱 burst through the soil!  

More pics and updates to follow... 🌱 SARA x "

"5 days after sowing my sunflower seeds I can see some tiny Green Shoots 🌱 appearing! 

Below: 9 Days after planting..."  SARA x

For more information about sowing sunflowers click here to visit the Thompson and Morgan website

As you can see from the picture below, Gethin has had great success with growing his mustard cress.  Gethin isn't keen on the taste but big sister, Sian, is enjoying it in her egg sandwiches.

Those seeds will get planted, whatever the weather!

Ellie's little seeds (below) are really coming along really well...  Great planting Ellie! 

Zelda took out her ruler to measure how tall her sunflower, planted just over a week ago, has grown 🌻 

Every picture tells a story!  What a fabulous time Annabelle is having planting her seeds, with the help of lovely mummy, Hannah, who told us:  "Today, we enjoyed sowing our tomato and sunflower seeds in the sunshine. Or more accurately, I enjoyed sowing the seeds and Annabelle enjoyed eating the soil! "

APRIL

SARA:  "Spring is here and it's time to sow those courgette seeds!  Hoorah!

Picked when really young and tender courgettes are excellent for cooking, stir-frying and adding to salads.  You can reckon on getting at least a dozen courgettes off a single plant, so they're a great use of space.   I'm only going to sow 3 courgette seeds, which should give us plentiful supplies all summer long to share with friends and family.  The rest of the seeds will remain in the packet to store somewhere cool until next year's sowing.  

For more information about growing courgettes, please click on the Thompson and Morgan website link here

A fortnight after planting my sunflower seeds I can see they're getting a bit leggy, so I've decided to plant each tiny seedling into it's own fibre pot of soil.  I carefully watered each seedling before placing the pots on the top shelf of our little pop-up plastic greenhouse.   I'm keeping everything tightly crossed that this time next week my seedlings won't look quite so laid back!  It would be good to see them upright with their leaves skyward facing.  Watch this space!

 I also thought it a good time to pot on 6 of my tomato seedlings...

 

Compact and easy to assemble, our pop-up greenhouse (below) was a brilliant buy.  Similar styles (available to buy online and from most good DIY stores) cost around £25.

Our tomato 🍅 seedlings look very happy sitting on the top deck alongside our newly potted sunflowers 🌻

Lower shelves: spinach, lettuce, peas, beetroot and broad beans. Waiting patiently for the weather to to warm up before planting out on our allotment.

Fibre pots are ideal for growing healthy plants from seed with no root disturbance because you can plant straight into the ground. These pots are also extremely environmentally friendly and a very practical option because they are 100% biodegradable and peat free.

The fibre pots I used came from our local garden shop - £1.25 for a dozen pots.

With sowing in full-swing I reached for the runner beans but could see from the growing instructions on the back of the seed packet that I'm a tad too early.  So I quickly popped the seeds back in the packet making a mental note to pot them up towards the end of the Easter break.   For best results it's very important to plant your seeds in accordance with the instructions on the back of the seed packet:  

Some seeds fare better when sown directly into the ground rather than in pots and seed trays.  Here is a small selection of seeds I'll be planting directly into the soil over the coming months:

Happy sowing everyone, and please be sure to keep those Green Shoots 🌱 pics coming!"   SARA x

Tia has been busy planting more seeds...

Move over Monty Don, Gethin's in the garden!  Mum, Helen, tells us: "Gethin and I have been enjoying the sunshine repotting some of his seeds.  Still have a few more to go but need more compost and pots… and wondering if it’s too late to plant tomato seeds?"  

Sara's response:  "No it's not too late to plant tomato seeds Gethin 🍅  You can sow them in pots indoors right up to the end of April.  Happy sowing!  And we look forward to seeing pics of your tomato green shoots 🌱"

Gethin update: "We also have sunflowers 🌻 and started the salad today.  The onions are still indoors, not much movement from them.  We will try to get some tomatoes in during the Easter too and will be sure to keep you updated. Leaving you with a picture of Gethin watering his runner beans..."

Hope weeded her Lavender & Narcissi plot a week or so ago & then took some artful pics showing off her #GreenShoots Narcissi.  Well done Hope!  Great photography!  We think your pics are beautiful! 💜

Esme's mum, Mary, sent us a montage of pics telling us: "Daisy Garland daffodils coming up in Esme's special purple pot."

And look what else Esme's been growing...  Sweet Peas! 💕

Loving the pink pots Esme!  Your tomato seedlings are looking so good, with the first pair true leaves (the little wavy edged leaves) in sight.  Well done!!

Not sure if they're courgettes or cucumbers!  But whatever they are they're looking good!

"Tilly (Esme's sister), playing to our Green Shoots and Mabel the dog…"

"Thank you Daisy Garland for the cucamelon seeds. Even with his sore finger, Jacob managed to assist the seed planting. more pics to follow..."  

Ellie (below) and her sisters have been busy planting their seeds, with fabulous results.  Mum, Nicola tells us:  "It's amazing what a bit of sunshine can do. Not only for the plants but for us too  "

Sara's sunflowers are starting to stand a little taller, her tomato plants are looking good, but no sign of any green shoots from the three pots of courgette seeds planted a fortnight ago.... 🤔 

Annabelle and her Daddy have been having fun growing eggy cress-heads this week. The cress has grown so quickly! 

Grandma, Lynne, told us: "And we have garden plants now. Courgettes, tomatoes, runner beans and raddish. Also sunflowers coming along. Jacob (below) now has his own corner in grandad's garden.  "

We have lots of plants in our Daisy Garland office, one of our favourites is our 'home grown' avocado plant which Sara's daughter, Grace, grew from an avocado stone.  Here it is:

So!  A challenge for the weekend ahead!  Who's up for growing an avocado plant from an avocado stone?  Here's what you need to do...

When you next eat an avocado, remove the stone...

...give the stone a little rinse and soak it in a bowl of water for a few days...

...remove the stone from the water and peel off the thin brown outer skin - this should be fairly easy to do after it's been soaked in water for a few days...

 

Next, take 3 wooden cocktail sticks and poke them into three of the sides of the stone.  This makes it easy to suspend the stone over water in a rinsed out glass jar or cup.   Make sure at least a third of the stone is fully immersed in cold water (see below) and pop the jar or cup on a bright shelf or windowsill.   Leave this in place for around 6-8 weeks, topping the water level up when necessary.  After 6-8 weeks you should see a long root appear from the base of the stone (see below).  But don't worry if you don't, it just means you need to wait a little longer for this to happen.  

When you see a long root appear (see above) you know it's time to carefully transfer the stone into a deep plant pot of soil, being very careful not to snap the root off.  Within a couple of weeks you should see a little green shoot 🌱 appear from the top of the stone, like the one below...

...make sure you place the plant pot in a light place inside the house.  A windowsill is ideal.  

Keep the soil nice and moist (but not too wet) and within a few weeks more little leaves will appear...

...and before long your plant will grow taller and look similar to the plant in the picture below...

I think it will be several years before our avocado plant bears any fruit (if it ever does in the UK climate!)  But that's not the point.  The point of growing an avocado plant, I think, is the fun you have in watching it grow from stone to plant developing along the way.  It's a great talking point too!  

Go on give it a bash and see how you get on!  We'd love to see your pics!

Happy growing everyone! 

For more information about growing an avocado plant click here

April is a busy month for our Green Shoots project, with so many seeds to sow and lots of seedings to pot on before the weather warms up enough to plant them out the garden.   George (centre below) and his siblings are getting stuck into some serious seed sowing!  

Sara, CEO and Founder at The Daisy Garland, tells us:  "I put some time aside this weekend to sow my runner beans.  The taste and texture of home-grown runner beans is second to none and they're fun to grow too.  It's fascinating watching them race up their wigwam of wooden poles - a great den for young children!   My go-to runner bean is Scarlett Emperor, but this year I'm sowing Thompson and Morgtan's Tenderstar, which have stunning pink and scarlet flowers...

Sowing these beautiful shiny bean seeds in trays or pots before placing them on a sunny windowsill, minimises the risk of seeds failing to germinate when the weather suddenly turns very wet and cold, and also cuts down on slug damage.  

Top Tip:  you can soak the seeds in a little bowl of cold water 24 hours before planting them to speed up germination 👏

Cover the seeds with soil and lightly firm before giving them a good water.  Make sure the soil stays moist, but not wet, and within 10-14 days you should see some little Green Shoots 🌱 appear."

We're huge fans of recycling here at TDG and rinsed tin cans make the perfect starter-home for those little seeds...

Amelia's mum, Marie sent this lovely message:  "I'm soooooo..... excited. Look what I just picked up free on fb (see below). The fact they are mostly purple a huge huge win. I am gardening averse but I'm jumping on the green shoots band wagon wish me luck."

Amelia is really enjoying being outside in her beautiful garden, and look at her fabulous strawberry plant! 🍓

I have to say I'm the opposite of a gardening type, but thought I would give this a go

and it has been an absolute lovely distraction from recipes, fat, carbs, MCT, and all things keto - Marie

MAY

Green Shoots mum, Nicola, says: "It's amazing what a bit of sunshine can do. Not only for the plants but for us too "  

Nicola, we could not agree more!  And look at your amazing salad leaves and seedlings! 🌱 Well done!

A floral interlude... Sara's long-awaited narcissi flowers have arrived!  When was the last time you checked the bulbs you planted   w a y   back in the autumn?  Go and take a peek when you get a spare moment.  You might be pleasantly surprised!   They smell amazing!

What fabulous pics from George's mum, telling us:  "We enjoyed planting our Cucamelon seeds in the sunshine this morning.  Thank you The Daisy Garland x"

George, Sara has been busy planting her Cucamelon seeds too!   The seeds are so tiny, so when planting them outside be careful if it's a windy day or they might just blow away! 

It's good to place those little seeds carefully onto the top of the soil...

...before covering them with a light dusting of compost and giving them a little water to settle the seeds into their new home.  Sara added a little plastic topper (see below) to keep them snug and warm before popping them inside on her kitchen windowsill.

WOW! 7 days after sowing and I see some little Green Shoots! 🌱🌱🌱

What is a  Cucamelon?

Cucamelons are part of the cucumber family.  They are sometimes known as Mouse Melon, Mexican Melon or Sandita (which means little watermelon in Spanish) This one-inch fruit looks like a mini watermelon, has the crunch of a cucumber, and a rather delicious tangy lime flavour. Cucamelons grow to about 1.25 inches long and 0.8 inches wide.  They can be eaten raw and are yummy in salads.

Cucamelons are packed with fibre and nutrients, including powerful antioxidants, and are considered a superfood because of their many health benefits.  They are difficult to find in your local grocery store, so we are very excited to be growing them with you as part of our Daisy Garland Green Shoots Project 🌱 To grow them at home, please follow the instructions on your seed packet. Don’t forget to send us regular photos and updates!

Kim sent this fab pic of her daughter Hattie (below), with the following message:  "Thank you to The Daisy Garland for our Cucamelon seeds. Some planted and ready to go. Hattie's photo pose 'cheese'.xx"

Cucamelon seeds just starting their journey…Thank You.   

Ella's mum, Caroline told us:  "Thank you for the cucumelon seeds we had a wet home school day today, so decided to plant some more tomatoes and courgettes too." 

"Thank you The Daisy Garland, Gethin (below), is looking forward to more growing and tasting something new. xxx"

Daniel's mum told us:  "We planted up our Cucamelon seeds today. Daniel was more interested in the bag of compost (John Innes; his favourite blue bag and yellow flower) but we did get him to damp down the soil with his rubber duck."  What a brilliant idea Daniel! Please keep those pics coming 🌱

Our tomato seedlings at The Daisy Garland HQ are growing well.  It's nearly time to pot them on...

Lilly is very excited to receive her Cucamelon seeds and can't wait to plant them! 

"We have a ratio of 4 to 7 Cucamelons. Planted 7 got 4 growing."  Nikki [a true keto mum always talks in ratios! 💜]

George (2nd from left below) with his siblings busy planting seeds. 

Just 10 days later and take a peek (below) at how they're doing...

Well done everyone! 👏👏👏👏👏

Another avocado plant in the making... 🌱

Amy (below) has been very busy this weekend, mum, Julie told us:  "Finally got a dry and warm day for planting our seeds. Courgette, cucamelon and pumpkin all planted."  Well done Amy! 👏

Mum, Helen, tells us:  "Gethin (below) has planted his cucumelons today, put his sweet peas in bigger pots, the sunflowers in the garden and enjoyed making  lots of muddy mess in his mud kitchen."   Stamping our wellies at this end, Gethin - we want a mud kitchen too!!  It looks great fun!

Our Daisy Garland courgette seedlings are starting to sprout!   One down, two to go!  Watch this space!

Mum Nikki sent this fab pic telling us: "Stage 2 of cucamelons and now have 5 out of 7. Another one snuck out!"

More fab pics (below) from Lily's mum, Vanessa, who tells us:  "Watered sweet peas. Planted toms. Planted sunflowers. Got soil ready for cucumelons (going to plant inside)  "  Great work Lily! 👏

We were delighted too receive this lovely message and action packed pics from Paige's mum:  "As Paige is home educated she's decided to do a project on gardening, stimulated by the Daisy Garland Green Shoots 🌱...she is following the "BBC gardeners world" run by "FutureLearn"...today she was comparing, roots, stems, leaves, she's chopped some of the roots off and put the plants in test tubes to see if they live, if they will regrow."  

Sara's response:  Paige, We're delighted to hear this!  How very exciting and what an amazing project!  Please keep us updated with your findings so we can share them with everyone here on our Green Shoots 🌱 page.

Making special memories together, Elkie and her grandma, Carol.  

Ready, Steady, Grow! 🧤🧤🌻🌻

Elkie is growing runner beans and planting cucumbers and pear seeds!  Wowee Elkie, your own little market garden in the making!

Mum, Kelly, told us:  "Cash Darla and Camden (below) have carrots popping through.  And broccoli we think we’ve all been under the weather so it was a nice surprise when we went to check them this morning and good to see Cash and Camden’s hard work has paid off as I wasn’t confident x"

Mum, Francesca sent us this pic (below) of their Cucamelon seedlings bursting through the soil.  Don't they look fab! 🌱🌱

Sara: "We picked our first lettuce at the weekend... and managed to gather a small bunch of rhubarb from our allotment, which I stewed and ate with thick Greek yoghurt for breakfast this morning.  There's nothing like the taste of home-grown, organic produce...

...the rhubarb trimmings make a colourful addition to our kitchen compost bowl, which are soon to be added to our allotment compost bin."

Let's Get Composting!

Children love it when things grow in the garden and composting is a great activity for children to get involved in.  It teaches them lots about organic recycling and waste reduction.  And by explaining that the compost is the food that the plants eat to grow big and strong is a very good place to start.  Compost provides the necessary nutrients in the soil and also encourages bio diversity in the garden.  

Peppa Pig explains the concept of composting: 

Much excitement in the Garland household this morning when Sara spotted some new Green Shoots! 🌱  The Runner Beans have finally sprouted! 🎉

Amelia's dad got me a present today.  A potting table...  Marie

3 individual courgette seeds (below).  Planted at the same time.  Let Nature be your teacher.

Sunflowers and courgettes growing fabulously well as proud gardener, Zelda (below), looks on...

"Amy (below) is one happy girl!  3 out of 4 courgettes have made an appearance.

Hoping pumpkin and cucamelon follow soon 🤞"

Anna (below) has been a busy bee potting on her tomato plants... 🐝 🌱 🍅

Lily has been very busy in the garden, her mum telling us:  "Lily (below) has planted her sweet peas into the ground. Think we've lost a plant or two in the process .   She planted some sweet peas where the runner beans will go in.  Runner beans are really low in carbs & we loved then before Lily was on keto. Homegrown def taste better 💜"

George has had a busy day in the garden too tending to his seedlings...

A big thank you to Amy's mum, Julie for these fab pics, telling us:  "We planned a busy day of planting today. Unfortunately seizures got in the way but we did get the runner beans planted. And a very pretty shield bug came to check them out!"

Caught on camera: a shield bug

The beauty of sowing seeds is the excitement you feel when you drop that tiny, dry, seed into a pot of damp compost, hoping upon hope it's going to sprout within a week or two.  Then, when those tiny green shoots appear, you desperately want them to grow big and strong, ready for planting outside in the soil.  

If your seedlings aren't growing very quickly, the conditions might not be quite right, ie. you might want to try moving them to another spot in the hope their new surroundings might kick-start a growth spurt.  If not, you can try moving them again.     This is what we had to do recently with our Daisy Garland tomato plants (below).  

Looking at them it's hard to believe the seeds were planted on the same day, in the same compost, albeit in different pots.  

The two smaller pots on the right were left to germinate in Sara's plastic greenhouse, and the larger pot on the left was placed on our office kitchen windowsill and my goodness look how those seedlings have taken off!  They raced away.  

The two pots of seedlings on the right didn't appear to be growing at all so Sara brought them into the office, albeit a couple of weeks apart, as a little experiment to see how fast they would grow and if they would catch up with one another.  

As you can see, they're certainly getting there!  Which just goes to show, in order to thrive, you need to be planted in the right spot.   I guess this goes for humans too in many ways... 🤔

Ellie's mum told us: "We are definitely getting better at this gardening  "

Well done Ellie!  What a Fabulous sunflower! 🌻

Look at all those leaves on your tomato plant! 🍅  Gently run your fingers over the leaves to reveal a gorgeous tomatoey fragrance.

Night scented stocks (below) fill the evening air with their gorgeous scent... 

Thank you Lucie, for your fab pics and message:  "Amelia (below) has sunflowers, strawberries, cucumber, salad leaves, tomatoes & courgette’s growing away nicely "

Chloe (below) has been busy looking after her little green shoots - time for some potting up this weekend in her newly assembled greenhouse.

A little reminder to keep your seedlings well-watered now the warm weather's here...

In forty years of medical practice, I have found only two types of non-pharmaceutical 'therapy' to be vitally important for patients with chronic neurological diseases: music and gardens.  ~ Oliver Sacks (1933-2015)

We will be posting here weekly, so keep checking in for updates, tips, hints and more fabulous photos. 

More updates coming soon... 🌱