Floral Friday - Nasturtiums - What to Plant with your Kids

If you are not too sure what flowers to plant with your kids this is a good one to get going with.  It is an easy- grow annual. 


Nasturtiums

This plant’s family friendly features include:-

• Large seeds which are easy to sow.
• 8 Weeks from seed to flower. Short waiting time - Very child friendly!
• It will self-seed.
• You can sow direct into the ground or sow in pots.
• Both the flower and leaf are edible. 
• It requires very little maintenance.

I have a childhood memory of a story where a roof was thought to be on fire. When the fire brigade arrived it was found to be a roof of trailing nasturtiums. You can certainly get some fiery colours, orange, blood orange, red and yellow. Though I have yet to find a roof that matched the image placed in my mind by that story.

Nasturtiums at Chelsea Flower Show

Trailing varieties are available and they are also lots of more compact ones on the market suitable for pots and edges of the border.


Sometimes butterflies lay their eggs under nasturtium leaves. When the eggs hatch hundreds of tiny caterpillars can munch their way through them. A great chance to read  together the Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.   You may need to check the leaves regularly and remove the caterpillars. Black fly also like nasturtiums. Your child can help get rid of these by watering them and the plants all over with a weak solution of eco washing up liquid.

Both leaves and petals are edible. Some children may find that their peppery taste does not suit them. Although they are annuals it is easy to ensure more will come up next year.   If you let their seeds fall to the ground some will probably self -seed the next year. The seeds are also very easy to collect and save to plant next year. So one packet of seeds will last a long time - my sort of plant!

Floral Friday: Edible Flowers - Calendula

Calendula officinalis

Calendula officinalis is one of my top ten flower plants to grow with children.  Everyone thinks of a sunflower as a children’s flower.  The pot or English Marigold may not grow so tall, but it matches the sunflower’s beauty, petal pattern and gorgeous orange and yellow colours.





Marigold - child friendly plant

Its family-friendly characteristics include:-

• It is an annual & easy to grow from seed.

• It will self- seed.

• It is bee friendly.

• The plant will keep flowering from June/July to the first frosts (though you will need to keep deadheading for this to occur).

• It has edible flowers – use in salads or to dye rice.

You do not see the grown flowers very often in garden centres so you will need to grow from seed. There is a wide variety of orange to yellow flowers available at varying heights.

You can germinate in pots or sow direct into the ground once the soil begins to warms up in March /April.

Do not confuse with French Marigolds Tagetes Patula which are not edible.


 

Marigolds on edge of vegetable bed



It is also used as a companion plant particularly for certain vegetables. It is therefore often a favourite on the allotment.  It repels whitefly from tomatoes and can lure aphids away from beans. It also attracts beneficial insects, including ladybirds, lacewings and hoverflies, all which prey on aphids.  Wish my vegetable plot looked like the one above.

Floral Friday: Edible Flowers - Courgette Flowers

Today I am introducing Floral Friday. A regular post every Friday on flowering plants to grow with your kids, and to have in your garden. All the plants featured will be ‘family friendly’. By this I mean they will either:-

 

• Grow easily and be a ‘good doer’.
• May self –seed. 
• Will have a point of interest e.g. interesting smell or edible. 
• Not too much maintenance. 
• Long flowering. 
• Will withstand a couple of hit by a football. 
• Not too invasive.

I will feature not just flowers from herbaceous plants, but also from shrubs, tree and vegetables. I hope the regular feature will help to inspire you and your family to grow more whilst also growing your kids.

 

 

Courgette Seedling

 

 

To start us off today, I have chosen an edible flower from the courgette plant.

 

This is such an easy plant to grow from its lovely large seeds. If you haven’t grown courgette with kids before and you have space in a vegetable plot for them, then they are well worth trying. The deep yellow flowers are one of the most beautiful of all the vegetable flowers. They don't last long as they need to turn into that courgette. Watching them daily is an easy way for a child to see how a flower turns into a vegetable.

  

 

Courgette Flower

 

Deep Fried Courgettes

And, of course, if you don’t want all the numerous courgettes that one plant is likely to produce you can always eat the flower. They are really yummy deep fried in batter.

  

I have more on growing courgettes with children on my kidsinthegarden site.

 

 

 

PLANTING SPRING BULBS WITH YOUR KIDS

Planting spring bulbs must be one of the easiest kids gardening activities. Many do deserve the label ‘easy grow’. All you need is a trowel, bare patch of soil and bulbs. There are loads of easy grow bulbs. Simply either follow the instructions on the packet or from your supplier. If planting direct into the ground a marker ( made by your kids ) reminding you of their location will mean you may not disturb them.


September is definitely the month for buying and planting the majority of bulbs that will flower the following spring. This year I have already bought mine for planting this year, which meant I had a wide choice at the garden centre.

Narcissus 'Sealing Wax' Bulbs

I choose 40  Narcissus 'Sealing Wax' bulbs which are described as great for inexperienced gardeners and for those that like low maintenance gardens.  I will report back in the spring.

Also in the shopping basket was an old favourite and, perhaps the most popular narcissus of all, Tete a Tete.  I always plant these in pots, which can then be brought close to the house or indoors when flowering. So kids can always easily see what has been grown.  They grow to about 15 cm.  I always plant all of my bulbs slightly closer than the instructions and these I plant always much closer together to make a compact display.

Allium Bulbs

My final item was a selection of allium bulbs. I have not always had a great deal of success with alliums. They are so spectacular and majestic in the border, with such lovely seed heads I am trying again this year.

When planting any bulbs with your children I would always get them to wash their hands after. You may also need to manage expectations. Those spring months are a long way ahead. I always mention to my son that they will flower about the same time as his cousin’s birthday. Connecting their flowering time to mothers’ day may also work.

Another easy grow bulb are grape hyacinths Muscari. You may also remember as a child growing hyacinths in a glass container showing all the lovely white roots.

So if you are wondering what to do in the garden with the children this weekend planting bulbs is your answer. You and your family will be really pleased with your efforts next Spring. Hold out with tulip bulbs though until late October.  They are best planted later in Autumn.

CLAY PIPES AND TIME CAPSULES

Major building works to our house over the past year has meant lots of digging.  Not so much of the gardening variety, but of the foundation and soakaway type.  One unexpected result has been finding some real treasures and snippets of social history in our soil.



My son was delighted when this clay pipe was dug up. Apparently they are quite common so we won’t be reporting the find to the local records office. It is now our clay pipe giving rise to lots of discussions about who used to live here and what the land was used for. A headless tin soldier was also found close to the house.

So we have now completed our own time capsule to give those in the future some clues as to who why and what lived where we do . We have buried it, not in the garden, but under the floorboards of the new extension. The arrival of our new wood floor this week meant that the burial was now or never.



We finished up with a rather eclectic mix of objects chosen by a 7 yr old with a little help.

Coins – Because treasure always has coins.


A girl’s ring – for the same reason as above.


Lego - representing a toy of this time.


A drawing of the house - undertaken by my son with much love.


A Photo of last year’s Royal Wedding.


A Map of the 2012 Cycle race showing the route through our local town.


All packaged up in my grandmothers 1950s metal tin. Note the clay pipe and soldier are not returning to the ground – far too precious.

It is a strange feeling undertaking something you will never know the end result of -  be it in 100 years time, 1,000 years time or never it’s a great way to start discussing history with my son.  It was more difficult than I thought it would be to choose items to include in the time capsule.  Would love to know what you would choose and why.

Why My Gardening is Like My Cooking: A Visit to Chelsea Flower Show 2012

If you watch and read the press coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show you may get the impression that it is all about grand designs, complicated planting scheme and unusual plants. Whilst these are a major focus of the Show and they were great to see and be inspired by when I visited last Wednesday, for me it is the small points of detail that are important.


My gardening can be a little like my cooking. Most of the year I use the same tried and tested recipes, occasionally using slightly different ingredients. I tend to buy the same style of plants and think about my garden in a similar vein each year. I am highly unlikely to ever completely re-design my garden in a totally a style, but small changes can make a big and cumulative difference to how my garden looks.

So here are some of the snippets and ideas I took away from Chelsea this year.

Roses over willow

I just loved the way this rose twists and turns over the willow. This concentrated mass of blooms is a lovely way to see a climbing rose.

The Perfect Garden Shed

We do have a shed at the back of our garden, but it doesn’t look as romantic as this one.  I have seen metal chains in tropical countries to direct water flow.  Using it in the garden instead of a plastic downpipe works really well.



Fairy Door



I might not create this Fairy door found in the Furzey Gardens Garden , but imagine you were three and came across this little dwelling.  It’s a true reminder that it’s important to create magical scenes in our gardens for all members of the family.

Trainer Planters

Move your garden up the walls and recycle what you have in the house out into the garden is the message that this wall of trainer planters sends to me.  It make a change from welly boot planters



Alys Fowler

One of the bonuses of a visit to Chelsea is on such a small site you are bound to spot a celebrity or two.

 

Runner Beans



The use of Shepherds Crocks to grow runner beans up make my bamboo poles seem rather tame.

So I came away from Chelsea motivated to keep working at my garden.  To let it evolve with me and my family.  Even though unlike the other RHS shows they don’t sell plants, seeds and bulbs are for sell.  Unusual foxglove seeds and lily bulbs were in my shopping basket.

Bluebells, Wellies and A Surprise in the Woods

Bluebell Wood

One of the best things about exploring outdoors is finding the unexpected.  A walk in one of our local bluebell woods was no exception.  England has been rather wet this spring so the children donned on wellies and waterproofs as a matter of course.  Though we were rather lucky as not only did it not rain, but the sun shone for us.

There is something very soul-warming about seeing bluebells.  Great fun was had racing through pathways surrounded by hues of blue on either side.  As interest waned in the bluebells attention then turned to the puddles – sloshing through them must be one the most universal childhood activities.  My husband commented that perhaps we should visit a local stream so the children could do some proper sloshing.

Kids in Wellies

Kids in stream

A couple of moments later at the bottom of the wood, lo and behold, we came across a perfect stream about 4/5 inches deep.  The children were in heaven and spent a good half an hour discovering how many sounds and different types of movements could be created between boots and water.  We then followed the stream  for a good ½ mile uphill pushing through the surrounding foliage.  Simple pleasures.  We never quite managed to find its source.

Kids in the Woods

It was one of those days that will be talked about ‘Do you remember the day we found that stream’ no thought of the bluebells. We will be returning.

That’s why I love exploring.