Green Shoots (Part 2)

by Trumpety Trump

Over a wet weekend it can be difficult to find things to do in the garden with the kids. However, if you are lucky enough to have a sheltered area, and were encouraged by my previous 'Green Shoots' blog about planting seeds and bulbs with the children, read on....

I thought it was time to be looking at re-potting and assessing how our little projects were progressing. In March (which seems like a lifetime ago now), we planted some sunflower and tomato seeds together with a variety of bulbs. Their gradual growth has been watched avidly every day by the children and certainly the recent rain has given them all a healthy boost.

The little paper cups we planted the sunflower seeds in were getting far too small to sustain their recent rapid growth. We managed to find some old unused terracotta pots laying around in the garden, but any pot that allows drainage will do. The children enthusiastically filled the pots with enough compost and the sunflowers were turned out with some gentle teasing of the roots, to encourage them into their new homes. Any gaps were filled with more compost due to the new pot size, patted gently down and watered.

We also moved the six best tomato plants to grow bags, although some overzealous trampling has meant one plant is looking a little bit sorry for itself! In the meantime, the wild flowers we planted to attract insects, have finally started to show some variety in colour. Although, so far, we've only had some bumble bee visitors, the children are hoping to find some other interesting insects to capture in their bug nets. They especially love examining their creepy crawly finds from the garden by putting them in their bug box, before letting them roam free again (obviously the bees don't get caught!). Lastly, the bulbs previously planted were slug attacked but they are making a come back and hopefully will catch up with everything else.

The kids certainly enjoyed their gardening and although the rest of the garden was a wet no-go zone, we kept dry and happy. If you're in need of some child-size tools, why not look at one of Trumpety Trump’s latest additions - the super children's Garden Set with Sturdy Bag and 6 Tools.