National Children's Gardening Week

Children love growing plants, love being in the garden but they’re often impatient, wanting to see instant results. National Children’s Gardening Week aims to capture children’s enthusiasm at a time when results are immediate. 

At Pearsons of Duns, the Garden Team have got involved in a Growing Challenge, we have all found an object in the garden centre to repurpose for planting and we will be sharing our success on Facebook. Why not try this at home…challenge each member of the family to find a container to repurpose, plant it up and share their gardening success with us.

Instore we’ve got lots of fun gardening activities to help children get involved in the garden…painting plant markers, designing and making Hedgehog restaurants, plant pot sculptures and cress heads (aka grow your own hair salon). 

The following activities are from the NCGW website:

 

Garden Markers - So you don’t forget what you planted!


 Here’s what you’ll need!

Shopping list for your local garden centre:

Rocks

Acrylic paint

Paint brush

Instructions:

  1. What have you been growing? Fruit, vegetables, herbs etc.
  2. Wash your rocks with water and let them dry.
  3. Paint each rock to show what you are growing. You can add words or faces if you want to.
  4. When the paint has dried, place your garden markers next to what you are growing so you don’t forget what you planted.

 

 

Pot Stack Planters - Great for growing herbs or trailing plants!

 

Here’s what you’ll need!

Shopping list for your local garden centre:

4 different sizes of pots e.g. 38cm, 30cm, 26cm and 18cm. Or three pots can be 38cm, 30cm and 20cm.

Bamboo stick (optional – if you want it to be tipsy)

Soil

An area with good sunlight and flat ground for your planter

Tipsy pot stack planter instructions:

  1. Fill your largest pot with soil (pot 1) and place the bamboo stick through the middle. Firm the soil down so that the bamboo stick is stable.
  2. Fill the rest of your pots with soil.
  3. Place pot 2 on top of pot 1, pushing the bamboo stick through the middle of the pot and lean the pot to the side.
  4. Place pot 3 on top of pot 2, learning it to the opposite side.
  5. Continue this process with all the pots.
  6. Once all the pots have been stacked and feel secured, you can plant your plants!

Straight pot stack planter instructions:

  1. Fill your largest pot (1) with soil and firm down.
  2. Place pot 2 on top of the soil in pot 1 and nestle it into the compost by a couple of cm to keep to stable.
  3. Fill pot 2 with compost and firm. 
  4. Place pot 3 on top of pot 2 and nestle it into the soil.
  5. Complete this process with all the pots.
  6. You now have 3 or 4 pots to plant in. Plant your plants, herbs or vegetables and water well.

 

 

 

 

Cress Heads - Place in the sun and watch them grow

 

Here’s what you’ll need!

Empty eggshells

Cress seeds

Cotton wool

Pens

Googly eyes (optional)

Instructions:

  1. Draw faces on the eggshells (you can add googly eyes if you have them).
  2. Fill the eggshells with cotton wool.
  3. Spray the cotton wool with water so that it is nice and damp.
  4. Sprinkle lots of cress seeds on top of the cotton wool.
  5. Spray more water on the seeds.
  6. Water every day and the cress will grow!

 

 

Hedgehog Feeding Station - Help feed a wild hedgehog in your garden

 

Here’s what you’ll need!

A plastic storage box (30cm by 45cm or bigger)

Newspaper

Tape

Hedgehog food

Instructions:

  1. Turn the box upside down or put the lid on the box.
  2. Cut a hole in the short end of the box about 10cm x 10cm.
  3. Tape around the cut hole.
  4. Hedgehogs can be messy eaters, so put plenty of newspaper on the floor.
  5. Put the food at the opposite end of the hole so a fox or cat can’t reach it.
  6. Put a brick on top of the box to stop it from moving or the lid coming off.
  7. Wait for the hedgehogs to arrive!