Speedy, cheap Easter presents for children

A DIY Easter present idea for children

I'm not really one for giving children huge amounts of chocolate on 'Easter Egg Day'. So this year we've been planting special sunflower seeds with homemade measuring sticks. They're good for all ages - the little ones can enjoying 'colouring' their cut out flower shapes, and older children can practice their numbers and measuring .They're practically free, AND they'll last longer than any chocolate-induced tummy ache.

For an even speedier option, all you need is a packet of wildflower seed and a child-size patch of bare earth. You could even trace round their footprints with some sand and fill in with the seeds.

Lettuce, broad beans in loo rolls, courgettes... so exciting!

It's been so utterly cold this week that we've not really ventured out into the garden. Instead we've been admiring our little seedlings, and planting some more veg seeds at the kitchen table.

The tidying-up stage wasn't exactly super speedy, but we couldn't believe our eyes when the pak choi seeds came up just three days later. The perfect match for oodles of noodles in a few weeks' time. Far more interesting than bunny-shaped chocolate!

Pak Choi, just six days after planting

How to choose an apple tree in 5 minutes

Plans are for a plum arch

I love the idea of having the freshest, tastiest fruit, for free. Well, almost free. So having persuaded hubby, AKA Mr Realistic, to help me collect my two plum trees, I couldn't resist dashing round for a quick look at the apple trees.

Not being indoctrinated into the Super Speedy School of Gardening yet, he looked interested for a moment then wandered off back to the car. He was busy thinking about how we would get the two plum trees to fit in said car without them poking one of my eyes out as I sat in the back seat.

I, meanwhile, was chatting with the tree expert at Arundel Aboretum. That's SS gardening advice #1: go to a specialist nursery rather than a garden centre. You don't have to waste time looking for someone to ask for advice, only for them to not have a clue what you're talking about.

SS gardening advice #2: Ask them what you need to know about the plant you're buying.

In this case you need to know about rootstock, ie how big is this tree going to grow? I chose M26, ultimate height 2.4-3m. And pollination, ie do I need to buy more than one tree to ensure cross pollination and lots of fruit? I chose something incredibly exciting: three different varieties of apples all grafted on to the same tree. I'd originally seen an example of this only on a much bigger scale at Paul Barnett Trees near Chichester. So I'm over the moon at having my own mini version, ready to be planted as a centre piece in the middle of our new veggie lawn. Watch this space.

I suppose the last piece of advice is, will it fit in the car? 5 minutes later, with a bit of cajoling, Mr Realistic did manage to fit all three trees into the front passenger footwell, and I really didn't mind having our aptly named 'Family Tree' poking my eyes out all the way home. Baby was highly amused.

My fabulous new 'Family Tree' Apple

P.S. You can taste a huge range of apples sold by Paul Barnett Trees at his tasting events. We orginally met him at Apple Affair at West Dean College, near Petworth in West Sussex.

Three little words that hide so much: Grow Your Own

A snowy start to March

Grow Your Own - promoted as an easy way to save money and eat healthy food, but actually three little words that hide so much pain and anguish, as well as joy and jubilation. A bit like Married With Children!

This week we've mostly been wondering if our seeds will ever grow. The unseasonable snow stalled our digging plans, so we watched and waiting as our seed trays sat motionless on the kitchen table. I've been worrying all week: is last year's seed compost too old? Do they need more water? Or did my three year old dig up all the seeds when I wasn't looking? 

And my poor seed potatoes don't look like they're very busy 'chitting', ie getting a head start before being planted out next month. After accidentally leaving them outside for a few nights, risking death by frost, I compensated by cuddling them up to the seeds on the kitchen table. I've now read that they don't like to be inside, so I may have killed them with too little, and then too much, tender loving care.

Our new polytunnel warming up the soil

After the snow melted, we did manage to get the new polytunnel up. My three-year-old helped, in between whooshing around on her broomstick and stirring up her cauldron/bucket of weeds. The cover seemed too small for the frame, and I ended up ripping the plastic, breaking the zip, and straining a few muscles. Got there in the end though (thanks hubby). I dug in some well rotted manure (picked up from a local farm last year) and fixed the polytunnel over the top, ready for any potatoes that do survive!

I love my gardening books as much as I love gardening

That night I fell into bed and had five minutes with my gardening books. It turns out that I shouldn't have dug the manure in, and the polytunnel should be warming up the seedling/onion bed, which I haven't prepared yet. Grrr! There's just too much to learn, and so little time. Maybe Grow Your Own is just for those lucky retired people after all.

I felt disheartened until the next morning, when I came downstairs to discover all was well with the world. Our first seedlings had come up, growing towards the sunshine. Whatever the books say, I just have to be patient and keep going, learning with my children as we celebrate our successes and laugh at our mistakes.

The french marigolds look really keen. But should I be pinching them out? Now where are my books...

Keep the engine running, we're going in...

After another increasingly large bill at the supermarket, edible gardening with my children has started! And we've managed to get quite a lot done. It's not necessarily been done properly, but we should have something to show for our efforts as the gardening year warms up.

First off, seeds. I hastily grabbed a few packets of seeds at the garden centre, nothing too exciting but things we like to eat and which should impress my three year old. She happily sat for over an hour on the bench,  scooping soil into pots, pushing in the seeds and then watering them (and herself). We even progressed onto soaking the pots in a tray of water, proudly demostrated for the cameras. My little Gardener's World presenter in training.

Seeds sown before the little one lost interest:
Baby carrots in pots, (she loves anything to do with babies!), and a flower called nigella, which apparently confuses carrot fly
Butterbush squash and pumpkin for eating and carving
Courgette, an impressive plant which grows quickly and produces loads of courgettes
Broad beans in loo roll holders, and french marigolds to repulse the black fly


Even more exciting was our 'Mothering Saturday' trip to Arundel, which took us past the Arundel Aboretum. Well I was going to drive past, because the baby needed to stay asleep, but I couldn't resist. There was nothing behind us so I swung dramatically into the drive, before carefully parking, turning on the radio, and quietly getting myself and my three-year-old out of the car. It was all in vain. Baby woke up. So I turned the engine back on, asked the mother-in-law to keep watch, and we made a run for it.

Four minutes later, we'd picked out a reliable Victoria plum and a greengage: tall, covered in buds and full of potential. Baby stayed awake, but we all smiled our way into Arundel.