garden diaries

I had a couple of nice comments about the garden diaries the girls did; so I thought I would share them in a bit more detail.

The idea for the journals came from the Country Style magazine, which runs an annual competition, in which children can submit a garden journal in order to win an Ipad.

So, with a little bit of an incentive on board, we decided to take on a project I'd had in mind for some time. I've converted my front garden into a veggie plot, but there was some leftover space which was perfect for 2 mini plots... a garden each for the girls.

We built them out of recycled hardwood, and constructed no-dig garden beds.

The girls chose their seeds and we ordered online from Green Harvest.

We documented every step in the journals.. building the beds, planting the seeds, planting out the seedlings, watering and fertilising; and of course, harvesting and eating.

There was some other fun stuff along the way too.. such as making garden bed buddies out of rocks and making a worm farm...

There were recipes and drawings and lots of photos too.

We all enjoyed the veggie beds. Even the guinea pigs, who ate very well out of it, I must say.

It was a great project. The girls even forgot about the hallowed Ipad and just got stuck into enjoying the garden. I won't say that I didn't have to encourage them with the diaries, but honestly, each time we sat down to do a few pages, it turned out to be fun.

We're still eating from the beds now. And today I'm about to chuck in a bunch of manure and compost, so we can plant them out again.

Happy weekend to you all. This is our last weekend before school resumes, for the final term.