Today we are learning how to use our new website . We really like our new growing greener logo and website.

We have all been so busy  that we haven’t had time to post everything onto our great new website! Lots of exciting things have been happening over the past few months including the design and construction of our brand new ‘Growing Classroom’ as well as working with our fantastic creative partners. Staff have also been working behind the scenes on planning lots of exciting learning actvities linked to our developing Growing Schools programme and the Kitchen Garden Club is proving more popular than ever!

We have just ordered our seeds and plants for the next growing season. Did you know that there is a plant that has the root of a parsnip and leaves of a parsley plant? We hope to grow some next year! We’re also hoping to grow a huge beanstalk and a pumpkin for Cinderella. Check back to find out more about our project very soon!

Be Green

Stay organic to encourage the wildlife. The insects like ladybirds are helpful to the gardener and will eat the greenfly, so are frogs who will eat the slugs that feast on our lettuces.

Seed planting

Plant up more seeds now inside or out, try lettuces, beans and peas, herbs  like mint and sunflowers. You can reuse food trays for seed trays or make newspaper pots using a special roller and press. Contact me for suppliers. It has been a very strange spring with a very hot May followed by a cold and damp June. It is not to late to plant seeds outside in a cleared patch of land .This does not have to be very big .Sow your seeds in sucession some this week some next week etc ,so they do not all crop at once.You can grow your plants in pots or grow bags.

Herbs and flowers in pots and containers

Try growing herbs and flowers in pots eg chives, basil ,parsley and mint. You can plant nasturtium seeds for lovely yellow and orange flowers that you can eat. They taste peppery and are nice decorating salads.

Weeds

Keep on top of you weeds and dig them all out including the roots. Compost them if they have not gone to seed or let council recycle them with yout greenrecycling waste.You can get  compost from the council recyling depot at Haverton Hill for your pots and seed trays.

As soon as  flowers and climbing plats start to grow  in the borders put supports in position to stop them falling over like bamboo canes -

REDUCE, REUSE RECYCLE as much as you can

and enjoy your garden this summer.