January
Jobs: Ask the children what plants they would like to grow for the coming season, show them pictures in plant catalogues and photos of the previous year's harvest to help them decide. Think about shady spots and the sunniest spots in the garden and try to plant according to those areas. You could even draw a plan for the garden, older children may like to use an online garden planner.
Sow: Strawberries and Sweet Pea - in the greenhouse
Make: Make plant labels. Make paper seed pots. Get the potting area ready. Make bird feeders.
February
Spring bulbs may be showing. This is a good time to explain about roots and shoots and how a bulb grows. Also the difference between seeds and bulbs.
Jobs:Mulch the garden, children will love using a wheelbarrow to move mulch around and dig in the garden.
Sow: Marigolds, Pansy, Cosmos
Make: Paint flower pots. Put up nesting boxes.
March
Jobs:Prepare vegetable patches ready for sowing seeds and planting seedlings.
Sow: tomatoes, sweet peppers, cucumbers, celery, aubergine and salads planted in a greenhouse. Plant onion bulbs in trenches. Sunflowers and beans. Sow into the ground: cornflowers, nasturtiums, radishes, carrots, peas and lettuces.
Make: Make bird scarers.
April
Jobs: Dig up early potatoes.
Sow: Tomatoes and pumpkins
Make: sweet pea wigwams is a fun activity.
May
Jobs:The plants should be doing well, keep watering but not over watered. Water after 4pm and with a watering rose.
Thin any plants that are overcrowded.
Weed as necessary.
Transfer tomatoes and pumpkins out into the ground.
Plant out bedding plants such as violas, small areas can be transformed quickly.
Sow: Radish and spinach.
Clear an area for your butterfly pavilion and send off for your caterpillars and live butterfly garden.
June/July
Jobs: Preserve memories of the garden by drawing pictures of it, taking photographs and pressing flowers. Dehead plants that are dying to prolong their life, store any 'free seeds' in a paper bag. Vegetables may be ready to harvest late June.Train the sweet peas up their wigwam.
Make: Daisy chains.
August
Jobs: Pick fruit, store vegetables for autumn. Continue deheading and weeding. Plan next years garden. Store seeds.
Pick tomatoes and courgette regularly to enourage growth.
Make: A hedgehog hibernation box.
September
Jpbs: Cut off any unripe tomatoes and put on the windowsill. Start to clear the garden and prepare for winter.
Make: Make leaf mould for compost.
Sow: winter lettuce
Plant: spring bulbs such as crocus, daffodils and tulips.
October/November
Harvest: pumpkins
Make: Make pumpkin soup or pie. Pumpkin carvings
Sow: microgreens on a windowsill for indoor veg.
Jobs: Store and put away clean tools for next year.
Clean out nesting boxes.
December
Make: crafts with pressed flowers
Sow: indoor plants on windowsills, terrarium kits are good as they are fun for growing indoors.
Make: christmas decorations, collect holly, ivy, moss and fir cones for making wreaths and tree decorations.
How To Make A Winter Display Container
I
had seen this planter in a garden centre and wanted to create something
similar, so I picked up a 33cm lightweight pot from The Range for
£1.99. It's going to be undercover so I didn't mind it not being
terracotta. I thought it would be a nice for G to come home from school
to and maybe make some plant markers to go with it.
2.
Work out what you going to plant and where it is going to go. I tried
the dwarf conifers in the large pots first but they looked a little
silly so planted them up in the medium pots. I also planted pansies
around the edge, about 6-8 per pot.
Just
need to brighten up the top of this area more, maybe some wall art? And
what can go in the large pot, I was thinking of a nice dark red
phormium.