It's that time of year again when our home turns from a relatively tidy house into something which resembles a greenhouse! We love gardening & planting but have no greenhouse or propagator, so any windowsill space is used to accommodate our growing collection of seedlings.
Since Minnie was a baby she has been involved in the process of planting, growing & eating the veggies & fruit we've grown. As a baby she was with me as I planted outside, later she enjoyed the pureed homegrown fruit, & for the past two years she has planted & cared for a variety of plants in the garden.
We're really fortunate to have a large area for Minnie to play in & explore, this includes a 'gardening' area where she can dig, plant, & experiment. In the past we tried to grow vegetables in the ground, but didn't had much luck due to some very hungry wildlife, so last year we created a raised planting area & fenced off Minnie's garden to deter the munching bunnies. In return we collected a humongous crop of salad, vegetables & fruit!
We've been sorting our gardening area again today, & it got me thinking that these ideas could easily be adapted to create a small 'grow your own' area where space is limited, on patios, along the side of a house, on a balcony, or stairway.
Our basic layout consists of tables along the back of the house. They're not all the same height, length or width, they're just a collection of old tables that will withstand the weather. Anything could be used as a base to sit plants on, an upturned plastic container, storage box, old chair, old wheelbarrow, basically whatever you have lying around.
We use a selection of planters (as you can see) & my favourites have to be Minnie's old wellie boots which we grew mini tomatoes in last year! (If using wellies, or any other container just add a few holes in the bottom for drainage.)
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| Milk cartons make great planters |
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| Minnie's old wellies Reusable shopping bags are great for growing potatoes & onions as they offer a wide deep space for the plants to grow.  |
Something else I love to use for planting & growing are milk containers. We've upcycled several to create planters, scoops & watering cans!
For our plant markers we use broken wooden clothes pegs. They're great for adding a little literacy & mark making to your gardening!
Here are some of our goodies from last year...
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| Selection of salad, herbs & peppers |
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| One of our collections of homegrown loveliness which Minnie helped prepare for dinner |
Hanging baskets offer a great place to grow tumbling tomatoes & strawberries
Sunflowers are perfect for children to grow & can easily be grown in a flowerpot.
Children obviously benefit greatly from having a large area to garden in, but even in a small space with just a few containers they can experience some of the many benefits of gardening.
If you have no available outdoor space, then indoor gardening offers a whole host of goodies that can be grown on your windowsill, or in containers hung from the ceiling! All you need is a little day light & selection of indoor seeds.
Herbs, salad, micro-salad, micro-veg, & a vast selection of fruit & veg can all be grown inside.
Check out the clip below for a mini guide to growing micro-veg indoors from Alys Fowler's 'The Edible Garden'
Mini green fingers can be encouraged with just a few simple, recycled, & low cost items. Who knows how many little budding gardeners there are out there...
You might also like our 'Why it's Great to Get Gardening'