Blog of The Urban Fairy
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Making A Kids Veggie Patch
No, we are obviously not suggesting that you hand over your garden to a 4 year old. However why not give your child (or children) a vegetable garden of their very own!
Childrens veggie gardens can be made from a small raised bed in your own garden, a large tub or if you don’t have a garden, they could have a window box!
Getting your children into gardening will teach them many values. They will realise where their food comes from, how plants grow, what plants need to survive, they will have fun and of course they will eat their own produce. Not only that but most kids like the mini-beasts that live in soil too, so this is an added kiddy bonus!
You may think that growing vegetables in such a small space is impossible, however there are loads of veggies that grow well in compact spaces.
1: We all know that carrots have very long roots, however, the variety Parmex are small and round! They look like little orange gold balls and only have a root length between 1″ and 2″ so perfect for containers, even window boxes.
2: All varieties of lettuces grow extremely well in containers. We had a yield here of around 30 lettuce heads all planted in a container, we are slowly getting through them!
3: Radishes are small, grow well when compacted and grow very quickly, perfect for kids!
4: Don’t think that cress can only be grown in a saucer with a wet paper towel like you used to do at school! Simply spread your cress seeds over the top of the soil in your container and water.
5: Tomatoes (ok not strictly a vegetable!) grow very well in containers as long as they are in the sun, however you can also grow them indoors on a sunny window sill.
6: Garlic takes a long time to grow, but is easy to plant and grow in a container or tub.
7: Chillis grow very well in a tub, we grew them last year and they were lovely.
8: Spinach will grow well in a container, just make sure it does not wilt in the sun.
9: Shallots need a container rather than a window box but grow very well and home grown shallots are lovely and sweet!
10: Herbs! Yes, I know, they are not vegetables! BUT you can also grow herbs in containers too!
Don’t forget to always use good quality organic compost. This is, now these days, inexpensive and you can even buy it local supermarkets as well as garden centres.
Check the packets of seeds or plant boxes to see when and how to plant each seedling or seed.
Make sure you always supply your kids with a packet of baby or hand wipes when they are gardening, just for those quick wash ups.
Childrens veggie gardens can be made from a small raised bed in your own garden, a large tub or if you don’t have a garden, they could have a window box!
Getting your children into gardening will teach them many values. They will realise where their food comes from, how plants grow, what plants need to survive, they will have fun and of course they will eat their own produce. Not only that but most kids like the mini-beasts that live in soil too, so this is an added kiddy bonus!
You may think that growing vegetables in such a small space is impossible, however there are loads of veggies that grow well in compact spaces.
1: We all know that carrots have very long roots, however, the variety Parmex are small and round! They look like little orange gold balls and only have a root length between 1″ and 2″ so perfect for containers, even window boxes.
2: All varieties of lettuces grow extremely well in containers. We had a yield here of around 30 lettuce heads all planted in a container, we are slowly getting through them!
3: Radishes are small, grow well when compacted and grow very quickly, perfect for kids!
4: Don’t think that cress can only be grown in a saucer with a wet paper towel like you used to do at school! Simply spread your cress seeds over the top of the soil in your container and water.
5: Tomatoes (ok not strictly a vegetable!) grow very well in containers as long as they are in the sun, however you can also grow them indoors on a sunny window sill.
6: Garlic takes a long time to grow, but is easy to plant and grow in a container or tub.
7: Chillis grow very well in a tub, we grew them last year and they were lovely.
8: Spinach will grow well in a container, just make sure it does not wilt in the sun.
9: Shallots need a container rather than a window box but grow very well and home grown shallots are lovely and sweet!
10: Herbs! Yes, I know, they are not vegetables! BUT you can also grow herbs in containers too!
Don’t forget to always use good quality organic compost. This is, now these days, inexpensive and you can even buy it local supermarkets as well as garden centres.
Check the packets of seeds or plant boxes to see when and how to plant each seedling or seed.
Make sure you always supply your kids with a packet of baby or hand wipes when they are gardening, just for those quick wash ups.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Keeping Kids Entertained Whilst Travelling
Not of all us can afford travel/portable DVD players and TV’s for the car, train or plane to keep our kids amused and entertained whilst on a long journey. 
However, our kids don’t get bored because we keep ‘the kids bag’ in the car all the time.
It’s not a big bag, in fact it is a small, child size rucksack (backpack) and inside are the following goodies to keep them amused.
A pack of wax crayons - Better than felt tip pens or markers because there is no mess, better than coloured pencil crayons because you don’t need a pencil sharpener, better than paints, no water or mess!
A blank drawing pad or plain paper - Plenty you can do with paper (and your wax crayons), you can draw, play tic tac toe, play other paper based games, make folding paper art etc
A pack of playing cards - Always good for a quick game of snap, although we make them do a whisper version otherwise it frightens the life out you when you are driving and then suddenly here SNAP! from the back very loud!
A puzzle book - Always good for when they bored of drawing on their pads.
Car treasure hunt sheet - Make a list on A4 paper of all the things you are likely to see on a long journey (i.e. yellow car, windmill, bird, cow, lorry, motorbike etc) and once they have found all the items they win a small prize! (this can be anything from a sweetie to a hug from mum or dad!)
A couple of reading books - you can swap these for new ones as they read them and finish the books.
Magnetic games - most 99p and pound shops have in their toy aisle some small magentic travel games such as chess. backgammon, draughts etc. These are great for travelling as all the little pieces don't get lost and they are small enough to fit in a pocket.
This all goes in a bag which sits in our car all the time so they can grab it as and when they want to.
We also play lots of travel games such as I spy, car bingo, guess the theme tune and more. We also let them choose the music if we are on a long journey, however this does mean that Colin and I now know every word to every High School Musical track on the CD!
However, our kids don’t get bored because we keep ‘the kids bag’ in the car all the time.It’s not a big bag, in fact it is a small, child size rucksack (backpack) and inside are the following goodies to keep them amused.
A pack of wax crayons - Better than felt tip pens or markers because there is no mess, better than coloured pencil crayons because you don’t need a pencil sharpener, better than paints, no water or mess!
A blank drawing pad or plain paper - Plenty you can do with paper (and your wax crayons), you can draw, play tic tac toe, play other paper based games, make folding paper art etc
A pack of playing cards - Always good for a quick game of snap, although we make them do a whisper version otherwise it frightens the life out you when you are driving and then suddenly here SNAP! from the back very loud!
A puzzle book - Always good for when they bored of drawing on their pads.
Car treasure hunt sheet - Make a list on A4 paper of all the things you are likely to see on a long journey (i.e. yellow car, windmill, bird, cow, lorry, motorbike etc) and once they have found all the items they win a small prize! (this can be anything from a sweetie to a hug from mum or dad!)
A couple of reading books - you can swap these for new ones as they read them and finish the books.
Magnetic games - most 99p and pound shops have in their toy aisle some small magentic travel games such as chess. backgammon, draughts etc. These are great for travelling as all the little pieces don't get lost and they are small enough to fit in a pocket.
This all goes in a bag which sits in our car all the time so they can grab it as and when they want to.
We also play lots of travel games such as I spy, car bingo, guess the theme tune and more. We also let them choose the music if we are on a long journey, however this does mean that Colin and I now know every word to every High School Musical track on the CD!
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