The seedling slaughter, or, death by over-ambition

March 21, 2018.Reading time 3 minutes.

I am known, amongst those of my close acquaintance, for occasionally over-reaching myself. I’ve always felt that if I’m going to hit a brick wall in any of my endeavours, I’ll do it at a run. Some of the time this attitude has served me well but horticulturally it’s becoming something of a problem. My […]

Sowing seeds with a toddler

February 22, 2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

Ever since my oldest son was born, I’ve always tried to interest him in the outdoor world. We go for walks whatever the weather, we look at trees and plants and birds and investigate animal holes and tracks and calls. We also mess about in the garden, and he’s joined me in the garden since […]

Carrots: the second sowing

April 25, 2017.Reading time 4 minutes.

Setting everything out before we starts ensures the two year old is interested I always feel so brutal when I have to thin out seedlings and I really have to force myself to do it. I spur myself on with memories of the Great Garlic Failure of 2015 and try to remind myself that life […]

Meritocracy in action: thinning seedlings

April 6, 2017.Reading time 1 minute.

Before After (poor seedlings…) As predicted when I sowed seeds into my only propagator with my two year old GarlicBoy, some of the smaller ones (in this case, French Marigolds) did get spread around a bit. So given that here at Garlic Towers, we like to see hard-working seeds succeed, we had to thin them […]

An unlikely toy: a seed syringe

April 1, 2017.Reading time 1 minute.

One of the nicest things about gardening with a toddler is how you get to see things you take for granted through their eyes. Sticking seeds into a seed syringe and then using it to sow reliable amounts of seeds is something I’d do without even thinking about it, but GarlicBoy was fascinated by the […]

Sowing window box flower seeds with a toddler: Ladybird poppies

March 31, 2017.Reading time 4 minutes.

When planning our tiny garden, we wanted to ensure that we’d have space where GarlicBoy could play safely when we’re home. We also wanted some storage space for garden cushions and tools etc. A playhouse seemed to tick all the boxes and he loves it. My father and I put it together a couple of days […]

Square foot gardening: Planting carrot seeds for the Easter Bunny with a toddler

March 30, 2017.Reading time 5 minutes.

An empty raised bed awaiting seeds is a yawning gulf of temptation to me, one that begs to be filled with any manner of plants. The problem is that when space is limited and the year is still too young to allow for the planting out of seedlings as per the carefully crafted urban garden […]

Enthusiasm for seeds must be genetic…

March 16, 2015.Reading time 1 minute.

I am a total geek when it comes to seeds. One of the highlights of my shopping year is when the seed catalogues come out and I can sit down in the evening with a glass of wine and a stack of them to pore over and covet. Once they actually arrive (cue much joyous […]

And so it begins…the first of the seeds are sown!

March 3, 2015.Reading time 1 minute.

Bring on the spring, that’s what I say. This past weekend was gloriously…well, grey. But on Friday afternoon the sun shone strongly and the cold, crisp air inspired me to get out into the garden with a sponge to clean up the greenhouse. I find that boring chores are much more likely to get done […]

Using egg boxes as seed propagators

March 9, 2014.Reading time 4 minutes.

When I was younger my primary school apparently used to ask parents to save their junk boxes (cereals etc) and loo rolls for “junk modelling” sessions. When I was older my mother told me she always liked dropping off whole boxes at the school as it cleared a cupboard, only to have to sigh in […]