The new year has started and as we move away from the winter frost the soil starts waking up and the gardening year commences.
This year get together with your children to cultivate some of your own vegetables. It is an immensely fun, soothing and rewarding activity as they dig their little hands in the soil, watching seeds grow into something that you can have for dinner!
Food production has a very high impact on our planet, with the United Nations IPCC estimating that it causes around 25% of all polluting gas. Growing things at home can help and brings us in closer contact with nature, on which we rely so much to feed us.
Find a little patch of your garden where you can let your kids experiment. If you don’t have much space, a flower pot, or a window sill would work.
See the RHS site for a calendar of when to sow fruits, veggies and herbs. Some easy suggestions are: blueberries, broad beans, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, garlic, herbs, potatoes, pumpkins, sweetcorn, strawberries and sunflowers. Go for a visit to the garden centre for your selected seeds and give it a try!!
We can learn how to garden while respecting and caring for nature with these easy tips:
- Try creating your own compost rather than buying it from the shop or make nettle soup, a great natural fertiliser! Home compost helps you reuse your food waste and keeps the soil healthy (try finding worms and little creatures underneath). Producing industrial shop-bought fertiliser uses up lots of fossil fuels!
- Collect rainwater in a waterbutt (or try just a bucket), to minimise our use of this precious resource, and to protect our unique chalk streams. This is especially useful for the summer months and you can also use it to water your house plants – they will thank you for it.
- Go pesticide free. RHS has a lot of information on how to control pests without using chemicals.
- Leave a part of your garden to nature by letting your grass grow longer! This allows wild flowers to grow that then feed pollinating insects and birds. You will be able to see and hear the difference once Spring comes.
- Why not create a mini pond? It is great for birds and insects to drink from, will very soon become home to boatmen, and if you are lucky, frogs and newts
Sustainable Amersham is offering seed swap in our Repair Cafe. If you want to start gardening why not come and get some free seeds?