Countryside Mumsie Planting Series - Growing Courgettes

Hey Guys,

Here is the second blog in our Planting Series.  It is all about growing courgettes. Courgettes are really easy to grow.. two courgette plants will produce ample courgettes for most families.  Courgettes are not frost hardy so they need to be planted out in June when the risk of frost has passed. I prefer to sow my Courgettes inside, I think it is safer.Sow seeds in small pots or seed trays using fine compost.   Place each seed about1/2 inch deep in each pot.  Gently water and leave indoors by a south facing windowsill.  Keep the compost moist but dont over water while the seed is germinating.

Here is my first courgette plant raising its head!  The excitment out of the girls was something else!

Potting On
After about 3 weeks the courgette plant will have used up all the compost nutrients. Repot it into a larger pot with fresh compost, this will give it more room to grow its roots.

Hardening Off
Plants that have been raised indoors will need to get used to outdoor tempetures before they can be planted outside in the raisaed bed.  This can take about 10 days.  When you know the frost has passed move the plants out for longer periods each day.

Planting out Courgette Seedlings
Courgette plants are not hardy.  So pick a sheltered sunny spot which is protected from strong winds.  Courgette plants take up huge amount of space.  The leaves are huge and will shade out anything else growing nearby, take this into account when planting them into your raised bed. Planting distance between palnts is 1 metre apart.  It looks like a huge gap, but they will soon fill the gap! Courgette plants need rich soil, I add horse manure each year to my rasied beds. Water around the plants heavily not on them.Watch out for slugs.

One of many courgette and carrot harvest we had last summer;

Harvesting
Pick the courgettes as soon as they get to the aquired size.  The courgettes get very big very quickly. Better to harvest when small, they will taste better.  It also encoursages more fruit to grow if picked smaller. To harvest cut the fruit at the base with a sharp knife taking care not to damage the plant.  Continue to pick fruit to encourage the plant to produce.  The courgette flowers can also be eaten and are a lovely garnish for salads.

Here is one of my courgette plants from last year;

I hope our planting series is inspiring you in some way to take to the garden! ;-)

 

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Thanks for reading,

Orla & Kerri X

My Planting Series - Butternut Squash

Hello,

Today I am sharing with you my first blog in 'My Planting Series'. I have decided to start with Butternut Squash.  I love buying Butternut Squash in the supermarket and making risotto, soup and pasta sauce out of this vegetable.  Butternut Squash is rich in Vitamin A. It is a creamy vegatable that little ones love to eat.  This vegetable is an interesting and tasty addition to the standard vegetables and it offers many uses in cookery.  Butternut Squash is easy to grow, needs no great expertise for success.

See below the full health benifits of the Butternut Squash;

One cup of Butternut squash, cooked, baked, drained with no added salt has 1.84 grams protein and 82 calories.

Minerals:

Potassium - 582 mg Phosphorus - 55 mg Magnesium - 59 mg Calcium - 84 mg Iron - 1.23 mg Zinc - 0.27 mg Copper - 0.133 mg Manganese - 0.353 mg Selenium - 1 mcg Sodium - 8 mg
Also contains small amounts of other minerals.

Vitamins:

Vitamin C - 31 mg Niacin - 1.986 mg Vitamin B1 (thiamine) - 0.148 mg Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) - 0.035 mg Pantothenic Acid - 0.736 mg Vitamin B6 - 0.254 mg Folate - 39 mcg Vitamin A - 22868 IU Vitamin K - 2 mcg Vitamin E - 2.64 mg
Contains some other vitamins in small amounts.

Butternut Squash are heavy feeding plants.  they grow quickly and use large amounts of nutrients from the soil and alot of water. The ideal place to plant your Squash is an area fully open to sunshine with good shelter.  The soil should be rich.  Every year we get a truck load of horse manure from our neighbouring horse Stud Farm.  This really enriches our raised beds, it is great for ensuring good home grown veggies!

You should sow your your Butternut Squash seeds in late April or early May. I had mine inside by a large window that gets alot of sun.  If you have a greenhouse even better.  These plants cannot tolerate frost.  Sow each seed, on its edge, in a good sized pot to avoid potting on.  Be careful not to over water, as this can cause the seed to rot.  Allow the compost to dry abit before watering, but do not delay watering at the same time.


Planting out your Butternut Squash
Harden off the seedlings towards the end of May or early June and plant outside after a few warm days.  The planting site should be well prepared with compost and manure.  Set the plant on a slight mound, about 25 centimetres from the plant to allow the watering layer.  If the plant is a bit floppy, a light cane can be used to secure it against wind damage.

Aftercare
Allow the plant to settle and do not water until it has hardened and settled fully.  Watch out for slug and snails! When the plant begins to grow, it will grow very fast.  The Butternut Sqash plant takes up alot of space. Butternut Squash seeds can send out vines up to 15 feet long!! If cultivated and maintained properly each seed could potentially yield 10-20 squashes.  Allow the squashes to continue to ripen into October, then they will begin to colour and our ready to be picked.

Enjoy planting amd growing.  I love this time of the year, getting all the seeds growing and the great hope for lots of home grown vegetables at the other side.  My children love to help maintain the plants by watering everyday.  They love nothing more than the excitment of spotting the vegetables arriving!

Don't forget you can keep up to date with Countryside Mumsie on our social media accounts facebook and instagram.

Thanks for reading,

Orla & Kerri X

How My Children Do The Gardening ;-) Some fun tips!

Gardening With Children

Gardening combines many of the elements that children love most; exploring, watching things grow and making a mess.  Add a few worms, bugs and mud pies and you have the recipe for a constant source of activity.

   Introducing your children to gardening can create a passion, that will last a lifetime.

 

 

Children enjoy growing things that they can pick and eat.  Fruit and vegetables are ideal for small hands to poke around in without causing too much damage.  Try potatoes, courgettes, strawberries and tomatoes.  Even the fussiest eater should be delighted by growing and harvesting their own supper.  In our house this is usually soup for lunch!

Lack of space need not be a restriction.  Even the smallest patio or window ledge can provide shelter and sun.  Use any container, yoghurt pot, tin can, old tyre.  All can be decorated and turned into a perfect plant pot. 




Tips for gardening with children

Give them their own garden beds. Whether you use raised beds, containers or ground plots, be sure to give each child his or her own separate plot. Keep it small, very small for young kids. Put their plots right in the middle of the action, with the best soil and light. Set them up for success.

Reuse the sandbox. If your children have grown past their sandbox years, consider converting the old sandbox to a garden bed. This gives the child continued 'ownership' of a familiar space and encourages a sense of responsibility to the gardening project. Of course, a productive garden bed needs to be in good sunlight and soil should be free of tree roots. It may be necessary to relocate the sandbox if growing conditions are less than ideal.

Give them serious tools. Cheap plastic child's gardening tools are worse than no tools at all; they break easily and frustrate the user. It can be hard to locate good tools for kids, especially work gloves that fit a small hand. With some garden tools, like a hoe or spade, you can easily saw the handle shorter. Let them use your tools if need be; in this way you're acknowledging the importance of the work they're doing.

Engage them through the entire process, from seed to table. Children learn better when they understand the context of their activity. They will learn that gardening can be fun, but far more than idle play; they are contributing to the family well-being. Besides planting and nurturing their garden beds, be sure they alone do the harvesting and preparation of their crop for the table, no matter how modest the offering.

Start from seeds. While it's a convenient shortcut to buy starters, children will learn more by seeing the growing process as it begins, from seed. The care given to sprouting seeds and nurturing the young seedling are a valuable part of the gardening experience. Seeds will need to be started indoors in a warm room and once sprouted they can be transplanted into pots until ready to set out


Cheat a little. Depending on the age of the child, you may need to help out a little 'behind the scene'. Not every garden task is pleasant, and the child may not be ready at all times for all chores. You may need to go out in the evening to pick a few slugs off the lettuce, or be the one to run out and move the sprinkler. They don't have to know about every little help you offer - the child's 'ownership' of the plot is the main thing.

When all else fails, make a scarecrow. The best time to engage children in gardening is when they're in the mood for this activity. If their attention wanes, or the garden tasks become boring, let them build a scarecrow. This activity is still a contribution to the gardening effort and adds another layer of interest to the garden scene. It also reminds the child of the importance of the garden crops.

Show off their work. When giving 'garden tours' to friends, be sure to point out the children's beds. Take a photo of their harvest and send it to the grandparents. The attention given to their work is the best motivator for children to stay involved with a project.

People of all ages can enjoy gardening, but children in particular will have lots of fun and gain special benefits. Gardening is educational and develops new skills including:

• Responsibility – from caring for plants
• Understanding – as they learn about cause and effect (for example, plants die without water, weeds compete with plants)
• Self-confidence – from achieving their goals and enjoying the food they have grown
• Love of nature – a chance to learn about the outdoor environment in a safe and pleasant place

• Reasoning and discovery – learning about the science of plants, animals, weather, the environment, nutrition and simple construction
• Physical activity – doing something fun and productive
• Cooperation – including shared play activity and teamwork
• Creativity – finding new and exciting ways to grow food
• Nutrition – learning about where fresh food comes from.

Here is a list of the fruit and vegetables that the girls have grown that have been a success;

Runner beans
Strawberry
Radish
Lettuce
Courgette
Carrot
Potato
Spinach
Swiss chard
Beetroot
Pumpkins

Thanks for reading

Orla & Kerri xx

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Bringing the Buzzzzzzz back....

Hello!

Today I am blogging about our wildflower garden.

As our house is newly built and garden just recently finished we didn't have many bees and butterflies around to pollinate the garden. We decided a wildflower garden would be a great and beautiful addition to entice the wildlife in and benefit the garden.  A wildflower garden creates a wonderful display and is of great benefit to conservation and wildlife.  Bees are on the decrease and they are reliable for pollinating over 80% of crops so it is vital to provide them with plants to feed on i.e wildflowers.

So how we went about it. We picked an area of our garden that is a bit away from where the girls normally hang out in the garden i.e the playground area. You don't want the wildflowers being hit and deheaded by a ball etc.  You want the wildflower garden to reflect reality, so think of where these flowers would grow in the wild i.e shade from trees and along banks. Next decide what types of wildflower you want to grow, ask yourself what flowers do you see growing wildly locally. Visit a local nature preserve for inspiration. Next you need to buy the seeds. We bought packets of wildflower mixed seeds online and in Aldi. Prepare your soil. Remove any vegetation. Rake the soil about 1 inch. Mix in some potting soil to enrich soil. Plant the seeds in the spring when danger of frost has passed. Sprinkle seeds evenly to get good coverage. Press seeds into soil by walking gently on them. Water yours seeds but don't drown them. They should start sprouting after about two weeks!

Advantages of wildflower garden?

Looks amazing and less mowing. It's a very practical labour saving approach for small gardens!

Enjoy!  I love my Wildflower garden!

Anyone ever plant wildflowers? Any favourite flowers? Would love to hear x

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