|
Kids Corner
|
February 2009
Wednesday, 25 February 2009
Hi everyone – gosh isn’t it hot? I spend all my time laying around panting it’s so hot.
Last weekend my mum Emma took me to the beach at Piha and I raced around chasing the waves – that was a really fun way to cool off.
How do you cool off in this weather? This month we are going to learn to make bucket gardens, bird puddings (that’s puddings for birds, not puddings made from birds – eeewwww), some jokes, and a vegetable puzzle.
- See ya next month...
Garden in a Bucket
Eating veggies is much more fun when you’ve grown them yourself. And a really fun way to start your own veggie garden – with a bit of help from Mum and Dad – is in a bucket.
Select a couple of vegetables plants you would like to try growing – tomatoes are a great way to get going. Choose a colourful bucket that is a reasonable size.
If Mum or Dad have a spare one that’s great – otherwise the $2 shop usually has buckets that are perfect. It doesn’t have to be fancy. Your planter needs drainage holes so ask an adult to poke a few in the bottom of your bucket with a nail and hammer or an electric drill. Three or four should be about right.
Decorate your bucket with permanent markers, stickers, glue and glitter, then half fill it with potting mix. Add a small amount of fertiliser pellets and mix into the soil.
Now you’re ready for the fun part. Carefully remove your tomato seedlings from their package and place on top of the soil. You can add more potting mix if necessary, carefully pressing down with your hands so your plants are firmly secured.
Water your Bucket Garden and hey presto - that’s it! You will need to check your garden each day to see if it needs water – test it by gently poking a finger into the top of the soil. If it feels dry, water it. If it feels moist leave it.
Don’t worry about perfection - once the plants start to grow they’ll know where they want to go. And don’t forget to ask Mum and Dad to help if you need it. Lots of plants work in Bucket Gardens: courgettes, beans, herbs, even potatoes at the right time of year. Flowers work well in buckets too – try planting some marigolds. Don’t forget to harvest and eat the vegetables.
By the way, you can keep your bucket garden inside – if it’s ok with mum of course – in which case you don’t need to put the holes in. Instead put some Styrofoam pieces from a craft store in the bottom of the bucket to act as a reservoir, so the soil can still drain. |
Bird Pudding
The birds in your garden will love this tasty snack.
Ingredients:
1-2 cups of fat
Stale bread or biscuits or bird seed
Honey
Bacon rinds
Method:
1. Place the fat, honey and bacon scraps in a bowl.
2. Stand the bowl in hot water.
3. When the fat begins to melt add the bread, biscuits or bird seed.
4. Stir the mixture and form into a ball.
5. Press into a small container and leave to cool and set.
6. Tip out into a net bag (the sort you buy mandarins or onions in is good).
7. Hang the bird pudding near your bird table for birds to eat.
Birds also like sugar water – especially in the summer – so maybe you could put a couple of dishes out for the birds in your garden. Just don’t tell your cat where you put it.
Visit www.forestandbird.org.nz/saving-our-environment for more things you can do to help the environment. |
|
|
|
|
|
