Little green fingers
Welly boots make brilliant, quirky containers in the garden or on a balcony or doorstep. They look cute and can grow really pretty flowers or even tasty food. So how can you make them? It’s simple...
Get your wellies ready by washing the outside with warm soapy water. Then ask an adult to drill four holes in the sole of each boot.
Now it’s time to fill your boots. Place pebbles in the bottom to weigh the boots down so they won’t fall over. Fill with compost to 6cm from the top.
Then pop in one or two of your favourite plants, add extra compost to fill any gaps, firm down, water, then stand your boots in the sunshine!
All kids adore chocolate, so they’ll love growing chocolate-themed plants. Choose several from our list and plant into a large pot filled with compost.
Chocolatey plants: Step 2 Step 3
Chocolate cosmos (C. atrosanguineas) Chocolate mint (Mentha ‘Chocolate’) Heuchera ‘Chocolate Ruffles’ Eupatorium rugosum ‘Chocolate’ Chocolate daisy (Berlandiera lyrate)
Step 1 You will need:
Old Wellington boots Compost Selection of plants
Lots of kids have been making rainbows to show support for the NHS and key workers, and now Chris Collins, National Children’s Gardening Week Ambassador, is encouraging kids to create a version using materials found in their garden, such as leaves and flowers.
Alternatively, why not let them make a bigger splash and grow a rainbow in the garden? Chris suggests the following plants to create the rainbow colours. Some can still be grown from seed, while others can be bought as plants from garden centres or online suppliers.
Orange: English or pot marigolds Yellow: sunflowers
Blue: cornflowers Purple: asters
Pink: cosmos
It’s easy to create an edible den – insert tall bamboo canes into the ground in a ring and tie together at the top to form a wigwam. Then kids can plant runner beans at the base of each cane. The plants will grow quickly to produce a great little den to play in, plus you’ll get lots of delicious beans.