Gardening 4 Kids

Spring School Holidays Activity at Queen Vic Market – Melbourne

Erica — Tue, 03 Sep 2024 06:59:23 +0000

Join us for a free, fun-filled children’s gardening experience with Gardening 4 Kids!

Little ones can let their creativity bloom as they plant organic sunflower seeds into biodegradable pots. Decorate the pot, carry bag, and bamboo plant label to make them uniquely theirs. Then, take the potted seeds home and watch as beautiful sunflowers grow.

But that’s not all! Get grubby with the Root Veggie Dig activity, where little ones can search for vegetables that grow underground – this open-ended exploration is perfect for young gardeners to discover the wonders beneath the soil.

This fun activity will be held in Shed C at the Queen Victoria Market, Peel St, Melbourne. Bookings are required and can be made via the Queen Vic website – https://qvm.com.au/whats-on/september-school-holidays-2024/

This activity is suitable for all children aged 3 and above. Parents or Carers must stay for the duration of the activity.

Gardening 4 Kids will provide all materials, tools, seeds, pots, and more. We hope to see you there!

The post Spring School Holidays Activity at Queen Vic Market – Melbourne appeared first on Gardening 4 Kids.

Patch Kits in Action

Erica — Fri, 02 Feb 2024 02:58:42 +0000

One of our most popular products are our Planet Eco Patch Kits

My grandchildren E,W and M tested out all three varieties, Vegie, Herb and Flower.

The Grandkids live in Far North Queensland and I live in Melbourne, so it was wonderful to share my gardening passion with them.

E, W and M all worked together to plant the seeds and write labels on the bamboo plants tags. When I visited them a few weeks after planting, the seeds had sprouted and were being watered at least once a day, probably more as I think each kid was watering them separately!

All of the seeds within the Planet Eco Patch Kits have been specifically chosen because they are easy to grow and quick to germinate.

When the seedlings were big enough, we planted them out into the garden. The kids were a little surprised that the cardboard pot was biodegradable and could be planted straight into the garden.

Throughout my visit to FNQ, the Grandkids asked about a million questions about seeds, plants and gardening. I think the Patch Kits sparked an interest! And they all thoroughly recommended our Patch Kits as being a great gift for kids.

The post Patch Kits in Action appeared first on Gardening 4 Kids.

Growing Good Gardens Grant 2022

Erica — Thu, 16 Jun 2022 09:32:52 +0000

Life Ed are encouraging young people to get gardening, growing edible plants and learning healthy eating habits or creating a healthy class room environment with indoor plants.

Help create a classroom of thriving students! Together with Yates we’re encouraging young people to get gardening, and learn healthy habits – from the ground up!

Thanks to Yates, Healthy Harold and Life Ed are giving away $11,000 worth of grants. Schools, preschools and community groups are invited to apply for one of 10 garden grants valued at $1,000 each.

This year our friends at Yates are also giving one school/community group the opportunity to DOUBLE their grant and receive $2,000 for your school garden.

Getting kids out into the garden helps to create healthy minds and healthy bodies so they can thrive.

Teachers, coaches and community leaders alike are encouraged to apply to create a garden space where kids can learn healthy habits and improve their physical and mental well-being.

Since 2018, through our Growing Good Gardens Grant program, schools and community groups have turned outdoor spaces into fun hands-on learning gardens that connect kids with healthy eating, encouraging physical activity and extending the classroom curriculum.

Help grow a classroom of thriving students – enter your school or community group today! For more information and to apply, head to the Life Education website.

The post Growing Good Gardens Grant 2022 appeared first on Gardening 4 Kids.

Darebin Backyard Harvest Festival to blossom this May

Erica — Wed, 03 Apr 2019 07:56:46 +0000

Passionate gardeners from across Victoria will be lining up to take guided tours of some of Darebin’s abundant and productive food gardens and getting expert advice from local horticulturalists during the annual Backyard Harvest Festival this May.

Across 19 sustainability-focused garden tours and workshops, talented hosts will provide tips on a diverse range of subjects, including seedling propagation, keeping chickens, quails and bees, fruit tree maintenance and grafting and natural pest management.

Four new gardens have been added to this year’s program, along with two workshops especially designed for families and children – a first for the Festival.

The Productive Gardening with Kids Workshop at Poppy’s Patch in Reservoir will show how budding gardeners can have fun while meaningfully participating in gardening activities.

Children will also enjoy the Bee a Pollinator Native Bee Workshop in Preston, which will teach families the importance of native bees and increasing biodiversity. Attendees will make their own bee hotel to take home for their garden.

Darebin Mayor Susan Rennie said the vibrant gardens and sustainable gardening workshops meant there was something to interest all green thumbs during the Backyard Harvest Festival.

“Past participants have said they not only learnt new techniques, but also formed new friendships, which has helped build a strong sense of community around homegrown and homemade food,” Mayor Rennie said.

Tours and workshops run from between 60-90 minutes, and cost $10 ($5 concession). Take advantage of our $8 ticket ($4 concession) offer when you buy tickets to three or more events in the one transaction.

Where possible events which are a comfortable riding distance apart have been scheduled to follow one another. So why not leave the car at home and plan a fun day out riding between gardens.

The Darebin Backyard Harvest Festival will run across three weekends, from 4-19 May.

For more information on other sessions, and to buy tickets, visit www.darebin.vic.gov.au/backyardharvest.

Happy gardening

Erica

The post Darebin Backyard Harvest Festival to blossom this May appeared first on Gardening 4 Kids.

Victorian Schools Invited to Apply for Sustainability Grants

Erica — Thu, 08 Mar 2018 07:58:32 +0000

200 grants of up to $1,000 are currently up for grabs for schools, childcare centres and youth groups in Victoria looking to work on a sustainability or environmental project in 2018.
Following a successful first year, which saw more than 24,000 students engaged in 245 projects, the Powerful Youth Projects program is rolling out across the state again. Momentum Energy is funding the program through its partnership with Junior Landcare, and applications are open until 22 March via the Junior Landcare website.
Funding is available for a variety of projects such as vegie gardens, bush tucker gardens, composting or recycling projects, frog ponds, sensory gardens or other sustainable or environmental ideas.
Paul Geason, Managing Director of Momentum Energy, has encouraged Victorian students to get involved. “We’re passionate about engaging the next generation in hands-on learning about sustainability. From vegie patches to recycling projects, no idea is too simple, so we’re encouraging any educators who share our passion to apply for a grant before 22 March 2018,” he said.
Tessa Matykiewicz, Landcare Australia CEO, is delighted to partner with Momentum Energy to deliver the Powerful Youth Projects for the second year running.
“Junior Landcare schools will always welcome funding for projects that help students learn about their natural environment in an outdoor classroom setting. These projects provide schools with an opportunity to link outdoor learning to curriculum subjects, as well as achieving environmental and social outcomes. We’re delighted to be running the Powerful Youth Projects again this year,” she said.
All schools, childcare centres and youth groups in Victoria are eligible to apply for a Powerful Youth Project grant. Visit Powerful Youth Projects for more info and to lodge your application.
Good luck and happy gardening, Erica

The post Victorian Schools Invited to Apply for Sustainability Grants appeared first on Gardening 4 Kids.

Top 5 Best Chooks for Kids

Erica — Sat, 29 Apr 2017 02:21:36 +0000

Guest Post written by Sarah-Jayne McCreath from Backyard Chicken Coops.
Chickens make the best pets for your growing children. A flock of chooks provide love, a sense of responsibility and teach our kids the importance of compassion and care. They are super cute and affectionate and make great backyard pals for toddlers to teenagers and all in between. If you want your kids to have the best when it comes to pets – check out our top 5 breeds to choose for your kids below and get cluckin’ on that family flock!

Orpington
These heavy-set, fluffy and cuddly ladies are super friendly pets for kids. Their docile and curious natures make them the perfect backyard companion – happy to follow your kids around and assist on their garden adventures. For the grown-ups, Orpington ladies will make an “eggs-traordinary” addition to any chicken lovers flock, giving you good sized eggs on a regular basis.

Pekin
Pekins are docile and gentle-natured girls who are cute to boot! Their small stature makes them an adorable and easily handled pet for small children. Not to mention their beautiful full plumage which will delight young and old as they busily forage around the backyard.

Isa Brown
The humble ISA Brown chook may be a common sight amongst farms and backyards, but that doesn’t mean they exist to lay eggs alone! These amber-hued girls make wonderfully affectionate pets for children with their calm temperaments and curious outlook on life. Give an ISA Brown chicken a good home and some space to forage and you will have a friendly and faithful backyard companion to keep you and your kids company for years to come – not to mention a great supply of delicious eggs!

Silkie
These cute and quirky girls love nothing more than being tucked under your arm for a little bit of TLC. Silkie chickens are the very definition of all things cute and gentle. Easy to handle and easy to love, these girls are a great addition to any backyard flock and make calm and compliant pets for young chicken keepers who are learning to look after some laying ladies.

Plymouth Rock
These laid back chooks make for chilled and cuddly pets for kids! The Plymouth Rock chicken will let them practice their hen holding skills, is very relaxed about being showered with kid kisses and isn’t fazed by the missteps in proper hen handling procedure that kids will inevitably take.

If you are ready to take the plunge and get your kids some feathered friends for the backyard, it’s important to supervise them on initial interactions to make sure both your chook and your child get along well. While most breeds are true to temperament, each chook is an independent woman and may go against the grain! Once a relationship is established, your kids will adore keeping their chook charges well fed and loved up for many years to come!

Check out the Complete Beginner’s Guide to Keeping Chickens at Backyard Chicken Coops and enter their competition here drawn May 1^st to win a Taj Mahal Chicken Coop and Starter Kit to start living the chook dream!

The post Top 5 Best Chooks for Kids appeared first on Gardening 4 Kids.

Garden Time Review and Giveaway – Can Gardening Get Any Easier?

Erica — Mon, 22 Aug 2016 01:29:44 +0000

Indoor Herb Garden ready to use

Garden Time is an automated grow system that makes indoor gardening super easy and we’ve got 4 kits to give away!
When we were contacted by Garden Time to ask if we would like to do a review of their product, I’ll be honest, I thought it would be some new fangled gadget, BUT I was pleasantly surprised.
When our kit arrived, the kids were super excited and helped me assemble it. We used the best quality potting mix that we had, and planted some basil and coriander seeds, as well as plucking a few self germinated seedlings from the garden, parsley and chives. The Garden Time system contains a self watering pot and has an automated lighting schedule, 8 hours of LED white light, 8 hours of LED purple light and 8 hours with no light, all designed to maximise growing conditions. The seeds were quick to germinate and the seedlings handled the transplantation well until……….
We went overseas for three weeks and left the Garden Time to its own devices. Unfortunately it ran out of water and the young herbs were looking a bit dismal when we returned. So we added more water, some dilated worm wee and left the system alone, I really didn’t think the herbs would come back, but they did! Three weeks after our return and our kitchen’s mini herb garden is ready to use!
Numerous visitors have commented on the unique lighting on our kitchen bench, and even more visitors loved the idea of having fresh herbs growing in the kitchen. A couple of non-gardeners stated that this may be the only way that they could grow plants! But most importantly, every child that has visited for a play date loved it, the girls especially loved the purple light phase!
I often hear people say that they would love to grow their own food but they kill everything they plant. Hearing this makes me feel sad, I give them advice on the easiest plants for their children to grow, ie snow peas or radishes, but they still seem determined that these plants will not thrive.
For these people, I suggest giving Garden Time a go, it is seriously easy to use.
In summary, Garden Time is very easy to use, only requiring a top up with water every week or so. The unique lighting system enables rapid plant growth even in the depths of an icy Melbourne winter. Whilst, the Garden Time pots aren’t the cheapest pot on the market, there are certainly one of the easiest to use, and can achieve rapid plant growth even for non-gardeners.
We have 4 Garden Time kits, valued at $109.95 each, to give to our followers, simply comment below about what your children would grow if they won a Garden Time kit. Winners will be chosen at random on 30/9/2106 and the prize will only be sent to Australian addresses, winners will be announced on Gardening 4 Kids’ Facebook page and Twitter feed and winners will be contacted via email.

Purple phase light with newly sprouted seedlings

The post Garden Time Review and Giveaway – Can Gardening Get Any Easier? appeared first on Gardening 4 Kids.

Vegemite Snail Trap

Erica — Wed, 01 Jun 2016 10:48:20 +0000

SNAILS and SLUGS – How to control them with kid-friendly products!
Gardening can often seem like a constant battle between snails and the gardener, but here is a terrific blog written by Jade and Amy from Growing Green Thumbs. They are 2 very enthusiastic school mums who spend their days volunteering at their children’s primary school in Bonbeach, Melbourne. They share their gardening enthusiasm with parents, students and our wider community, learning along the way as they grow fruit, vegetables and flowers whilst making it fun to play outdoors in a sustainable environment.

Rhubarb leaves are toxic to us but snails love them! Autumn usually provides the perfect weather for snails to lay their eggs in the cool damp weather. In our garden nestled amongst our Rhubarb crop we found an amazing colony of snails happily breeding away and munching on the leaves. We needed a natural pest deterrent that wasn’t harmful or toxic to children. Usually the kids will collect all the snails and slugs and feed them to the chooks, not that chooks actually like snails but the kids love the idea of going on a snail hunt and feel like they are helping out.
Gardening tips come from near and far and we needed a natural one that wasn’t harmful to the school kids. Erica from Gardening 4 Kids visited our school recently and suggested trying Vegemite in a jar. A jar full of water, a spoonful of Vegemite had the gardening club kids puzzled as to why would they like Vegemite? “Will they eat my sandwich too?” asked one student!
One student sat and watched the entire time as the snail made its way in. He was happy that the experiment worked but was a little sad that the creature he had watched for so long was no longer going to entertain him.

Vegemite in jars works and is a child friendly, non-toxic (for the kids anyway, not so much for the snails) way to control snails!
Jade and Amy, Growing Green Thumbs

Erica’s notes – So how does this work? The snails are attracted to the yeast in Vegemite; they slide into the jar but cannot get out again. The Vegemite Snail trap works in a similar way to a Beer Snail Trap but is safer to use around children. And who wants to share a perfectly good beer with a snail anyway!!
To make a Vegemite Snail Trap, simply add a tablespoon of Vegemite to an empty jar and fill with water. Mix until the Vegemite has dissolved. Next, bury the jar to the rim and wait for the snails to arrive!
The Vegemite Snail Trap works for slugs as well.
Happy gardening
xx Erica

The post Vegemite Snail Trap appeared first on Gardening 4 Kids.

Leap Year Garden Myths

Erica — Sun, 28 Feb 2016 23:51:51 +0000

Peas Growing the Wrong Way

There are many myths and superstitions associated with leap years and especially around 29th February. According to legend, 29th February is the one day every four years that a woman can propose to a man (and the man willed be fined if he declines!), there are also a few garden and farming myths connected with leap years.
Russian farmers believe that leap years will never be good for crops and farming. In particular for beans and peas, which will supposedly grow the wrong way round! The leap year clearly hasn’t had on impact on this young man’s garden who picked a bean this morning, 29 February, that was over a metre long!

Bean picked on 29th February 2016

In Scotland, similar superstitions are held; crops will fail and livestock will struggle, according to the old proverb “Leap year was n’er a good sheep year.” This certainly has been true for us, our little vegie patch is producing far more produce this year than previous years!
Anyway, good luck to any woman proposing today and a huge Happy Birthday to all the Leaplings (those born on 29th February).
Happy gardening
xx Erica

The post Leap Year Garden Myths appeared first on Gardening 4 Kids.

Cabbage Moths – How to keep them away from the vegie patch

Erica — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 06:27:49 +0000

Adult Cabbage Moth

Cabbage Moths were accidentally introduced into Australia during the 1930’s. Since then, the Cabbage Moth caterpillars have been merrily munching their way through vegie patches across much of the country.
In this blog, we’ll explain some kid friendly ways to remove and control them in your patch.
The first signs of a cabbage moth infestation will either be small white moths fluttering around the garden or lots of holes in the leaves of your prized vegies. Cabbage moths usually lay their eggs on the underside of the leaf so this is where the little green caterpillars can usually be found.

Cabbage Moth Caterpillars

So what do you do if cabbage moth caterpillars on already on your vegies?
1) When you see them, remove them! Sounds obvious, but every caterpillar gone means one less caterpillar to grow into an egg laying adult, (and one less caterpillar to munch on the vegie leaves!)
As the moths usually lay their eggs on the underneath side of the leave, check there first.
2) Make an “insect glue” from 1 cup boiling water and 1 cup white flour (not wholemeal, this recipe isn’t designed to make them healthy!), mix until there are no lumps and add sufficient cold water to make a consistency that can be sprayed through a spray bottle, you may need about 3 cups. Place the “insect glue into a spray bottle and spray directly onto the caterpillars. This “glue” will work on all insects.
3) To keep more cabbage moths from laying their eggs in your vegie patch, cut out a piece of white plastic bag or cardboard roughly into the shape and size (approx. 4cm across) of a cabbage moth and tie to a stake in your vegie patch. Cabbage moths are very territorial and they will think that the plastic bag is another moth.

The best Cabbage Moth control ever!

The post Cabbage Moths – How to keep them away from the vegie patch appeared first on Gardening 4 Kids.