Have fun growing sunflowers and make this great ‘Sunflower Garden’ for your favourite gardener as a gift that just keeps on giving!

This is all that is needed to make a Sunflower Garden:

• Printed copies of the sunflower garden template.
• Textas, crayons and pencils.  Creative kids may even like to use glitter!
• Craft or PVA glue
• Scissors

How to make the Sunflower Garden:

1. Colour the sunflower with bright textas and pencils.
2. Cut around the outside edge of the sunflower.
3. Apply a good layer of glue to the centre circle  of the sunflower and place some sunflower seeds on to the glue. Press them down firmly.
4. Place the sunflower aside for the glue to dry.

Planting the Sunflower Garden:

Once the glue has dried, the sunflower garden is ready to be planted in a sunny spot in the garden. Prepare the garden bed by digging in some compost or organic matter through the topsoil then scrape a few centimetres off the top.  Lay the sunflower garden flat on top of the soil and then cover it back over with the soil that’s on the side so that it can’t be seen.  Water the garden bed well and keep it moist for a few weeks.  Soon, the sunflowers will sprout and grow into beautiful tall plants with big yellow heads that move to follow the sun.

This is a great gift that just keeps on giving!

SUNFLOWER TEMPLATE

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CLASSROOM: SEED GERMINATION
This experiment lets kids watch the magic of a seed germinating. It’s easy to set up and gives lots of opportunity for discussion.

Find out more

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And do you know what?  There might be progress in the world with the invention of computers, cars with automatic parking and phones that can be carried in the pocket but still, a shoe is still quite capable of squashing a snail, water still comes out of the sprinklers and sheep still produce manure.

Gardening is still gardening….it’s not rocket science.  Well, unless you’re growing rocket of course!

Why is it that people now thing that gardening, the simple act of planting a vegie garden, is so difficult?  Some people are so sure that they don’t have the skills to do this that they even pay an ‘expert’ to come in and do it for them.  I can tell you now, there are no experts in the world of planting vegetables and anyone, and I mean anyone, can do it.

I heard Heston Blumenthal say that anyone who has a favourite dish or likes food can cook if they want to.  And gardening is exactly the same.  If you want to do it, you can do it.

Don’t think that you need every single garden product that is on the shelf, in the magazines or on the tv either.  I’m not saying that they are bad products, I just think that with so much choice out there it becomes too confusing for new gardeners so they don’t even give it a go.  That’s such a shame.

All you need to start a vegie patch is a weed-free area of ground with 6 hours of sunlight, some manure to dig through it, an efficient method of watering it and some seeds or seedlings that suit the season.  Oh, and a shoe to squash the snails.

After that, keep an eye on them and if you see something odd, perhaps the leaves are yellow or a few holes appear, solve that problem when you come to it. Use our website to help; we’ve kept it simple for that very reason.  If you have any questions, just ask us as we’re always ready with great gardening advice and we promise not to turn it into rocket science.

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Year level(s): Years 3 to 7 (Includes suggestions for extension)

Curriculum Area(s):  Science

Possible links to other curriculum areas

• Mathematics – Measurement and Number: operations of problems based on the growth/measurements recorded of the seeds; graphing of measurements and time.
• Art – still line drawings.
• Writing – daily journal entries of observations and changes.
• T&E – planning and preparing the experiment.

This is a time lapse clip showing the growth of radish seedlings which the children will observe in real life when completing this experiment.

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD EXPERIMENT

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD BACKGROUND INFO

Smarty Plants is interested in hearing from teachers with feedback or suggestions on this plan so that we can improve it for others to benefit. Please contact us by email or through our blog.

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The other day, I became inspired and had some fun sculpting my own flock of sheep from cauliflower.  It was quite easy really.  The cauliflower forms the body and then I used toothpicks to attach the carrot legs and the grape head.  I cut tiny little slits for the ears and poked in cloves to make the eyes.  They looked really cute and sat on the bench for a few days.  Now that I think about it, I wonder if I could make a cauliflower snowman or perhaps a ‘cauli dog’!

I guess the point is that there’s a time and place when it is quite alright for young kids to play with their food.  Even though they won’t be eating them, it’s a great chance for them to look at them close up, compare their differences, handle them and perhaps even smell them without having the pressure of being pushed to eat them at the dinner table.

Perhaps a fun session with the vegies won’t instantly solve the problem of fussy eaters, but it’s a very good first step to breaking the habit of simply saying “I hate vegetables”.  After all, it’s difficult to hate cauliflower when it’s turned into the fluffy bodies of a flock of sheep.

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Growing from seed is really quite easy.  Just make sure that the seed that you are using is fresh as old seeds might not germinate.  The packets at the shops will often show a Best Before date.

1. Choose a pot that is the right size for the fully grown vegetables.  Make sure that it is at least 15cm deep.
2. Fill the pot to about 2cm from the top with premium potting mix.
3. Place the seeds on top of the potting mix.  If you are planting large bean or pea seeds, only put 3 or 4 in a pot, but if you are planting small seeds just sprinkle them evenly over the top – not too many though.
4. Place a layer of potting mix over the top of the seed.  The depth of the potting mix should be the same as the thickness of the seed.  That is, if you are planting large bean seeds, the potting mix on the top will be about 10mm thick but if you are planting tiny coriander seeds, the layer on the top will only be about 2mm.
5. Water the seed gently with a watering can being carefully not to disturb the seeds.
6. If the weather is a little bit cool, make a mini hothouse out of a bottle to put over the top but if it is warm, the seed can just go in a part of the garden in full sun.
7. Water the seeds at least once a day, even more in summer.  Never let them dry out.
8. Once the seeds have germinated, you may find that there are too many in the pot which could stop them from growing properly.  If this happens, you can either thin them out by gently removing some of the seedlings, or you can separate them out and repot them into other pots.

 
SMARTY TIP:
The easiest seeds to start off with are radishes, beans, peas, coriander, rocket, melons, cucumber and squash.  They will all grow really quickly and usually give great results.

Large seeds are planted in a pot.  Notice that the amount of soil put on the top is about the same depth as the seeds themselves.  This just needs to be watered now.

These are tiny seeds so only a very small amount of soil is placed on top of them.  After being watered, they can then be put somewhere warm and sunny to grow.

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Grasshoppers are divided into ‘long horned’ and ‘short horned’ varieties which refers to the length of their antennae.  They have long legs and wings that sit flat on their body.  Their colouring differs depending on their species but mostly in the garden, they are either brown to blend in with the bark of trees, or bright green so that they are camouflaged when they are sitting on a leaf.

Whilst a small number of grasshoppers eat other insects, making them good bugs, most will eat plant material.  They have rasping teeth and usually start chewing into the middle of a life, sometimes not all the way through, and it is this that gives a pretty good clue that it was a grasshopper that had a chew on your vegetables before you did.

Although there are commercial sprays that can be used in the garden to kill grasshoppers, there are organic methods as well.  If you have chickens in the garden, let them go for a roam around as there is nothing funnier than watching a chook chase grasshoppers as they hop around in front of them.  You can catch them yourself with a bug net too but do this early in the morning as this is when grasshoppers are at their laziest.

Grasshoppers are attracted to the colour yellow so yellow sticky paper (available at garden centres) hanging over the vegie patch is a great idea.  Alternatively, make a trap by digging a hole in the ground and putting a bucket in it so the top is about level with the soil.  Fill this with water and put in a tablespoon of molasses (the sweetness attracts the grasshoppers) and float a piece of yellow plastic on the top as well.  Add a little bit of canola oil as this will put a skin on the water to deter mozzies from laying their eggs.  Change the water every now and then to keep the trap fresh.

A few grasshoppers in the garden are not a big problem but when there is a plague, watch out!  They can do a lot of damage and the result will be that you are hopping mad!

Grasshoppers mostly chew holes in the middle of the leaves and work their way out.

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Slugs have the same soft body as snails but although some do have shells, most of them do not.

Snails and slugs usually hang out in shaded damp areas such as under big leaves, in amongst strappy plants or in the hollows of logs and trees.  They even hide in the shed or behind rocks.

THE DAMAGE THEY CAUSE
Both slugs and snail eat young seedlings, vegetables, herbs and small leaves.  They will often eat a whole leaf just leaving the stalk behind and if a seedling completely disappears overnight, it has almost definitely been eaten be a hungry snail or slug.

Snails and slugs will sometimes move into the letterbox and eat the mail so if your birthday card has holes in it, don’t think that it was the postman!

HOW TO CONTROL THEM
Snails love to come out in to the garden at night to eat all of the vegetables and seedlings so you have to be very clever to catch them.  Make snail traps by cutting oranges in half and squeezing out the juice and some of the pulp.  Place these up side down in the garden in the afternoon and check them in the morning for any trapped snails.  Terracotta pots turned on their side are also great snail traps.

A great snail trap can be made using Vegemite and a foil barbecue tray.  Dig a shallow hole in the garden and put the foil tray in and push the soil back around so that the top is level with the surface of the soil.  Dissolve 1tsp of Vegemite into 1 cup of warm water and pour it into the tray.  Leave the tray in the garden overnight and check it for snails in the morning.  It should last a few days before the liquid needs replacing, unless it gets washed away by rain.

Snails have rasping teeth which they use to chew on leaves.

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Aphids and other sap-sucking insects are common in our gardens, feeding in large colonies on the plant juices of the new buds and shoots on roses, fruit trees and other plants.   You can tell there are aphids in the garden from shrivelled look of the new leaves and buds and the constant trail of ants happily tending them for the sweet honeydew that they excrete.

Ladybirds are capable of consuming a staggering 500 aphids a week and female ladybirds lay up to 1500 eggs in their lifetime. Ladybird larvae look quite ugly and will hunt down even more aphids than their parents.  They are one of the most valued of all beneficial bugs so by encouraging them to set up home in your garden you can reduce and control the numbers of sap-sucking insects without the need for pesticides.

Ladybirds love the tiny flowers of allysum and dill so plant lots of these around the garden and don’t use pesticides as even the organic ones kill the ladybirds as well.

Ladybirds roost in the crevices and cavities in timber and under loose bark, dead leaves and dense grass during the night and over the cooler months of winter.  Putting a ladybird house in the garden that mimics these favourite hiding spots will encourage them to stay in the garden.

Ladybird House

A ladybird house should have lots of tiny holes in it and can be built out of lots of different materials.  An easy way to build a ladybird house is to fill the space in a bird feeder with lots of pieces of bamboo that have all been cut to the same length.  Pack them in tightly so that they don’t come loose.  Hang it in a sheltered position such as under the eaves of the house but give it a clean every year to make sure that the spiders don’t take over.

Ladybird hunting aphids.

Ladybird larva

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It’s easy to plant the same vegetables or flowers in each pot but you could try mixing them up.  For example, you could mix flowers and herbs together in one pot or you could make combinations such as a Mediteranean mix which has basil, tomato and chives.  Just make sure that all of the seedlings need the same amount of water and sunlight so that they all stay healthy.

1. Choose a pot or container that is at least 20cm deep.  The bigger the better!  It could even be a wheelbarrow, a toy or dad’s old boot!  They just need to have drainage holes in the bottom which an adult can help you with.
2. Wear gloves. Fill the pot to 3cm from the top with premium potting mix.
3. Water the potting mix so that it is saturated all the way through.  Water the seedlings as well.
4. Use a dibbler or a fat stick to make holes the distance apart that the plant labels suggest.
5. Take the seedlings out of the punnets by pressing each cell from underneath until it pops up.
6. Put a seedling into each hole and gently push the soil around it.  Make sure the top of the seedling rootball is equal with the top of the soil.
7. Gently water the seedlings again.
8. Water them every day and turn the pot around every week so that the plants on the other side get sunlight as well.

TIP: If planting into a big pot, put it in the spot that it is going to stay as once it is full of potting mix it will be too heavy to lift.

Seedlings that have been germinated in a tray and are now being separated and each one planted into a different pot so that they can grow larger.

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