Tag: gardening for kids

Wildlife garden: step by step guide to making your own insect hotel

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Your garden could be home to some 2000 species of insect. They are working to pollinate your plants, keep pest numbers down and help the garden ecosystem thrive.

Many species, including lacewings, ladybirds and solitary bees, hibernate over winter. They also need a safe, dry place to store their eggs until spring arrives.

But their natural habitat is disappearing, so it is down to us gardeners to provide a home or insect hotel for them. And you can make one using just recycled materials!

Download my free guide to making all different types of insect hotels!

Insect Hotel step by step guide

You can use anything as a container, but here I’m going to show you one I made using the drawers from a little wooden storage unit.

First, arrange the drawers to make one large container and screw them together. Then paint the wood with fence stain to protect it from rain damage.

For my filling I used straw, card and pampas grass, but there are alternatives. Hollow bamboo canes are ideal while twigs, pine cones and dry leaves will house a huge range of insects.

Cut out the seed head stems of bamboo and chop them into lengths that fit into your container. They will make hollow cavities that are perfect for insects to use as nesting tubes.

Because they are fluted, you will end up with a range of hole sizes suitable for different species.

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Next, bunch together some pampas grass leaves and cut them into lengths. It helps to hold them together with elastic bands – loom bands are ideal.

Repeat the process with bunches of straw.

Next, take some thin card, like the inner tube from a roll of wrapping paper. Roll it up and hold in place with elastic bands.

Try folding the edge before you roll to give a range of shapes and designs.

Slot your fillings into the container, making sure to pack them quite tight. Otherwise they will fall out when you hang it.

Now hang your hotel. It should be about 1.5m off the ground in a sunny, sheltered spot. And just wait for some residents to move in!

If, like mine, your insect hotel is open-fronted, it may get damaged by heavy winter rain. The contents may rot and kill the insects inside.

Protect your residents by moving the insect hotel to a cool, dry place over winter – a shed or garage is ideal. Don’t bring the insect hotel into your home – the insects need to be kept cool. Then put it back out in spring.

Want more information? Read my free guide – full of information about the insects that will use your hotel, plus extra project ideas, from simple to extravagant!

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For more garden planting ideas, check out my blog:

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Or check out my Pinterest board for more ideas:

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August 26, 2014
Love Your Garden series 4 episode 7: Behind the scenes photos

You’ve seen the show, now check out what happens behind the scenes!

(Missed it? Watch it on ITVPlayer now!)

Here’s Frances with her sister Charlie. They do look very similar. When Alan was introduced to her, he said “I used to work with a Charlie!” I replied that it was very confusing, asking Frances to do something and finding out that I was actually talking to Charlie! They had a great day helping out together. In the background you can see bags and bags full of soil, and our catering van which is ready to dish out those bacon butties.

This is Max, who’s in charge of product sourcing on this episode. He’s standing proud with one of these cypresses. His job is to order all the plants, and he’s grinning with relief that something’s actually turned up on site on time! But that smile was soon wiped off his face when he realised he had to unload all those trees.

Here is Frances and Katie helping Max by getting the trees down and carrying them. Kevin is lending them a hand too. I got into trouble taking this photo for you, dear blog readers, because I ruined Steve’s camera shots. He is filming in the background and caught me on camera snapping away with my phone instead of helping. I was in a bit of trouble for that! The things I do for you.

That was a brilliant kids’ summer house. It was fully equipped – it even had a little phone on the wall! The things kids have nowadays. There was also a little cooker and sink for them to play with. It’s marvellous. I couldn’t wait to get in there and, er… make sure everything was working okay.

We had a big discussion over whether or not we should stain the wood, but in the end it was decided that we should. It took ages. And I mean ages. But it did look good, and I’m sure the kids will get loads of enjoyment out of it.

Kevin is always trying to get in on stuff, and here he is doing his best Usain Bolt impression. Frankly, it looks more like he’s trying to direct traffic! All he needs is a lollipop sign saying ‘Kids cross here’. Grant and Alice are having hysterics next to him, and Matt is in the background wondering what the heck is going on!

This is Eleanor and Amy. Eleanor is our production co-ordinator and she does things like our hotel bookings and Amy is the hair and makeup artist. The two of them apparently couldn’t resist getting hold of those trees and giving them a cuddle.

Here you can see the modern special effects for television. We were filming the chat that we do every episode to discuss the garden plan, but the sun was shining too brightly on the table. Fortunately, no expense was spared in finding a suitable solution, and a delightful cardboard box cover was brought in to add a touch of shade! Frances’ sister Charlie and series producer Phil were roped in as box-holders. I had to dash out to take that photo for you.

Here is series producer Phil disciplining Guy, our runner, who failed to bring a cup of coffee to our sound guy Matt in time. You can Matt there on the left, standing with his arms folded. He was waiting ages for that coffee. He is not impressed.

This is a typical scene of direction. I was just about the present a piece to camera about the agapanthus, and I asked where it should be planted. You can see the confusion of pointing arms. Which one should I follow?

I had to take this shot because it meant so much to me. Having dug into horrible, solid clay soils for ages, it was so nice to get to dig in decent soil. It was really easy because it had a high sand content. Alan found out in the end that sand was put in the soil because of the nearby railway line. Back when trains were coal-powered, the coal store would sometimes catch fire. The crew had to jettison the burning coal out of the train, so sand was added to the soil around the lines to make sure the fire didn’t spread. When people bought up the land around the old train lines, they ended up with more sand than they bargained for. Fascinating, eh?

Here is Katie just about to get her dinner. Jon and Shaun are in the background waiting impatiently for their turn. We always have good grub from the catering van – it keeps up going when we are doing these makeovers with impossible deadlines.

This is a cracking shot. I was asked to do some work inside the summer house, and I was really pleased because it was pouring down with rain outside. I took a photograph because I was inside, nice and dry, while poor Alan was out there getting soaked while the sodden crew are filming him. In the background you can see all the Frosts guys keeping dry under that gazebo. But I wasn’t laughing for long because I was soon called outside and I got soaked too.

This is a great shot. Steve called us all together for a group photo. Frances, Alan, Katie and I started nonchalantly leaning on the wall. Unbeknownst to us, Steve ran around the back and photobombed us! You can see him there, stealing the shot by jumping in the air. Disgraceful.

Here are the guys from Frosts having a rest at the end of the makeover. They were absolutely tuckered out. I normally sort them out with a glass of something when I’m getting the champagne ready for the family, but as you can see someone has already been round and given them some cocktails. Look at the cheeky smiles on their faces! There’s Sam, Shaun, Jon, Matt, Martyn and then that other guy. He’s new.

Here is another picture of the new bloke. He came to help us – he’s in charge of Frosts things. He hadn’t done a TV makeover before, and here he is looking up at the heavens and asking, ‘How the hell did I get involved with this lot?’

Look at the state of my hands! They are filthy. What I normally do when I get the bottle of champagne is to give it a really good shake ready to pop it open.

It seems funny but out of the whole garden that we built for them, the girls absolutely loved those little mounds that we made for them to climb over. It was really moving to see them enjoying the garden again. They were also very intrigued by that camera that was filming them.

August 5, 2014
10 great ideas to get kids spending time in the garden this summer

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When I was a child, we were barely ever indoors. And I believe that gardening is really important for children. There’s no doubt that if you make it fun, kids will get involved. So here are my top ways to get them outside – all we need now is some good summer weather!

1 Start a plot

Identify part of the garden that belongs to each child. My father did this for me, my sister and brother. Let your children plant what they want to grow in their own patch. You’ll be amazed how much difference that little bit of ownership will make to them.

2 Make it fun

Encourage them towards plants that have a life outside the garden. Growing pumpkins for Halloween, for example, or an apple tree or peanuts to eat. It’s not just leaves and flowers – it’s all the other things that plants give.

3 Try something new

There are heaps of plants, fruit, veg and colourful shrubs that are a bit different from what’s in the rest of the garden. Don’t be afraid of something that might look a little odd in your design!

To get you started, here’s 10 great blue plants and 14 hot pink flowers to try.

4 Grow sunflowers

For younger children, sunflowers are always a winner because they grow so quickly. They are also easy and inexpensive. Get siblings really invested in it by making it a competition to see whose grows bigger! Get sunflower growing tips here.

5 Follow the feathers

Pick up a small pair of binoculars and a birdspotting book. It will encourage kids to take an interest in what’s going on outside. Birds are free pets.

6 Feed the fish

If the kids aren’t too young, add a pond – you can get by with less than two metres sqaure. Introducing frogspawn or goldfish will let them interact with living creatures – pondlife is fascinating. But make sure it’s well covered so no one falls in.

7 Grow your own

We all know kids love to eat, but it’s even more special when they’ve grown it themselves. Fruit goes down well and strawberries are a firm favourite. If you’re struggling to get kids motivated, take them to a pick-your-own farm and grab a couple of strawberry plants on the way home.

8 Start indoors

You can also grab their attention inside the house first. There are fascinating plants such as Venus flytraps, the Dracula plant, the hooded executioner and the deadly dew plant – they’re fascinating plants that eat insects and are guaranteed to be a winner on a bedroom windowsill.

Here’s 10 houseplants you can’t kill for a low-maintenance choice.

9 Save the bees

Simple maths: kids plus creepy crawlies equals hours of fun! Try creating a bee or insect hotel to attract more bugs into the garden. Simply stuff straw into empty pipes or fill a plant pot with pine cones. Or check out my bee house, made from an old terracotta pot!

For something more complex, check out this guide to insect hotels made from recycled materials.

And don’t be squeamish – insects attract birds and protect the garden. A ladybird eats 5,000 greenfly in its lifetime, so everyone wins!

10 Make them work

If you can’t drum up any enthusiasm, make the kids earn their pocket money in the garden. It gives them an incentive to cut the lawn, dig weeds and water plants when it’s hot. It worked on me when I was young!

Older children can develop so many vital skills in the garden – here’s a few tips to make sure they have got the basics sorted.

Like this? Check out my 20 garden and nature activities to keep kids occupied over the summer holidays!

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July 28, 2014