Kids Go Gardening Spring 2013

KIDS

SPRING 2013 PLANT

SNAPIN! ANDPhW oto

ion t i t e p com ide ins

Potatoes for Christmas dinner DISCOVER

Garden-fresh peas GROW

Amazing

backyard adventures

FO LO R OK PU LOT IN S SI Z TO Z OF DE DO LE FU ! S N

A hairy head!

Buried e r u s a e r t How do you like your spuds? Baked, boiled or mashed with butter?

Maybe your very favourite way to eat potato is a bag of fries from McDonald’s. Chips are yum - but so are freshly dug baby potatoes from your garden.

The tastiest potatoes of all are the ‘early potatoes’ that are ready in time for Christmas. It’s time to plant them now!

If you don’t have enough space to grow potatoes in the garden, you can grow them in a bag. Here’s how to grow your own garden-fresh potatoes to put on the table for Christmas dinner!

Eye spy!

Potatoes (and ‘seed potatoes’) are actually swollen underground stems called ‘tubers’. Tubers have ‘eyes’ on them. These eyes sprout shoots and roots which grow into new plants. Each plant will produce lots of new tubers.

Some gardeners give their seed potatoes a head start by sprouting them before they plant. This is also called ‘chitting’ and is useful when it’s not quite warm enough to plant outdoors. It’s not so important once the weather warms up in spring.

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kids go gardening spring

COOL CONTAINERS You can grow potatoes in almost any large container as long as it has plenty of holes for drainage (so the potting mix doesn’t get too wet). Try them in big buckets, an old recycling bin or a stack of old tyres.

SPUD JOKE Why

make do potatoe good s detec t i v es?

Becau se they k their e e yes pe ep eled!

YOU WILL NEED: , A sack or bag (a PB40 polythene grow bag is ideal) , Seed potatoes (Important: Ask for Certified Seed Potatoes from your Go Gardening centre. And choose ‘Early crop’ varieties such as Rocket or Jersey Benne)

, Potting mix , Slow release fertiliser (or blood and bone)

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Place your bag in a

sunny sheltered place, safe from frost.

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Roll down the sides of your bag and fill it about 20cm deep with potting mix.

Mix in a handful of blood and bone or slow release fertiliser.

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Plant 3 - 5 seed potatoes, evenly spaced, about 10cm deep.

When the leaves are 15-20cm high, roll up the sides of your bag and add another layer of potting mix, leaving the top 5cm of the plants uncovered.

O POTAT FACTS

Add more potting mix as the plants grow (about every 2 weeks) until you reach the top of the bag.

Water your potato bag every few days or when it looks a bit dry.

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Keep the potting mix moist (not too wet), especially after the flowers appear.

About 3 or 4 weeks after you see the first flowers, the lower leaves will start to turn yellow, a sign that your new potatoes are ready to eat. Tip out the bag and unbury your treasure!

, New Zealanders eat 70kg of potatoes per person per year - over half of that is as chips and French fries!

, Home cooked potatoes (not chips) are low in fat and sugar, and they contain healthy fibre, vitamins and minerals.

, Keeping potatoes in the dark stops them turning green, which can make them poisonous.

spring

kids go gardening 3

er Call h all him iet, c atever r r a h H y. W e, it’s r r a H am the n to have a g goin ry head! hai

Grow a

head You will need

•

•

• • •

Sock or stockings (ask mum for a ‘knee-high’) Things to decorate your head such as eyes Lawn seed A jar Soil or potting mix

1 Decorate your sock lawn seed 2

or stocking with eyes

and other bits and pieces.

in the sock end and Put some . then fill it with soil, potting mix or compost the Fill the sock until the face is filled out and of end mix is packed tightly. Tie a knot in the the stocking.

3 Hang your sock

or stocking over a jar sunny, filled with water and leave it inside in a warm place.

In a week or so, your Harriet or Harry will have green hair!

And give them a haircut if you find strange hair growing out of their nose or eye!

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kids go gardening spring

Get snapping for our

garden

photo competition!

We’d see whalove to been upt you’ve in your to you gar at homeden .

For a faster growing hairy head, use empty, clean eggshells and cress seed. Simply decorate or draw a face on the shell and put it in an eggcup.

Put in a little bit of cotton wool or tissue and then carefully put some soil or potting mix in. Sprinkle the cress seed on top and water lightly.

In a few days, your head will have some hair!

THINKSTOCK.COM

Egg head!

The hair gets long quickly but that’s no problem – just cut it off and eat it!

What do plants need to grow?

Unscramble each of the clue words.

Copy the letters in the numbered cells to other cells with the same number.

GHTISLUN 3

4

1

RETWA 5

6

INRTSETNU

age, contact details and a description of what’s in the photo to info@nginz.co.nz

by Tuesday 1 October 2013.

RIA 7

O 1

O 2

Y 3

4

5

1

6

Well then grab your camera and start looking around your garden for some interesting, beautiful or downright strange plants, flowers, or creatures. Or if you’ve got your own garden, take a snap and let us know what you’ve planted. Anything goes – just use your imagination!

, Email us your photo, your

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P

Fancy yourself as a photographer?

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We’ll select two of the best entries and the photos will be published in the summer issue of Go Gardening.

Each winner will receive a $50 Go Gardening gift card to spend at your Go Gardening centre.

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kids go gardening 5

! u o y t e e m o t Peas Maybe the only peas you’ve ever eaten have been the frozen kind you buy at the supermarket.

But peas actually grow in pods and they’re incredibly delicious. It’s easy to grow peas in the garden and you won’t be able to resist eating fresh, sweet peas you’ve grown yourself - just try stopping at one!

PEAS HOW TO GROW

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eas are easy to grow from seed. If you’ve got a raised garden, that’s even better as the soil warms up faster than ground soil. You could also plant your peas in a large container.

Peas are best planted in cooler seasons (early spring or autumn). They need some support when growing, such as strings between posts or wire netting against a fence.

Or you could make a teepee out of bamboo stakes and string for them to climb on. Pea plants grow tendrils so they can cling onto netting or string by themselves, but to get them started you may need to guide them onto their support with your fingers, or loosely tie them.

• Make a row in your garden then simply place the seeds in the row about 5cm apart and cover them with about 2cm of soil.

• Water once a week. Always keep the soil moist - never let it dry out!

• Peas love mulch. When they’ve grown about 5cm tall, cover the soil around them with some compost or straw mulch.

This will help keep the moisture in and the weeds out.

• For the best taste, pick peas while they are young and pick them often to keep them producing.

THINKSTOCK.COM

• Feed every two weeks with liquid fertiliser.

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kids go gardening spring

fast food!

Delicious pea varieties that you can eat raw, straight off the plant are Snow Peas and Sugar Snaps. Both have beautiful sweet peas in them and their pods are crunchy and sweet – a super healthy treat and good for lunch boxes too! You’ll want to grow plenty so there is enough for picking when you get hungry outdoors, and plenty left for family dinners. Snow Pea pods are flatter and longer than Sugar Snaps.

PEA TRIVIA !

The pe a is

clever peas

only g becaus reen e it still im is picked wh en matur e. A pea is more y ripe e llow in colo ur.

Peas and beans are members of the ‘Legume’ family, and like all members of that family they have an amazing power that most other plants don’t have: They can take nitrogen from the air and transform it into the type of nitrogen in the soil that plants need to grow. This is called ‘nitrogen fixing’ and they do it in special ‘nodules’ on their roots.

TipS: *

If growing peas in a container mix in slow release fertiliser or sheep pellets at planting time and feed regularly with liquid fertiliser once the plants are growing.

*

Sow seeds in batches every few weeks for a continuous supply.

*

Protect the young seedlings from slugs and snails.

Snowpeas growing on a teepee.

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kids go gardening 7

know your

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LOTS OF COMES IN S T COLOUR DIFFEREN

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LIVES BY THE SEA

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f lowers

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GROWS REALLY TALL!

QUIZ !

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NS SQUEEZE IT AND IT OPE GON! ITS MOUTH LIKE A DRA

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PERFECT TO GROW IN SUMMER POTS

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WATCH OUT FOR PRICKLES! 7

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A NZ NATIVE TRE E

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GOOD BUG REPELLENT TO PLANT WITH VEGES

KIDS www.gogardening.co.nz

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