Kids Go Gardening Summer 2013

KIDS

SUMMER 2013

GROW

A BUTTERFLY GARDEN MAKE

A BIRDBATH DESIGN

YOUR OWN SUMMER FLOWER GARDEN

outside!

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

go wild

Splish splash ! h t a b a ’ in k a t s a w I

It’s fun having a birdbath in the garden.

Lots of birds will come for a bath, especially blackbirds, thrushes and fantails. Other birds will visit for a drink.

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uilding a bird bath is easy fun and the birds will love it! Max built one out of terracotta pots and a large terracotta saucer. Just don’t let the cat near it!

You’ll need:

, 3 x terracotta flower pots of different sizes , 1 x terracotta saucer , A tube of “liquid nails” or outdoor glue

How to make it: , Put the pots upside down on top of each other, largest on the bottom to smallest on the top. , Glue around the bottom of the smallest pot , Place the saucer carefully on the top, press down and leave overnight to set the glue.

Put in the garden and watch the birds fly in for a bath!

You can decorate your bird bath if you like, but you’ll probably need to “seal” the pots first with a polyurethane sealant so the paint will stick. We left ours au naturel!

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go gardening summer

Plants for birds Get loads of different birds to visit your garden by planting their favourite plants. Trees and shrubs give birds food and safe places to build their nests.

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WORDFIND KOWHAI

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POHUTUKAWA

Some plants birds love (see if you can find them in our wordfind):

INTERE BIRD FSATING CT: Birds d on

KOWHAI POHUTUKAWA FLAX KAKABEAK BOTTLEBRUSH FUCHSIA COPROSMA COROKIA

’t The fo od the have teeth. y eat g stoma oes to ch an where d then to a g their iz it gets ground zard, up.

[From th e book ‘In the garden ’]

Win this awesome book!

Any kid who loves exploring will love this new book full of fascinating facts about the creatures that live in our backyards.

Whether your favourites are spiders, birds, butterflies, underground bugs, bees or the creatures that come out at night - there is a special section for you.

Find out more at www.craigpotton.co.nz

We have three books to give away TO BE IN TO WIN just email us at info@nginz.co.nz

by Tuesday 10 December 2013, and type “KGG book” in the subject line. We’d love to hear about your garden.

And don’t forget to tell us your name and address – in case you win!

what’s inside

What lives in the ground? song thrushes eat snails, worms, insects and spiders.

PAGe

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PAGe

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- - hide inside tree weta

plant material, fungi feed on decayinglog. such as this old wooden

trees during the daytime.

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millipedes like

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to eat rotting wood and live in damp places.

blackbirds like

to feed on the ground.

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centipedes eat

insects, worms and slugs.

PAGe PAGe

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slaters or woodlice live in dark, damp places.

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years huhu grubs spend several turning into eating rotten wood before huhu beetles.

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wolf spiders are fast help

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hunters. Their eight eyes them find their prey.

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worms eat dead plants and or ‘dirt’. It is soil is sometimes called ‘earth’ broken rock and a mixture of tiny pieces of decayed plant material.

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grass grub will grow into a bronze beetle if it can escape

This

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soil, leaving worm casts (worm poo) behind them.

the blackbird’s beak.

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gogardening.co.nz 3

FLUTTERBY BUTTERFLY Butterflies are some of the most interesting and gorgeous creatures on Earth.

Planting a butterfly garden is easy and you’ll be rewarded with the fluttering of butterflies all through the summer.

All you need to do is grow the plants that caterpillars like to eat and the flowers that adult butterflies feed on.

Butterfly gardens can be any size. Choose a sunny sheltered spot and make sure there is water around, or maybe a birdbath - butterflies love puddles!

Butterflies love flowers!

Butterflies are attracted to groups of flowers that make a big patch of colour. Purple, yellow, pink, white, orange and red flowers all work well. But because butterflies are nearsighted, a single plant might not produce enough colour for them to see. Mix it up so there’s tall flowers and short plants. And plant heaps!

4 4 kids go gardening go gardening summer spring

Butterflies love: -

Asters Bee balm Catmint Cosmos Lantana

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Marigolds Salvia Sunflowers Sweet William Verbena Cosmos

Photo Competition!

There are some very talented photographers out there and some even more talented gardeners!

PHOTOS: THINKSTOCK.COM

It was hard to choose, but a special congratulations to these two winners:

The Swan Plant - what a great host!

Plant one in your garden for the monarch butterflies to lay their eggs on. Tiny caterpillars soon hatch from the eggs and get fatter and fatter as they eat the leaves.

Watch as they transform into chrysalises and emerge as beautiful butterflies. It’s amazing!

WARNING: Swan plants are poisonous!

Don’t eat them unless you are a caterpillar.

Swan plants are available at your Go Gardening centre, or you could try growing some from seed (tip: remove the eggs off tiny seedlings so they have a chance to grow bigger before the caterpillars gobble them up!) For lots of butterflies, grow lots of swan plants!

Ruth Johnson, 15, of Nelson Ruth took this photo of a passionfruit flower. In such sharp focus against the black background it looks like something from outer space!

Scientists reckon there are between 15,000 and 20,000 varieties of butterfly and one of our favourites is the Monarch. The Monarch Butterfly NZ Trust is an organisation that helps protect our butterflies. Look at their website for more tips. www.monarch.org.nz

Some bet we things n’t know d you di bout a flies! u b tter

Butterfly wings are actually transparent – they are made up of very thin layers of a thing called ‘chitin’ and the scales on top of the chitin reflect light.

A newly emerged butterfly can’t fly.

Butterflies live on an allliquid diet, usually nectar.

No solid food here!

Butterflies drink from mud puddles – it’s a source of minerals! with ies taste Butterfl have t – they heir fee t there!

Butterflies only live for about 2 to 4 week ceptors s. taste re

Butterflies can’t fly if they’re cold.

Butterflies u se their win gs to camouflag e themselves from predat ors.

Brooke Moore, 10, of Taupo Brooke has angled her camera perfectly to capture the drama of this spectacular pink dahlia, which she found in her Gran’s garden.

Each winner receives a $50 Go Gardening giftcard.

but they Butterflies are nearsighted, can see a lot of colours.

gogardening.co.nz spring kids go gardening 55

COLOUR YOUR WORLD

RDEN PLANT A SUMMER FLOWER GA

F

lowers make us smile, and they attract butterflies and bees to our gardens. Flowers grow quickly in summer. You can grow them from seed, or by planting seedlings from the garden centre.

The best flower gardens start with a plan!

You might have a plan inside your head, but better still - put your plan on paper! Your flower garden could be any size or shape. Draw its shape on paper and then make a ‘bird’s-eye view’ of the flowers you want to grow. If you know the size of your garden you will be able to figure out roughly how many flowers or seeds you will need. Check the seed packet or plant label to see approximately how tall they grow and how far apart to plant them.

Tall flowers: Sunflower, Spider flower (Cleome)

Medium flowers: Cosmos, Salvia,

Design Tip

Plant mainly tall flowers at the back of your garden and short flowers at the front.

Larkspur, Taller marigolds, Tobacco flower (Nicotiana)

Short flowers: Dwarf Marigolds, Alyssum, Candytuft (Ageratum), Zinnia, Verbena, Petunia, Gazania, Nasturtium

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go gardening summer

Sunflowers Sunflowers grow quickly from seed sown straight onto the garden. There are lots of different colours and types to choose from, some tall and some dwarf varieties too. Because they grow so fast, sunflowers need plenty of food and water.

DID YOU KNOW: • In the centre of each sunflower are hundreds of seeds, which birds love to eat. You can also save some seed to grow next summer.

• Sunflowers attract beneficial insects such as lacewings that eat aphids and other garden pests.

Grow amazing flowers…

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Choose a sunny spot that has sun for most of the day.

Dig your soil until it is loose and crumbly with no weeds.

Or simply fill a planter box with container mix from the garden centre.

3 Mix 4 Plant 5 Water

in some slow release fertiliser or blood and bone.

Most plants produce loads of flowers. Snip off the dead ones and you will keep your plants flowering for longer.

your seedlings or

seeds.

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to keep the soil moist, everyday for the first few weeks after planting.

Feed your flowers every few weeks with liquid fertiliser or worm wees from your worm farm (mixed with some water).

SWAN PLANTS

SALVIA

COSMOS

CANDYTUFT

RUDBECKIA

VERBENA

ZINNIA

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s e g e v r e m m Su to grow!

QUIZ !

Across 4. cool and crunchy 5. may grow into marrows 7. flying saucer zucchini 8. some climb high, some grow low 9. perfect for pizzas Down 1. plant now and they will be ready in autumn 2. delicious with butter 3. another name for eggplant 6. also called peppers

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KIDS www.gogardening.co.nz

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8 Proudly brought to our new gardeners by Nursery and Garden Industry New Zealand. This material is subject to copyright so please contact NGINZ for permission before reproducing this material in any form.

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