Kids Go Gardening Winter 2013

Kids

WINTER 2013

GROW

your own fruit CREATE

surprising beetroot treats

! l l i Ch

the magic of spring bulbs

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

beat the

DISCOVER

fresh and fruity Here comes winter! It can be the worst time of year for annoying colds, sore throats and runny noses but not necessarily‌ One of the best ways to stay fit and healthy is to eat lots of fresh fruit - even better if you eat it straight from a tree in your very own garden! Sweet juicy oranges, mandarins and feijoas are ready for picking when the weather turns cold.

Even if your garden is only small there are lots of different fruits you can grow.

It’s amazing how many will grow in pots.

BONUS!!

A feijoa tree produces bucket loads of delicious fruit in winter - PLUS beautiful flowers in summer.

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is hea fresh fru you t ps better it han a for fruit j glass of uice.

How cold is your winter?

Icy cold weather is no problem for fruit trees like apples, which drop their leaves in winter. Other fruit trees, like mandarins and feijoas prefer a warmer climate but even if your winters are frosty, you can still grow them in pots moved to a warmer spot. You can also wrap young trees in special frost cloth for extra protection.

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WORDFIND

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FEIJOAS FIGS GRAPES LEMONS MANDARINS ORANGES RASPBERRIES STRAWBERRIES Hint: Some words are backwards, diagonal - or both!

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What are Vitamins and Minerals?

Plant your very own fruit tree

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Choose a sunny sheltered place in the

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garden with well-drained soil (not wet and boggy).

Dig a hole at least twice as wide as your tree’s nursery pot, and a bit deeper.

Mix a bucket of compost and a handful of slow-release fertiliser into the hole, with just enough soil to make it the same depth as the nursery pot.

Take the tree out of its pot. Sit the tree in the hole and check it is straight and at the right level. If you are planting a grafted tree, the graft (which looks like a bump on its trunk) must not be buried.

5 Fill the hole 6 Water 7 Cover

to the top, pressing the soil

down gently.

really thoroughly. This helps the soil settle snuggly around the roots.

the bare soil around the tree with mulch, such as leaves or bark.

Note: Some fruit trees need stakes to keep them steady and upright for the first year or two. Place one stake each side of the tree before you fill the hole (so you can see the roots and not damage them). Tie the tree to each stake using stretchy ties.

mandarins We can’t actually see the vitamins and minerals in our food, but we can’t live without them. Vitamins and minerals make our bodies work properly. They help our body’s ‘immune system’ fight the things that make us sick. Fresh fruit and vegetables have loads more vitamins and minerals than other, less healthy, foods.

Some vitamins, such as Vitamin C, can’t be stored in our body so we need to eat them every day. Vitamin C is one of the most important of all vitamins. Oranges, mandarins, feijoas, kiwifruit, parsley, and dark green vegetables like broccoli are some of the foods that are highest in vitamin C.

kids go gardening 3

Bulb-a-licious!

Autumn and early winter are the best times to plant bulbs. Plant some bulbs in pots now and you’ll be amazed at the results in spring!

Bulbs come in all shapes and sizes. There are plenty of beautiful flowers to choose from - daffodils, freesias, crocuses, tulips and a fragrant favourite, hyacinths – so many you’ll be spoilt for choice!

What is a bulb exactly?

A flower bulb is really an underground storehouse and flower factory. Within the bulb is just about everything the plant will need to sprout and flower at the right time.

Keep cool!

Bulbs LOVE the cold. That’s why we plant them at the start of winter. Keep bulb pots outside until they flower - they need the cold to grow. Putting your tulip bulbs in the fridge for a couple of weeks before you plant them will make them extra happy so come spring, they’ll be blooming lovely!

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In the centre of the bulb there are leaves cradling a baby bud. Surrounding the bud are thick white ‘scales’, which contain all the food the bulb will need to flower and thrive. The basal plate at the bottom of the bulb, holds everything together, including the roots that grow from it. All of that is wrapped up in a protective outer skin called the tunic.

All this magical little piece of nature needs us to do is plant it in the ground and give it a drink.

The bulb does the rest!

Hyacinths in a pot Grow a pot of hyacinths for the table - so you can enjoy the amazing perfume up close! It’s as easy as 1,2,3!

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Plant your bulbs: Fill your pot with bulb potting mix so it is about 2/3 full and space the bulbs evenly on top, not too close to the edge. Add more potting mix so that the bulbs are just covered. Allow about a cm gap between the top of potting mix and the rim of the pot. Water with a watering can and leave to drain.

Nico decided to grow bright blue hyacinths in a pot.

You could also plant a hyacinth in a glass vase like this.

Put the pot in the fridge so the bulbs can cool down

and grow strong roots. If there is no room in the fridge put it in a cool space outside. Check often and water if need be - enough to keep the potting mix just moist.

After about six weeks, when the bulbs have started to

sprout, put them outside in a sunny place (roots growing out the bottom of the pot are a sign that shoots will soon appear).

Once the flowers start to open, you can bring them indoors.

Bulb planting tips: Bulbs HATE puddles. ,

In other words they must have good drainage. If your ground is too heavy to let the water drain through, plant your bulbs in containers with bulb planting mix.

Bulbs grow best in sunshine. ,

But some, such as daffodils, grow really well under deciduous trees. The bulbs flower once the tree has dropped its leaves to let the sun shine through.

Before planting bulbs in the , ground dig in plenty of compost.

Plant bulbs with their pointy ,

side upwards.

, The ‘rule of thumb’ for bulb

planting is to plant the bulb

twice as deep as its diameter.

For example, if a daffodil bulb is 5cm wide, plant it 10cm.

CAUTION:

TULIPS

HYACINTHS

Wear gloves when handling hyacinth bulbs.

They can cause a skin rash on some people

DAFFODILS kids go gardening 5

Beet it!

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in veges you can grow st ie h lt ea h , st te ee the sw ’s not you, Beetroot is one of a burger, but if that

in love sliced beetroot roasted in the garden. Some kids s to try it. Beetroot ay w nt re ffe di y el et pl Raw grated m there are some co need to add sugar! no – us io lic de d an wrap. y sweet or a chicken salad er rg oven is surprisingl bu a in m yu l, althiest of al beetroot is the he

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eetroot is easy to grow in a sunny patch of garden soil, or in a large container filled with planting mix.

You can grow your own beetroot seedlings from seed, but now that the weather is cooling down, it is easier to buy a punnet of seedlings from the garden centre.

Planting: When seedlings are about 5 cm tall they can be transplanted. (In frosty climates it’s best to wait till spring, unless you have a greenhouse.)

Choose a sunny patch of garden soil or fill a large pot with fresh planting mix and some slow release fertiliser. At this time of year seedlings usually grow faster in containers because the potting mix is warmer than garden soil.

Each beetroot ‘seed’ is actually a cluster of up to 4 seeds. Take care to gently separate each cluster of baby seedlings with your fingers.

Then plant them 5 to 10cm apart. Water to keep the potting mix just moist.

Cosy cloche A cloche is like a mini greenhouse which keeps pants warmer in winter. You can make a cloche frame out of thick wire or old wire coat hangers. Cover it with clear plastic. A layer of straw ‘mulch’ also helps to keep roots cosy like a duvet.

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Feed beetroot plants every few weeks with balanced plant food such as liquid seaweed, or worm wees from your worm farm.

Fact: The different colours in fruit and veges contain different nutrients. To stay healthy we need to eat as many different coloured fruit and veges as we can.

Pink party When it’s cold and wintry outside its time to have fun in the kitchen. Imagine a pink party with everything pink: pink iced cup cakes, pink hummus dip, pink soup, pink lamingtons, pink meringues, pink marshmallows, pink smoothies, pink lemonade!

Some kids are allergic to artificial food colouring, but with beetroot you can make a natural food colouring that works just as well.

Pink smoothie [ 1 ripe banana [ 1 cup apple juice (or use pear puree or canned pears for a really thick smoothie)

[ ¼ cup grated beetroot [ ¼ cup frozen berries (optional)

Here’s how:

[ ¼ cup plain

, GRATE a small beetroot and put it into a plastic bag. , ADD about a 1/4 cup of warm water and seal the bag tightly.

(fills three to four tummies)

yoghurt (optional)

, SQUEEZE the colour out by kneading the sealed bag on the bench and mushing it between your fingers. , CUT a small corner off the bag. , POUR the coloured water through a sieve into a cup. , ADD the colouring to your food, drop by drop, until you are happy with the colour.

pink pav s

pink lemonade pink hummus

Now you can go crazy colouring your food beetroot-pink!

You only need a tiny bit so you will barely taste the beetroot, or not at all.

DID YOU KNOW?

The red pigmen t in beetroot is calle d ‘betalain’ - and it’s super good for us.

pink lamingto

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Fruity quiz A B C D

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Good to Grow….

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Crack the code by unscrambling the letters to find which foods are high in healthy vitamin C.

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MEONL Across 2. Keeps plants warm in winter 4. A herb that is high in vitamin C. 7. Yellow citrus fruit with loads of vitamin C. 8. Sweet red fruit you can grow in a pot.

9. This tree has fruit in winter, flowers in summer.

10. Plant fruit trees in a _ _ _ _ _ place.

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1. Beetroot colour comes from a pigment called _ _ _ _ _ _ _?

3. Winter fruit that’s easy to peel.

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6. A yummy purple berry ‘superfood’ that grows on a bush.

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

Publisher:

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5. Daffodils and tulips grow from them.

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