Edits 18/11/13: Gardening 4 Kids Summer 2013 /14 newsletter
Copyheader:
Summertime and the living is easy .... Summer 2014 Kids gardening tips and terrific ideas ....
Intro:
Hi there and welcome to Gardening 4 Kids summer newsletter. While we work hard all year caring for our garden, this is the time to truly bask in its glory, and to spend time with the kids outdoors! The thing about gardening with kids is that it anything you teach and learn indoors can happen outdoors too, and along the way you’re connecting children to nature and enjoying fresh air & sunshine.
So grab a cuppa and sit back for a read on how to help you and your child connect with your garden, and one another this summer...and how to best help your garden thrive under your TLC.
Happy Christmas to all our Gardening4Kids friends, and happy gardening!
Merry Christmas,
Caroline.
PS We will be processing orders up until December 20th and we will re-open again on 6th January 2014...so get in soon with your summer orders!
May your Christmas table be as colourful as ours!
Body copy:
International Year of the Farming Family
“Feeding the world, caring for the planet” is the catch-cry as the UN has declared 2014 the International Year of the Farming Family. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation is partnering with the Food Think Tank, to emphasize how family farmers have a strong impact on food security, opportunities for youth, poverty and other factors that could help improve the world. Gardening4Kids is right behind this cause which has the noble aim to reduce poverty and hunger worldwide!
Open up their eyes with seed planting
When you’re planting seeds this summer, have a look at all the info on your seed packets as they can really inspire little minds:-
- The details can provide info to further chat and learn about: why some plants have to wait until later in the year to be planted outside, what conditions are best suited to your plant, how long 5 cm is etc.
- Have a good look at your seeds and draw them together. There are so many different shapes, sizes and colours to discover.
- Play a guessing game about what each kind of seed is going to look like before they open the packets.
- Help your little ones write their own seed labels – the perfect way to use writing practice for a real, practical purpose.
- Pull out the measuring tape and keep a track of the growth of your latest plant.....have a ruler on hand in the garden to make this accessible to them!
Serving up the vegies
When vegetables are served with dips kids are 80% more likely to chow down and enjoy what’s served up
Remember to mulch your garden
Mulching is important as it helps stabilise your gardens soil temperatures in the root zone...and that means happy plants! With Australia’s hot summers, mulching means that your plants won’t struggle when it comes to surviving in rough conditions. The best time to mulch is right after the soil has warmed up and you are ready to start planting.
We tell our junior gardeners that mulching helps:-
1. keep soil cool during the day and warm at night
2. keep weeds from germinating
3. improves the texture of the soil
4. keeps rain from eroding the soil
5. reduces the amount of water evaporation
6. and it also keeps your hands and your plants cleaner! (OK you do still have to wash your hands!)
Our gardening gloves are the smallest you will find in Australia
We’ve all had that frustrating moment of wanting to have a tantrum right alongside our small gardeners when the gardening gloves just don’t fit. And that’s why we take our gloves seriously here at Gardening4Kids! We stock the smallest garden gloves (thanks to Garden Trend) you will find in Australia …really…pinky swear …they don’t make the sewing machine thingy-ma-jigs any smaller to stitch around little fingers!
So, we have two styles of gloves that are great stocking stuffers:
The Gardening Trend Gardening gloves:-
- Latex dipped cotton gloves
- Perfect for protecting little hands in the garden
- Rubber dots on palms for grip
- Recommended for ages 3 and up
- These ARE the smallest you will find in Oz
- They come in blue, yellow, green and purple
- Retails for $7.95
The Twigz Gardening Gloves :-
- Designed for children to have flexibility in the garden
- PVC dots on the palm help kids grip their tools and pick up items easily
- Cotton weave Terylene material is hard wearing
- Protects little palms from microbes in the soil
- Elastic wrists ensure the gloves do not fall off small hands
- They come in just 1 colour – green – naturally!
- Bargain price of $5.95
How to fit a garden glove
While we are letting you in on the glove secrets, here’s a tip to help junior gardeners put them on.
I always tell our little ones to make a ball with their hand, put their hand in, then make a star. Ball. Hand In. Star! It’s that easy!
Free pot stick with glove purchase
As a special treat for your little ones we are tickled pink to offer FREE pot sticks with every glove purchase. Tie them to a packet of seeds, adult gardening gloves…or a bunch of carrots and they also make a great green thumb -friendly gift for the teacher too!
Keep your gardeners involved......
....in the whole process, the whole way though from fetching seed trays and laying out the tools, to planting and cleaning up....an occupied and engaged gardener will want to return for a piece of the green thumb action!
Meet one of our most popular items
It sure is small…but it sure is popular……Bottle top waterers for $2.50.
These fantastic bottle top waterers are great not only for kids but for the environment too! They are made from recycled plastic materials and when screwed on top of an empty PET bottles are perfect for watering seedlings with a gentle water flow. They are also perfect for the kids to have fun with while being water-wise.
Wheel out the barrow this Christmas
There’s nothing cuter than a kid with a barrow and boots. And we’ve got CUTE with the CAPS LOCK on this Christmas! Designed by Aussie company Twigz, our wheelbarrow’s are made of powder coated steel with a subframe made of timber, and solid hard plastic wheels. They come in funky colours and are designed to last. They are also designed to not tip over on your little one, with their sturdy two wheels making them safe, stable and irresistible,
These junior gardening chariots can carry the mulch, the firewood, the dolls, the guinea-pig and even Grandpa’s morning tea. This is one barrow which won’t rust or break overnight, and. their sturdy design makes them easy for little green thumbs to use without worrying about the tray tipping over.
The Twigz wheelbarrows match our Gardening 4 Kids philosophy of supplying durable, practical products to enjoy in your garden.
If you want to nab one for the little person in your life…..They retail for $79.95 plus $9.95standard postage or $12.95 sign on delivery and they do require some assemblage when they arrive in the post…..but it’s nothing Santa can’t handle!
Growing in small spaces
You don’t have to have a huge space to enjoy garden delights. When your space is limited but your interest and enthusiasm isn’t, think small containers. Styrofroam boxes, old wheelbarrows, tossed kitchen saucepans (with holes drilled in the bottom); even the kids gumboots they’ve grown out of could wield a small crop of mint, parsley or silverbeet! You’d be surprised how sometimes the smallest pot can cultivate edibles.
Explore nature with our outdoor kit
Exploring the outdoors can help us make sense of it all…and the Seedling Outdoor Explorer Kit will help boost the power of observation.
From the tiny world of the ant, to the power of our weather and the miracle of the caterpillar this Outdoor Explorer kit features:
- A4 sketchpad
- coloured pencils
- LED headlamp with batteries
- drawstring backpack
- magnifying glass
- bug checklist
- tips on keeping a nature journal
And is recommended for children aged 5-10 years
Brought to you by Seedling a company which is all about giving kids the opportunity to explore their world and their abilities, and plants ideas that grow a passion for creative thinking. Retails for $39.95.
We loved this feedback from a shopper last year
Caroline have you got any quotes on file from last Xmas / summer form any purchases? Would be great to use to help the Xmas shipping along…
Make sure you keep yourself cool
It’s just as important to keep the gardeners cools as the garden in summer…so slip, slop, slap…and take plenty of drink breaks!
The early bird waters the worm
Do the children in your household enjoy worm farming? If so let them in on the secrets to keeping their worm farm moist, and avoiding killing them off once the sizzling summer hits:-
- During hot spells choose a cool shaded spot for your worm farm
- Keep your worm farm moist, warm and protected from the hot summer sun but don’t water them on really hot days – this could end up boiling those hard-working helpers!
- Feed your worms gradually and don't overfeed them
- Add manure, leaves or mulch litter and regular light sprinkles of mature compost to accelerate the composting process
- In hot weather a damped hessian, newspaper or natural underfault mat can make all the difference – keeping the moisture in and encouraging the worms to come to the surface and feed, which is their natural habit.
Plant pumpkins this summer!
Vegetables are one of the most rewarding things to grow in a garden and pumpkins would have to be a favourite of ours! They are easy to grow, they look bright and productive in the garden, and they are easy to incorporate into soups, salads, scones, quiches. They can also be mashed, baked, roasted and steamed...... and the seeds can be saved for craft projects as well!
High in Vitamin C, dietary fibre and potassium...they really are a must-plant vegie this summer so that they are ready to harvest in autumn.
To help get the kids inspired.....We love this youtube time-lapse clip of growing pumpkins http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NttZk33LD4A
Gardening4Kids sell yummy heirloom pumpkins seeds, so that you can save the seeds from the pumpkins you grow this year and replant them again next year.
Recycle the pool
When you’ve finished with the kids wading pool at the end of this summer - recycle it! Make it into a raised Garden bed! It offers great height and colour for the kids to dig in and have some fun!
Books to celebrate nature
There’s a Chinese proverb “A book is like a garden in your pocket!”, and second to seeing seeds grow, nothing inspires our junior gardeners better than reading about it in books.
Here’s 5 classic books to slip into their Christmas stocking along with our great gardening gloves this year...you should find them at your local bookstores!
· Very hungry caterpillar
· Isabella’s Garden
· Oliver’s Vegetable
· The Gruffalo
· The Curious Garden
Clean Up Australia Day
Clean Up Australia Day on Sunday 2 March 2014 is a simple way you can take action to clean up, fix up and conserve our prized Australian environment.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Clean Up Australia Day. You can do your bit for the environment by cleaning up your local area with your friends and family.
There are always Clean Up events you, your community group, business or school can participate in. Visit http://www.cleanupaustraliaday.org.au/ to register - We’ll see you there!
We love these home-made labels
We saw this....we loved this...we are making this over summer!
Chefs -hang on to your wooden spoons!
School bells ring for organic gardeners
Some of our Gardening 4 Kids supporters are wonderful teachers sharing the love of gardening, healthy produce and creative outdoor activities with their students. And some great news just in - The Australian Organic Schools network http://www.organicschools.com.au/ has launched their new lesson outlines which aligns with the Australian curriculum.....check out their lessons and enjoy a summer of planning a terrific 9014 in the garden with your green-thumb students!