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Peter Rabbit Garden
Mr. McGregor's Summer Garden Tips
“This is the best time of year as you can enjoy eating all the fruit and vegetables you have been growing throughout the rest of year. But don’t forget those blooming rabbits are still hungry too – they will eat those beautiful veg in a moment if you let them!”
Smashing Sunflowers!
If you choose the right variety, you can grow sunflowers that are over 10 feet high. Why not start growing sunflowers in early June at the same time as your friends and see who can grow the tallest.
1. Make some holes in the bottom of a yogurt pot and fill with seed compost.
2. Make a hole in the compost 2.5cm deep, put a sunflower seed in the hole and cover. Water the compost until the water runs out of the bottom of the pot.
3. Cover the pot with a clear plastic bag to keep in the moisture and wait until a seedling appears, then remove the bag.
4. When the seedling is about 10cms tall and roots start to appear out of the hole at the bottom of the pot, it's time to replant the sunflower.
5. Plant the seedling into a big pot, bucket with holes in the bottom or outside in the flower bed.
6. Your will need to support the sunflower with a garden cane, so it doesn't blow over. Push the cane into the soil about 5 cm from the stem and use string to tie the stem loosely to the cane. As the flower grows you will need to tie every 20cm.
7. In 10 weeks your sunflower will have reached its full height. Time to measure it, to see how well you have done!
Lucious Lettuce!
There are so many different types of lettuce curly or flat, purple or green. If you grow lettuce in smaller pots and start new batches every 2 or 3 weeks throughout June, July and August, there will always be something fresh and new to put in your salad. But don't eat too much as the Flopsy Bunnies know, lettuces can put you to sleep!
1. Fill a pot with seed compost. A pot 20cm across the top is ideal. Leave the compost 2cm short of the top of the pot -this will make watering easier.
2. With a pencil make a 1.5cm deep circular trench in the compost.
3. Sprinkle lettuce seeds thinly round the trench and cover them with compost. Water until it seeps out of the bottom of the pot
4. When the seedlings are about 3cm tall remove most of the seedlings, leaving only four of the strongest. Make sure the remaining four seedlings are well spaced apart.
5. Put gravel in the top of the pots to keep slugs and snails away. Keeping the pots off the ground also helps keeps creepy crawlies away.
6. Water often to keep the soil moist.
7. Your lettuces should be ready to eat in 10 weeks from sowing.
Wildlife Alert
When your sunflower has finished flowering, don't put it onto the compost heap. Instead leave the flower for the birds. Goldfinches and Chaffinches love sunflower seeds.
Top Tip
Make your salads extra special by growing herbs like Coriander, Basil and Rocket to mix in with the lettuce leaves. Grow them in the same way as the lettuce and of course you can also use them for cooking too!