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Peter Rabbit Garden
Mr. McGregor's Winter Garden Tips
“It might seem like there is nothing to do in the garden now, with the cold, wet weather and long dark nights. But really there is lots of fun to be had with plants – inside and outdoors! And don’t forget to keep an eye out for those pesky rabbits!”
Super Sweet Peas!
Sweet Peas are beautiful flowers, which climb up frames and produce masses of sweet smelling flowers. The more you cut the flowers the more they will grow. If you plant Sweet Peas in January / February they will produce flowers from June onwards.
1. Sweet Pea seeds are hard and need to be soaked in water over-night to make them soft.
2. Sweet Peas grow long roots, so use long pots or better still, cardboard centres from toilet rolls or kitchen rolls that have been cut in half, as pots.
3. Fill the tubes with peat-free compost.
4. Push one seed into the compost of each tube, so it is 2.5cm under the surface and cover with compost
5. Water so the soil and the cardboard tube is damp
6. Place in a cool, light room or cold frame. Water when the tube and compost are dry.
7. Within four weeks a shoot should appear. After the shoot has grown 10cm long, snip out the top, so the shoot is now 9cm long. This will mean the plant starts growing from the sides and becomes bushy.
8. In May, when all the frosts are gone, plant outside where you want the Sweet Peas to flower and make sure you put a cane or frame nearby, so the plant can climb upwards as it grows.
Buckets of Carrots
Winter is when wildlife in the garden
needs our help most.
HEDGEHOGS
Make sure you check below any piles
of leaves before you make a bonfire
- there could be a hedgehog planning to spend the winter under there!
BIRDS
Feed birds with old apples and wild bird seed. Kitchen scraps arenąt ideal and will attract Samuel Whiskers and his friends! Donąt forget to leave out a shallow dish of water but somewhere off the ground, so itąs away from cats and dogs.
Wildlife Alert
In February you can plant peas, which you can eat.
Plant them in exactly the same way as Sweet Peas but instead of deep pots, use a piece of roof guttering, with holes in the bottom for drainage and plant the seeds in rows about 4cm apart.
The seedlings need to be planted outside in May in rows 20cm apart with canes or twigs to climb up.
Wildlife Alert
Just like us, seeds need warmth to help them grow. If you cover the vegetable beds in January it will help them to get warm and dry, so you can plant and sow seeds even earlier.You can cover the beds with black polythene or even old carpet and weigh down the edges with soil, stones or bricks. The beds should be warmer when you need to plant seeds and seedlings from April onwards.