In a bid to raise awareness about the benefits of growing and picking your own fruit and vegetables and trying to encourage the nation to get involved, Heinz have produced some beautiful pop up gardens across the country. As a thank you for writing about the gardens a few months back the wonderful people at Heinz sent me a pair of gardening gloves (or at least two left hands!) and some packets of tomato seeds with a note that says “Have fun and grow your own tomatoes”. So that’s what me and the boys plan to do this weekend.
My boys, like most boys, love mud. They love digging in it, jumping in it and I would be lying if I said they had never attempted to eat it. So, as you can imagine, it did not take much persuading to get them out in the garden planting seeds and attempting to grow their own tomatoes.
We used some compost bags that are ideal for parents like me, who aren’t as keen on mud and mess as their children are. These bags are perfect because you simply add water to the packet, wait for it to expand, dig around a bit and then plant the seeds. Hassle free, relatively mess free (big bonus) and lots fun for little people. It makes growing your own fruit and veg a lot quicker and more appealing.
My boys really enjoyed planting the tomato seeds. My eldest was busy telling me all about what he had learnt at school about plants and how to look after them and my youngest was, as usual, turning it into a competition to see who could grow the biggest, juiciest, tomato in the WORLD. I guess only time will tell but if they have inherited the lack of green fingerdness from me or f they are going to be little farmers in the making. If it all goes wrong I may need to buy a few tomatoes from Tesco and throw a couple in there one day and hope they don’t notice.
Do you grow your own vegetables? If so please feel free to comment below with any top tips you may have as I have a feeling we are going to need all the help we can get.