I'm going camping today!!!

Just a quick message to everyone, i'm going camping today for a few days.
I have asked my grandad Benny to come and water the plants whilst i'm away.  I hope he does a good job & he must also feed the cat.
My dog Zippy is going on his holidays.  He's going to Heathers house with his friend Charlie dog.  I think we will all have fun.  Heres a picture of my dog Zippy.

Bye,bye

Amelia

What happens when hot pepper plants flower?

Another question from me!

I have 2 Hot Pepper plants that have started to flower.  I would like to know what happens next and how the peppers come along?

Please can you help again?

Thanks

Bye, bye

Amelia

p.s. Leave a comment below :D

What happens when tomato plants flower?

Two of my favourite people, Sue Simpson & Steve Smith were really kind and gave me some plants to grow.  They were 2 tomato plants.

I was wondering when the plants flower, what happens and how do the tomatoes appear?

Please can you help?

Thanks

Bye, bye

Amelia

p.s. please leave a comment below :D

Please help me and my peas!!!

 At school, I started growing peas.  I brought them home and I re-potted it into a larger pot to help it grow bigger.

Today i noticed some unusual things on my plant, please can you help me by telling me what it is? and how to get rid of it?

I am worried about the white squiggly lines on the leaves.

Thanks for reading and helping.
Bye, bye
Amelia

p.s. If you can help, leave me a comment on here :D

Do you want to make...a birdseed birthday cake???

Follow these instructions and the birds will come flocking to your "Birthday Cake"!!!

You will need

• Lard
• Birdseed/birdfood
• A small container (I used half a coconut shell) but you can use clean yogurt pots, small drinks bottles or whatever you want.
• Some string

YOU WILL NEED AN ADULT TO HELP!

How to make your "Birdseed Birthday cake"

1. Either warm up the lard in a saucepan until melted (If you do it this way GET AN ADULT TO HELP) You can also chop it into small cubes and mash it together with your fingers.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   2. Pierce a hole in your container and tie the String through the hole to make a loop.  GET AN ADULT TO HELP WITH THIS PART!
   
   
   3. Add the birdseed/birdfood to the mixture.  DO NOT ADD RAISINS TO THE MIX IF YOU HAVE A DOG...THEY CAN MAKE YOUR DOG ILL
   
   
   
   4.  Press into your container and leave to harden in the fridge for about an hour.
   
   
   
   5.  Once hardened hang outside wherever you can!
   
   
   
   

There will be more "How To's" Soon!
Bye, bye

Amelia

My garden Design...by me!!!

This is how I want my garden to look when its finished.  It will take a long time and lots of very hard work, but I hope it will be nice for all the birds, insects, wildlife and us.

• The flower beds are pink
• The pond is blue
• The vegetable plot is red
• The path is yellow
• The patio is grey
• The pots etc are purple 
• The sheds are brown
• The dark grey is stepping stones

There will be more designs for the individual areas as I do them.

p.s.  The grass is green...Doh! obviously!

Bye, bye

Amelia

How to make a bird restaurant from recycled milk bottles?!!!

Do you like to go out for meals? I do and so do birds, this is how i made mine.
You will need:

• A plastic milk bottle, which has been washed out.
• Some sticks or straws for the birds to land on.
• A pair of scissors or a craft-knife.
• Some bird seed.
• An adult to help.

This is how you make it:

1. You have to carefully pierce the milk bottle with either scissors or your craft knife and push through the sticks or straws. YOU WILL NEED AN ADULT TO HELP YOU WITH THE NEXT 2 STEPS! 
   
   
   
   2.  Use your craft knife or scissors to make holes in the carton for the birds to feed from.  I cut out the last hole with my dad watching!
   
   
   
   3.  Fill it up with birdseed but not too much!
   4.  Hang it up outside, we used a bush at the bottom of our garden but anywhere will do!
   
   
   
   You can also put in peanuts, sunflower seeds, mealworms and fruit.  If you have dogs DON'T INCLUDE RAISINS AS THEY WILL MAKE DOGS ILL!!!
   
   
   
   
   It will get mouldy so you can replace it with another one.
   
   
   DONT FORGET TO KEEP IT TOPPED UP!!!
   
   
   Another "How To" will follow soon!!!
   
   
   Bye, bye
   
   
   Amelia

A worm called Wilma...does she do good for the garden?

Worms are pale pink, when they're not covered in mud!  They look like spaghetti although i don't want to eat those...EEEEUUUGGGHHHHH Yuck, like Gollum in Lord of the Rings.  They also look slimy.  Can these wierd looking creatures be good for my garden???

Wilma the worm!!!

The answer is YES, they are very good for gardens.  It shows how healthy the soil is.  The worms eat the soil and burrow through it.  They also become food for hungry birds like Thrushes, Robins and Blackbirds.  I hope to see these birds in my garden soon.  Here's a photo of a Blackbird visiting our garden in Winter taken by my dad.  

We put some food out for it to eat.

There will be more about Creepy Crawlies coming soon...bye, bye

Amelia

Things are happening.....

Hi everyone
My Rocket & Cosmos seeds are starting to sprout already, which means I'm looking after them right, by watering them often & because they are in a sunny part of the garden.

Here are some pics of them...

Cosmos Seeds sprouting

Rocket Seeds sprouting

Mum and I had to "Thin out" the Rocket seedlings so they didn't get squashed together which would make them not grow properly.  The Cosmos seedlings are still ok at the moment.

I'll have to go and wash my hands now...they are REALLLLLYYYYYYY mucky.

Bye, Bye

Amelia

I saw a slow, slimy Snail...was it called Sammy???

Today, I saw a Garden Snail on a bag of compost.  I thought it looked very slimy but it's shell had a nice pattern on.  I wondered if snails are good for my garden or not?
The RSPB Website says Garden Snails are not good for a garden.  This is because they eat flowers and vegetables.  They also lay a lot of eggs.  

  

You can use special things to kill snails but I am not going to do that because I like wildlife.  Lucky Sammy snail! 

This is part of my Creepy Crawlies page...you can see more here!

Bye, bye for now

Amelia

I'm a RSPB wildlife explorer

I'm a RSPB wildlife explorer.  This is the junior membership of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
I get magazines every 2 months, I really enjoy them.  They explain about birds and wildlife in gardens, parks and countryside.
These are some of my favourite birds:

• Blue Tit
• Robin
• Owls

This is a photo of me and my brother taken in York a couple of years ago holding a Little Owl called Gismo.

The wildlife i want to see in my garden is:

• Spiders
• Butterflies
• Dragonfly's
• and loads more

You can read more about Garden Spiders here

I'm of to bed night, night

Amelia

New additions to the garden

On Friday we went to Strikes garden centre.  We bought the following things:

• Compost
• A pink Climbing Rose
• 2 Hot Pepper plants
• A Lavender plant
• We also got some pots from my Grandad Benny

We re-planted the Climbing Rose into the Hexagonal wooden planter.  It might grow to 8 feet high which is more than double my height!

We also re-planted the 2 Pepper plants, so they grow bigger and we can eat them...Yummy! but they might be spicy!

Then we re-planted my Lavender plant, I really like the smell.

I`m not going to say any more today, it`s tea time and i`m having yummy, scrummy Pizza.

Bye, bye 

Amelia

 

 

Making a start....

Hello everyone
 This weekend  me & my family went to the garden center for compost, & had a look at some vegetable seeds to plant, & got some Rocket, Spinach & Spring onion seeds, & mummy picked out some herb plants to re pot, which were Mint, Rosemary, Sage & Chives.

 I was very excited to start planting because me & mummy planted them in some pots that we recycled using an ice cream tub, an old kitchen washing up bowl, my spotty wellies, the bottom of plastic milk bottles, & some Tupperware boxes. We had to put holes in the bottom of the containers & in some of them we put stones in to help with drainage. Some of them we had to water the compost first before putting the seeds in. Mummy also had some Cosmos seeds we did as well  which if they grow we`ll have pretty pink & purple flowers.

Here`s a couple of pictures of what Iv`e done....

night night as it is my bedtime until next time Amelia

I like spiders...Do you???

I really like spiders, I like their patterns and how they make their webs.  They are very clever!

This video from a man called Michael Bukay has made a video to show how it is done.

Yesterday, I saw a garden spider outside on the wall.  My mum had disturbed it's web by accident...silly mum!

Garden Spider Facts

• They are about 1-1.4cm when fully grown, which is about the size of my thumbnail they are quite small!
• Baby spiders are fully formed when they are born and they can produce webs straight away!
• They are found in gardens, parks and woodland.
• They spin silk to make their webs and to cocoon and protect their eggs.
• They are usually brown, beige or black with different patterns.
• Their webs can be 50 cm across which is the size of my shoulder to the tip of my fingers!

There will be more interesting wildlife facts soon...thanks for reading...

Amelia

Hello from me

Hi everyone,

My names Amelia Johnston.  I am 7 years old and I live in Northallerton, North Yorkshire.
I want to do this BLOG because we're growing vegetables and flowers.  I want a pond to attract dragonflies, flowers to attract butterflies and bees.  I want to eat healthy vegetables.  I want my garden to look nicer.
I will write new posts about once a week to let you all know what i've been doing in the garden (It might be what mum & Dad have been doing too!!!)

I like doing gardening, helping in the garden, swimming and lots of nature things.

I will keep in touch soon...I'll also make sure that there are loads of pictures.

I have to go as it is my bedtime...Night, night everyone.