This project has been made possible through funds raised and donated by our Daisy Garland fundraisers and supporters.  We are enormously grateful to each and every one of them.

JUNE

Rosy radishes, succulent strawberries and crispy salad leaves can only mean one thing: summer's here!   This is such an exciting time in the garden with buds and blooms popping up everywhere ensuring there's something to new and exciting to see every single day.  The little birds, bees and butterflies will be enjoying your garden too, so it would be great to pop a shallow dish of fresh water out for them every day so they can paddle and sip whilst enjoying the lovely sunshine 🐦‍⬛ 🐝 🦋 🌞

Let's see what our Daisy Garland Green Shoots gardeners are growing this summer...

"Our Crown Prince Squash are ready to be planted into some bigger pots..."  Charles

"They're now too big for the house, so have been moved out to the greenhouse. Roots still not strong enough for outdoor planting."  Charles

"Now planted in the plant bed! now to keep the slugs away."  Charles

A little Crown Prince recap...

Included in last year's Daisy Garland Autumn Grow Boxes were seeds rescued and recycled from the 'bellies' of two of the Crown Prince Squashes grown on Sara and David Garland's allotment.  In their little brown packets, these seeds highlight the never-ending cycle of nature and the endless joy it gives when watching a tiny dry seed sprout into something as big and bold as a Crown Prince Squash!  We'll be following the progress of these little seeds over the summer and autumn months... hopefully from plot to fork!  🍽️ 😋 

Rewind 9 months to where it all began...

Harvesting

De-seeding

Rinsing

Drying

Packaging

Dispatching

Receiving 

Sowing

Watering

Waiting...

Sprouting (look closely!)

Growing!

Nine months down the line and the time has come for our Crown Prince Squash plants to spread their wings transferring from pot to allotment plot.  And not before time!  They're getting a little top heavy now the flower buds have started to form...

In preparation for planting out, I dug four holes in the soil (about 30cm apart) the depth and slightly wider than each pot the Squash had grown in.    

I gave each of the four plants a good water an hour or so before planting.  This makes it nice and easy to remove the plants from their pots.  I did this by turning the pot upside down, gently sliding my fingers either side of the main stalk near the base of the plant...  

...firmly squeezing the pot with my free hand, gently easing the soil from the sides of the pot, sliding the plant out with the rootball attached.

The pot slid off quite easily showing good root formation at the base of the squash.

One Crown Prince happily settled into it's forever home 🌱

Carefully fill the hole with soil, pressing the soil down on all sides to firm the plant in before giving it a really good water so the soil settles well into the gaps around the roots.

Later that evening we sprinkled a few organic slug pellets around each plant just to get them off to a good start without worrying about them getting nibbled.  For those wanting to do the same, you can find organic slug pellets at most garden centres or buy them on line.  These little plants will really take off over the coming weeks, snaking their way across gardens and allotment plots each flower turning into a handsome Crown Prince Squash.    If you have a small garden or yard and are growing your Squashes in grow bags or large pots filled with compost you might want to think about growing them vertically - click HERE to learn how to do this.  Happy transplanting everyone! Sara x

PS  My Wisteria, grown from seed, has returned again this year.  I'd almost given up hope that anything green would grow from the little dry brown sticks poking up from the pot over winter.  But hey presto!  Green leaves, finally!!

Thank you to Isabelle's lovely mum, Erika, for sending us a big handful of pods from her own beautiful Wisteria so we could share the bean-shape seeds inside these velvety cases with our Green Shoots families.  Spreading the Wisteria love!  (The magic of nature!)

First year's growth 🌱

Wonderful Wisteria... (what I'm aspiring to!)

Our grow bags are arriving tomorrow! We have 4 large very happy squash plants, that definitely need some more room!

Hannah and Poppy are patiently waiting for their allium buds to burst into flower... 

Alliums and Baby Snapdragons growing well in Charles's garden  🌱 🌸 🌼

Sara, our CEO, had high hopes when back in March she planted these little Chinese Chive seeds. 

It's June 9th, and from 2 pots planted only one chive has sprouted! 🤔

If at first you don't succeed... try try again!  This time she's going to sow them directly into the ground.  Let's see what happens!  We'll be sure to keep you posted!   Meanwhile... look what Nikki our Family Support Assistant is growing in her little pop up greenhouse! 🥒

Moved my squash yesterday, and left it in the shade well watered. It was ok this morning, but looked a bit limp tonight - possibly got some sun.. It's now covered with an umbrella to protect it!  Hannah

"One Crown Prince Squash in garden. Grandma has planted and is looking after the other plants. Will take another picture when we home from hospital x"  Vanessa

"Our squash plants...

... and Baby Snapdragons...

... and courgettes!"  Julie

"Last year's Alliums looking fab!"  Sara

"Our radishes and squash doing well."  Lynsey

"The Squash is starting to fruit 🌱🌱 "  Charles

Amelia's Green Shoots fruit and veg is coming along nicely, she has;

"We finally have some flowers and lots of green leaves."  Kim

"A little bit of planting on at the weekend - courgettes, crown prince squash and marigolds! And our baby snap dragons are just starting to flower "  Julie 

"We have tomatoes, sweet peppers, cayenne peppers, cucumbers, and peas growing and the squirrels are digging my appletini tree as well as the squash and carrots and onions,  Hoping they don't start taking a liking to the other stuff that is growing.  We also have lots of flowers starting to bloom with loads of butterflies and bees 🦋🐝"  Chloe

"This year's batch progressing, and i think the last years honey garlic reappearing! 🌱🌱🌱 "  Charles

Other Green Shoots growers struggling with the present heatwave we're seeing here in the UK...

"Mine have done the same!  the heat has ruined mine  xx"  Chloe

"Mine do not like the heat and I'm with them, feel like I'm wilting."  Francesca

"All of mine are the same the sun has killed everything x"  Chloe

Just look at Charles's bumper crop of Crown Prince Squashes!!!

"Our Green Shoots are not doing well this year I personally think we've had a bad batch of compost but who knows. The busy lizzies or chives never grew and the radishes didn't do well. Which is not like us and the compost grew lots of mushrooms. The squash plants however are hanging on in there and last year's daisies came back We have brought some new seeds to try again in different compost xx"  Sarah

"Our Crown Prince squash seeds germinated outside and the plants are looking really healthy, I’ve popped a few courgettes in the bed with them and we have our first courgettes growing. We are getting lots of strawberries and raspberries and the snapdragons are beautiful!!"  Ella

"Growth on the right hand side since Sunday! And I think I can spy a tiny squash! Very exciting! "  Julie

"I'd almost given up on the wild flower seed ball I buried in the garden last spring.  Nothing came up.  Until this year!!  Just look at this gorgeous poppy!   A couple of hours  after snapping the second pic I noticed a big bumblebee in the 'sea urchin' centre. He was upside down, kicking his little legs in the air,  clearly having a whale of a time!  Isn't nature wonderful... 🐝"  Sara x

"Finish work, an hour before football, quick bit of gardening with Callum, moved the alliums into the bigger bed and feeding the birds of course with rex and dino . "  Charles

"It was time for a haircut! 🤣"  Charles

"The recent heatwave has proved challenging for our little Green Shoots 🌱  But please everyone, don't lose heart 💜  Cooler days are just around the corner...  Meanwhile, watering your veg/flower patch first thing in the morning or last thing at night is really important to stop leaves and flowers from wilting, or at worst, crisping up beyond recovery. Plants in pots and window boxes in particular need frequent watering, as they have limited root reach, so rely heavily on you to keep them well hydrated.   Amongst other plants growing on our allotment this year, our sweet peas have really struggled in the heat, so I was really pleased to find enough flowers at the weekend to make a little posy.   Their scent is ABSOLUTELY amazing!   There's nothing quite like the smell of sweet peas... Sara x"

"We had a little visitor this afternoon.  At first I thought it was a beautiful butterfly.  But quickly realised it might be some sort of dragonfly.  A quick google told me it's a Demoiselle damselfly*   So happy I managed to capture a picture of this exquisite little creature to share before it flew off"  Sara x

*Easily mistaken at first glance for a fluttering butterfly, the beautiful demoiselle is now on the wing. The word ‘beautiful’ is part of this exotic-looking damselfly’s official scientific name, rather than a mere description, and it’s very well deserved.You’ll know when you’ve seen one because it’s the only damselfly species with completely coloured wings - the closest contender being the banded demoiselle, which is also aptly named for the deep blue-banded wings of the males, as if they’ve been dabbed with a giant black marker pen. These two species both belong to the family Calopterygidae and are termed demoiselles (from the French for damsel) to distinguish them from the rest of the damselflies.

"I saw a huge dragon fly on our allotment during very rainy day back in May. I think it was a Norfolk Hawk."  Erika

"It’s not been the best time in the garden this year. I’ve had a few disasters with seeds and rubbish compost and I also had our first lambing season just when I should have been gardening. I’ll post some updates after a special new arrival to our house tomorrow. Nasturtiums doing well though.  "  Mary

I am using sheep's wool everywhere here as a mulch which is doing a great job keeping the weeds down and also the slugs and snails! It is a great soil conditioner too!  Ella

"Just harvested some huge radishes - thank you!!"  Iona

"Haven't done great with the veggies but have had success with some of our other plants this year. Hopefully the veggies will be better soon. Hollyhocks are doing fab, plus roses, sweet peas, African marigolds, poppies & sweet peas. All planted this year."  Kim

Clive the Chive.  8 seeds planted only 1 came up!  Planted more seeds last weekend.  Watch this space!  Sara x

PS  As the heatwave continues, don't forget to leave a shallow plate of fresh water out for the birds everyday if you can🐦‍⬛ And a little puddle of water with a pebble in the middle from which thirsty bees can land and sip without fear of drowning.  (I've used a jam jar lid for this in the pic below 🐝).

More updates coming soon!