Green fingers? We get gardening with the kids!

So it's spring, nearly (yey!) which means the birds are starting to sing and the garden is beginning to bloom. Daffodils are gracing the borders, chrysanthemums are starting to bud, weeds are starting to creep. Luckily this all takes place without a helping hand from my own (brown) fingers).

But this year I really want to take control of my garden, unlock the mysteries of  weeding, planting, pruning, even venture into HERBS- and I want to take my North London Little Ladies on the journey with me. We started this weekend with a trip to a local nursery, and some exploring online, and here's what we found.

Finchley Nursery in bloom

 If you've ever gone for a walk in the wilds of North London somewhere between Totteridge and Mill Hill then you may have stumbled upon the fantastic Finchley Nurseries. Over 80 years old,  the nursery has a large range of beautiful plants and flowers neatly organised into house plants, bedding, perennials, on spacious display against a backdrop of open fields. Paving stones, garden furniture, and range of pots are on display.  Even better, for those trying to do some plant shopping with kids in tow, there are fish and garden ornaments to ogle and, best of all- swings, slide and a trampoline -frankly a hidden piece of heaven. We left refreshed, and inspired, with plans to plant out herbs and tomatoes, clear borders and jolly up the garden with some plants.

Before diving into buying plants and seeds I thought it would be useful to explore what resources there are for getting the girls involved. It took a little bit of digging around on the Internet to find a kid friendly resource (some "gardening with kids" sites seem rather "stodgy") but we did come across a few to fuel our enthusiasm:

- Climbing Rainbows is a lovely blog which we stumbled across on our search. It is a place for parents, children and teachers to learn through play. The aim of the blog is to provide everything parents need to nurture and encourage their children’s learning from the pre-school period right through to their teens. One of the sections of the blog focusses on gardening with kids, and has some lovely posts describing kid friendly gardening activities such as planting seeds, painting plant pots. Climbing rainbows led us on to-

- Innocent Kids- yes the lovely guys from Innocent Smoothies have a kids site. Innocent seeds packs are available with smoothies and fruit tube packs. Secret codes on the packets or juicy drinks can be entered onto the website to unlock opportunities to win prizes. You can win a rocket garden by entering a photo competition featuring categories such as the best smoothie flower pot.

- The Kids Garden- was created to provide an invaluable resource on creative gardening for children, filled with interesting and informative articles and practical advice. From planting seeds and watching them grow to encouraging wildlife into your garden and from making a wormery to learning about soil, photosynthesis and pollination, this site aims to give any parent all the tools they need to make their child's gardening experience really come alive. It has lots of facts, hints and tips which we found very useful as we embark on our gardening journey!

Selection of Plantabox Crates

Of course, a new resolution to do gardening requires some gardening kit. We found a lovely site, Plantabox, which features some lovely gardening products for kids including a personalised Plantabox crate with a selection of seeds and growing instructions. There are also kids gardening sets and watering cans.

So, we have inspiration, information, and kit- now to embark on the garden!

Look out for more in this series as we embark on our gardening adventure! We'd love to hear your experiences of gardening with your kids!