This is our third Mud & Bloom box and once again the contents haven’t failed to disappoint. We’ve now got a little ‘Mud & Bloom patch’ where all of our seeds have been planted and we can check progress every day. It’s definitely got our son into nature which was absolutely what I had hoped.
What’s in this month’s box?
- Make your own pressed flower bookmark set
- Grow your own poppies
- Create your own bark and leaf rubbings kit
- Grow your own sweetcorn
- Bee spotter guide
- Nature quiz
The highlights
The first thing we did was plant our sweetcorn. After just a week or so we already have shoots coming through and our son is really excited about being able to make popcorn with the sweetcorn we grow. We always marvel at how much the compost pellets grow in water and planting has been a really fun and tactile way to help learn and understand about where our food comes from.
We haven’t had a chance to do this yet as our garden doesn’t have a lot of bark or leaves in it, but we intend to take it with us on an adventure at the weekend. We’ve been a bit hampered by the rain lately so we can’t wait to do this. I also really love how portable this activity is. It’s easy to slip into a handbag or rucksack and we’re hoping to find lots of different trees and leaves to make markings with.
As with the sweetcorn we’ve also loved planting the poppies and it’s been fantastic to see them already growing so soon. Our son couldn’t believe how small the seeds were and how many we were sent. It’s going to be lovely to see these flowers grow and and help attract bees.
Speaking of bees, we have a bug hotel in our front garden which has been taken over with bees! We LOVED the bee guide as it helped us identify which ones we have. Mostly we have a lot of red mason bees but we did spot a few that looked like ashy mining bees and the even the odd (possibly confused) honeybee!
Last but definitely not least
The last activity is one we’re mid-way through doing. Our flowers are drying and being pressed, but when ready we’re looking forward to finishing these bookmarks as now our son is moving onto bigger books he is starting to need them!