Pretty Alpines for Your Home & Garden

After repotting some plants, I had some old pots left over that needed some love, so when I spotted a pretty alpine plant at the garden centre I decided to use that to pop in one of the more rustic looking ones.

These hardy plants need very little attention and can survive the harshest of conditions, you can even plant them in rockeries and boarders for pretty shapes and colours.  All you need is some compost or soil from your garden, your plant, a plant pot and a garden trowel.

I loved the shapes of the leaves and the clusters of smaller looking plants on this alpine, there is also a subtle red colour to the tips which makes it look really pretty.

Once you are ready to pot the plant, place some soil/compost into the bottom of the plant pot, you want it so that the plant sits at the right height in the pot, so once you are happy, remove the plant from the plastic pot and give it a try. You might need to add a bit more soil or take some out depending on where it is sitting in the pot, you want it to be sat with the start of the plant in line with the rim. 

Add more soil/compost to fill the pot, pressing down gently under the plant until the plant pot is full and there you have it, one beautiful plant for your garden and definitely on a budget. This only cost me the price of the plant as I had some left over compost from last year.

Finding old pots and cheap alpines is a great way to bring colour and shape into your garden, what do you like to grow in your garden?

Silent Sunday

Toddler activities - growing cress

My son has been planting bulbs and seeds at nursery and I wanted to carry it on at home so we decided to plant some cress.

We had some left over from when we did it last year and it is so much fun to see his little face once it has grown.

When we took it out of the cupboard it went from being white in the morning to green when it had been out in the sun for a few hours, it was brilliant!

You will need:
1 x empty butter/margarine tub or something similar
1 x packet of cress
Some cotton wool

1.  Get your bits ready to assemble

 

2. Put the cotton wool into the container

3. Add some water to the cotton wool so it is completely soaked

 

4. Sprinkle the seeds over as evenly as possible (please note this probably won't happen when a child is helping but it's OK)

6. Put the container in a warm dark place, leave for a week and they should have sprouted. Take out and then leave on a window sill.

7. Once it has turned green and is nice and tall, trim and have in egg sandwiches for lunch :)

This is such a simple and cheap thing do do and it really gives children a sense of how things grow, they get to try what they have grown because it is so quick see it happening!

Happy growing!