Flower Bombs - Guerrilla Gardening

For the last couple of years the kids and I have been doing a bit of guerrilla gardening around our village.  On the first year we planted sunflowers in random places - this wasn't very successful as we had a very dry Spring so most of the sunflowers didn't survive.  Last year we pop seeds around with variable success.  This year I came across the idea of flower bombs via a blog (sorry I can't remember the blog name :-() and had to give it a go :-)

 I had a rummage in the children's art cupboard for any old paper that wasn't very useful ....

I popped it into a blender with some water and blended it up.  My Mum popped over to visit at this point and did look slightly concerned that little Sweetpeas wakings were finally getting to me until I explained what I was doing :-)

We squeezed the wet paper out so it was damp rather than soaking and then mixed the seeds in (a mixture of seeds I collected from our flowers last year).  We then made them into little balls and left them to dry naturally overnight.  They did fall apart slightly so I may try making the compost and clay version next year.

 We then went for a walk round the village .....

and flower bombed random areas :-)  I will be going round with the children and planting cosmos in random places in a month or two, these plants seem perfectly happy if not watered and look so lovely.  I hope the bombs work and we see flowers popping up around the village :-)

We will plant these later in the year.

Also last week we were very excited to receive our caterpillar delivery for the pre-school.  We love watching them grow each year and turning into butterflies.

On the chick front, I am afraid to say that poor Bubbles at the front of the photo passed away :-(  Bubbles hadn't been too well for some time and I am glad he/she went of their own accord rather than Mr Sweetpea having to put him/her out of their misery.  Tiny is doing very well and is still happily chirping away thank goodness.

xxx

Butterfly time again :-)

It was that time of year again recently when I buy little tiny tiny caterpillars for the pre-school so the children can watch them turn into butterflies. 

Every year this project makes me feel like a child again, I get so excited when the magic box arrives in the post :-)

We all got busy and popped the food into separate containers and then added 2 baby caterpillars to each little pot.

We then pop tissue paper over the top and then put the lid on, this is so that the caterpillars have something to make their cocoon on.

They really are so tiny when they first arrive, here is a photo of one on my finger to give you an idea of scale.

After a couple of weeks watching them eat and grow they turn into cocoons.  They then stay in there for another couple of weeks before they hatch out in all their splendor to reveal their new body shape - it is so magical.  We keep two at home and pre-school have the rest - theirs always seem to hatch a little earlier, not sure if it is the temperature of the pre-school being a bit higher than our home or that the noise levels in our house make the butterflies want to stay hidden for that little bit longer lol :-)

Then comes my favourite bit, letting the children release them into the garden and watching where they go ........

Nature really is rather amazing!  To see photos of the full life cycle click here - Butterfly life cycle.