Monday 3 October 2011

Monday Makery: Flower Planting & Pressing

This is one of our first garden 'makeries.' It's nothing new, just simple things to do with kids at this time of year.  As autumn creeps in (though with this heatwave it doesn't feel like it!) the flowers are nearly over and it's time to think ahead for what flowers will appear next year.  A carpet of crocuses, a bank of tulips or some early snowdrops?

It's a really good time of year to learn about seasons, change and growing.  We spent the autumn equinox weekend at Granny's house and were able to witness the changes and rituals in the garden at this time of year.


Flowers can be gathered for drying and pressing.  You could tie and hang flower bunches or garlands in a suitable dry place or if you have a flower press it's a lovely hobby to introduce flower pressing.  I found my old flower press at Granny's and Gabe was quite fascinated.  You don't really need me to tell you how to press flowers, but I took a few pics of Gabe in action:


Without a flower press it's fine to use a thick, heavy book.  I remember putting flowers between the leaves of many books and discovering them later - with stains on the pages - ooops!  Best to put some sugar paper layers either side of the flowers to absorb the flower 'juice.'

Another good gardening event at this time of year is bulb planting - inside and out.  We dug some tulip bulbs straight into the lawn. It's a case of placing them about 3 times their own depth and about 2 bulb widths apart.  The other thing to remember is to wash hands immediately as bulbs can be a skin irritant- child-sized gardening gloves are the ideal thing to use.

Gabe was really excited that we were 'hiding' the bulbs which would pop up in the spring and surprise us.


Growing bulbs inside the house allows children to witness the growth - to see the roots reaching down and the bulb sprouting green shoots and eventually a flower.  Hyacinth bulbs are my favourite as I love their heady scent and deep colour.  You can use the special bulb vases for the purpose. The water should reach just below the base of the bulb.  Then they should be kept in a cool dark place until growth is about 4 inches tall.  We shall check them each time we visit Granny.



There's still plenty of time to get pressing and planting. It does feel like quite a purposeful project and very satisfying. Not sure when the bulb planting 'deadline' is but it still feels like the first frost is a very long way off!

Enjoy some gardening time - and do let us know any more tips and ideas as we're clearly at beginners stage with our garden!


This is part of our Monday Makery series, where each week we bring craft and recipe ideas and inspiration.

Each week we bring new ideas to our blog through different blog series; Tuesday has previously brought the 'story behind our collections' and now brings 'tell us its tuesday' a fun interview with our favourite creators, designers, bloggers and imaginative extraordinaire's. Wednesday we woo you with new treats in the collection of our boutique. Thursday will leave you inspired through the 'art of living' and Friday we finish with 'once upon a week' where you can see what's happening in the lives of the sisters of Sisters Guild.
For more behind the scenes photos of Sisters Guild we have the gallery of the A-Z of Sisters Guild here.

If you would like to share some ideas as a guest blogger on the Monday Makery we would be very excited to hear from you. Use the contact form on our main website here.
www.sistersguild.co.uk

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