Food and Recipes, Home, Health & Style

Egg Box Gardening

I started a little experiment of my own this spring. I wanted to find an easy way of sowing seeds for growing vegetables at home. I have a small veggie patch, but I worked out last year that I could grow a lot more, if only I had  many more seedlings to plant out.

But sowing seeds can be a bit fiddly, and then you’ve got to plant out each tiny plant. That takes a lot of time. I wanted more veggies for less work, so I collected as many egg boxes as I could find, and sowed seeds into each egg holder. The pictures show the planting and growing on of broad beans, but I have also used the egg boxes for runner beans, radishes, beetroots, spinach, tomatoes, rocket, pak choi and patty pans.

And it’s not too late to start growing your own right now. You don’t even need a veggie patch in the garden; plant the egg boxes into a pot or container for your window sill or patio.

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Science, Nature and Tech

Help A Hedgehog

Gretta is a  freelance journalist who blogs at mumsdotravel.com. She and her family are worried how the local wildlife are coping with the lack of water. Strange as it may seem in a country that is famous for rain, there has not been enough of it in the past years in UK.
Read on to find out how to help hedgehogs and other wildlife.

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Written By You

Drama Clubs for Kids – Written by You

Hi! My name is Cait, I’m 14 years old and I live in the North-East of England. No matter where you live in the world, there is a good chance there are some drama clubs for kids in your area. Drama is one of my favourite hobbies, and I thought by answering some questions it may make you think about starting drama!

Do you have to know what you are doing?

No! When I first started doing drama I had absolutely no idea how to act, and that was okay. I went into this small drama club and had no idea what I was doing. But over the time that I went there, I gained skills and I learnt how to act. Going into drama having no idea what you are doing can be good because it means you can learn so many new skills, which is great! Over time you can learn how to do other things as well such as singing or dancing!

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Toys and Games

What is Geocaching?

 

What is Geocaching?  It’s like a real-life treasure hunt and is a great way to make a walk in the woods just a bit more interesting!

Julianne Robertson explains what it is and how to do it. 

 

What is it?

Players use a handheld GPS device or a smartphone to look for a set of co-ordinates near to wherever they are and find the geocache (or treasure!) hidden at that location.  These are usually a small container of some kind with a logbook and ‘treasure’ inside – this can be anything, like a little toy, some stickers, a badge, a pretty stone – basically anything small enough to fit inside and be worth finding!

 

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Sounds good!  How do I get started?

Go to the website www.geocaching.com and register – it’s free to sign up.  Then you put in your postcode and you should see a list of all the geocaches near to where you live.  Choose one and you’ll get the co-ordinates you need to put into the GPS, as well as a description of the area and clues about how to find the cache.

 

Are geocaches always hidden in the woods?

No – there are geocaches all over the world and they are usually put in places which are important to the person hiding them.  Some are hidden in forest areas, others are in local parks, or city streets – even underwater!  There are also different sizes of geocache and a range of difficulty – you should probably start with one that’s easy, at least to begin with!

 

What do I do when I find one – can I keep the treasure?!

Yes, but you should replace anything you keep with something of equal or greater value.  You should also write about your find in the logbook and when you get home log your experience on the website too, so that others know the cache is still active.

 

 

 

Can I hide my own cache for others to find?

Yes, once you’ve found a few caches you’ll know what makes a good geocache and hiding place, and you might want to create your own!  There are lots of guidelines on the website about how to do it.

 

Now you know about geocaching – go and try it!  It’s a great activity to do with your family or a group of friends.  Once you’ve found one, you’ll want to find more!

 

 

 

Julianne Robertson is a freelance journalist, based in Dundee. Her background is radio news, and she now writes features and reviews, specialising in parenting, faith and religion, events and lifestyle issues.

 

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