Enjoying our garden

Last year, I struggled a bit spending time in the garden. Mia had just started crawling, and she crawled into everything, stuffing her face with handfuls of whatever she found. I couldn't take my eyes off her for a second, and it was really difficult to concentrate properly on anything else.

It has been so different this year. We've enjoyed several runs of lovely sunny days, and we've really been making the most of our garden. For Mia's birthday we bought her a fantastic swing and slide set, and along with their summerhouse the children have plenty of garden toys to keep them busy.

We are also lucky enough to have a large raised bed at the back of our garage that we can use for growing vegetables. In the past we have started off enthusiastically, then failed miserably with finding the time to keep up with it - as this sad post from last summer will testify.

In the sunshine this year my vigour for growing things was renewed, and I decided to take part in the #kidsgrowwild challenge. We received a wonderful garden starter set which the children loved - little gardening gloves, miniature tools, a watering can and seeds, all neatly stowed inside a sturdy bag.

Harry was desperate to get started, so I sorted out a few areas of the garden for him to plant in. We planted some sunflower seeds in the vegetable patch, and scattered assorted flower seeds in the area near to his sandpit. We also bought some spinach and two varieties of carrot seeds, both vegetables that we've had a lot of success with in the past. Then Mia came along and helped with the watering.

I was also recently lucky enough to win some vouchers, and I used the last bits of money on an indoor herb garden. I'm hoping that this will be successful, as it's in a prominent place in the kitchen and so I should remember to water it. There's basil, coriander and oregano in there somewhere, fingers crossed I manage to grow enough to actually use it in the cooking! Harry helped me to set it up, he was fascinated with the little soil pellets that expanded when you added water and he has been running down excitedly every morning to see if anything has started growing yet.

I'm really hoping that we have some good weather this summer so that we can spend a lot of time outdoors. With Harry starting school I'm trying to make the most of every day, and both children love spending time outdoors. Harry and I even spent a night sleeping in the tent the other week which he enjoyed very much, so I'm sure that will be repeated, and there will be plenty of swinging and sliding going on. Here's to some sunshine!

This post is an entry for BritMums' #KidsGrowWild Challenge. We received a free gardening starter kit to take part.