Saturday activity

Morning All,
All good here in self isolation in Little Hadham. A week now and everything going well. Been so lucky with the weather.
Two things to have a go at today:

Make a sweep net to catch insects.
Easy this, just need the correct kit. You need: old tennis or badminton racket, old pillow case, scissors and drawing pins. If you don't have a racket, ask around, bet some neighbours have one tucked away in a shed.

Take the racket and cut off all the strings. Try to get all the pieces out of the rim, too. The knotted ones are the hardest. Take the pillow case (or similar) and attach to the rim with drawing pins and then turn inside out.
Now, find areas of longer grass and weedy areas and sweep the net through this about 5-8 times. Flick the pillow case over the top and then pot what you have found. Try to keep away from blackthorn and bramble bushes. You'll get all tied up with the thorns.

I appreciate it is only March and not a huge amount of insects about but you will, with a little patience, catch several species. Do please send me any photos or put up on Stortford Nature FB pages if you are a member.
In good old fashioned Blue Peter language "Here's one I prepared earlier."

Second Challenge

Grow veg without buying seeds. This is easy to do and children will start to see new growth within a week. Save all the pieces of these foodplants that you normally throw away.

Lettuce: Take the root end with a little leaf growth still on it, place in a saucer of warm water and leave somewhere sunny. When roots begin to grow transfer to a flowerpot with compost and keep in a good warm place.

Celery: Same technique as lettuce. Need to transfer to a larger pot than onion.

Ginger: Take a small piece of ginger that has a small lump on it. This will be the new growth. Place the piece in soil or compost with the lump (eye) facing upwards. Just cover with half an inch of soil, water well and put in a sunny spot.

Garlic: Plant a single clove of garlic in soil or compost in a flower pot about half and inch below the surface, water and leave. Growth will be quick. If you have a clove that has already started sprouting use that one as the garlic when added to cooking will be more bitter.

Onion: Once you have chopped the onion for cooking, keep the flat root end. Plant this in well watered compost and leave somewhere warm. Roots and shoots will appear quite rapidly.

Peppers/Chillies/Squash/Tomatoes: Once you have deseeded these for cooking, keep the seeds in a pot. Wash and leave to dry for a few days and then just plant them like expensive shop bought seeds.

Remember to keep them regularly waterered. Once they are strong enough, transfer to a small plot in the garden, but not before 2nd week of May which is traditionally the last week of frosts for the south east.
Hope you have a go at this and perhaps experiment with other vegetables, eg potatoes and carrots. Just put the top in a saucer of water and  leave.

I have used ones here that give quick returns to keep children interested, others such as pineapple tops and avocado stones take a lot longer to get going.

Have a go and please do send me any photos of what you have set up for others to see. Be great to share your photos. jforgham"at"hotmail.com
Best of luck and have a great day. Be back on Monday with more ideas, some for indoor as the rain is beginning to feature on the weather radar.