In celebration of National Children's Gardening Week which runs from the 27th May - 4th June, we're launching a fun competition to get children across the country growing, no matter what size of space they have to work with. Dive into your recycling boxes and save those tin cans as they're going to be the perfect planter for this project. Small, sturdy and perfectly sized, a tin can is a perfect place to grow a single radish. Place it on your windowsill, on a balcony, in the garden or at school and you can watch a tiny seed transform into a mighty radish! #tincanradishes
Onto the competition element... there will be some amazing prizes up for grabs for those who take part. Here are the categories you can enter:
There will be a winner for each of the following categories:
The Ravishing Radish - the most beautiful radish, perfectly formed, vibrant in colour and prime for picking.
The Perfectly Imperfect Radish - weird, wacky and wonderful veg. Nature at its best with all its knobbles and bobbles, challenges and triumphs.
The Storytelling Radish - for whoever documents their growing journey best be it written diary entries, daily photographs, stop motion films or anything else! Even if your radish doesn’t make it to harvest season we want to hear your story on Facebook, Instagram or via email!
And here's what you could be in with a chance of winning!
- A selection of children’s gardening books from Magic Cat Publishing
- A Spring Moon Child Adventure Box from The Adventure Gang
- A selection of children’s gardening tools from Burgeon and Ball
How to grow radishes
Radishes are a super quick and easy vegetable to grow from seed and because they remain small, you can grow them in very small spaces, like in a tin can! Here's how you can get started:
1. Find yourself a tin can and ensure it's clean. Remove the paper label and make a few holes in the bottom for drainage. You can do this using a knife or a nail and hammer but be careful!
2. Add a handful of fresh compost into your tin can until it almost reaches the top and then sow 3-5 seeds on the surface. You'll need to thin these out to just one seedling in a week or two so don't go crazy.
3. Sprinkle a light layer of compost over the top of the seeds and gently water them. After 5-10 days you should start to see signs of life, and after a couple of weeks you can pick your winning radish seedling! Pull out all but one being extra careful not to disturb the remaining roots.
4. Keep a close eye on your tin can radishes checking daily to see if it needs extra water.
5. After 6-8 weeks your radish should be ready to harvest! Pull it out of the tin and admire your excellent growing skills, being sure to take a few snaps of your crop to share with us @theminigardenersclub using #tincanradishes. Then it's time to taste test!
We can't wait to hear how you get on and to award some prizes! Entries close at midnight on the 6th August and we'll announce the winners the following week.