on scattering seeds

Together with the ‘Garden map’ was a bag of teeny tiny seeds.  Teeny tiny mustard seeds.

Our first gardening ‘job’ of the week was to plant the teeny tiny mustard seeds - in the area shaded green on the map. 

That’s right; thanks Joseph!

Hold out your hands…..

for a  pinch of teeny tiny mustard seeds…..

which needs to be scattered carefully on the freshly dug soil.  Nimble fingers needed for this - they really are very small!

    

Next, pat down the soil a bit…..

so that the birds can’t steal them.

With a bit of luck and warm sunshine and some thirst-quenching rain, the teeny tiny mustard seeds will grow into tall green mustard plants which (odd this!) will be dug back into the soil.  I wonder; why on earth would you do that?  Bury perfectly good tall green mustard plants.  Do you think you could find out?

And now; what of the purple-shaded area on the ‘Garden map’?

Joseph again (you recognised his finger, I am sure!)

Well, here we are going to plant bulbs.  Tulip bulbs mostly, which should give us a show of beautiful flowers like this…..

    

in the spring.

But we don’t just scatter these.  They need to be buried (a bit like the eventual fate of the perfectly good tall green mustard plants, once they have grown; but I digress somewhat).  We need to dig a hole in the soil for each bulb, and drop it in the right way up, before carefully filling the remaining space with soil.

Anyone know which is the right way up for a bulb?

Yes, that’s it; pointy end upwards, with the hairy roots…..

at the bottom.  Sit them in your hole…..

and then carefully cover them up; there they will stay, in the dark, until spring.  And any worms you find?

Pop them back into the soil of course!