It’s National Gardening Week! Thousands of people across the country are coming together to help keep Britain beautiful by sharing and celebrating everything about gardens and gardening. Unfortunately, having only just sown this years seeds, my own garden looks a little bland at the moment with no colour at all. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy though - there’s evidence of my hard work all over the house (I have hundreds of seed sowing boxes on my windowsills).

I’ve been planning my summer garden all year. Thanks to Pinterest I’ve stumbled on some seriously cool ideas to get Dexter involved and make our garden an exciting and pretty place for the family. Here are some of the highlights, but you can find more ideas here.

Stowing away seeds in old tic tac boxes is such a cute idea. Here they’ll be safe in an airtight container to last until next year.

Creating mini propagators from old plastic bottles is also a great idea - especially given our weather is so temperamental. Start your seeds off in the windowsill then gradually introduce them to an outdoor climate.

Church candles in glass jars will withstand any evening wind for pretty patio lighting.

Encouraging birds into your garden is possible without a low-hanging tree too - you can pop seeds into an upturned teacup, or even salvage some tools to prop up bird houses!

I love the idea of washing off my feet over stones that have been warmed by the sun - such a simple idea.

Planting herbs in old wine boxes and wooden pallets will also work if you have no flower beds - this is a great idea for a roof garden.

Cut holes from an old wooden coffee table and pop in washing up bowls to create a childs garden workstation - Craig and I are doing this one.

Or for cute play ideas you could create a wobble board from an old tyre and piece of plywood. For the bigger garden, you could even upcycle an old skateboard to make a swing!

What do you think? Will you be trying anything different this year in your garden?

 

By signing up to National Gardening Week via the website you could win one of 200 packets of wildflower seeds being given away every day this week (UK only). Over the past 50 years declines have been noted in many groups of British insects, including those that visit flowers. These include some common butterflies, moths, hoverflies and bees. Planting even a small pot of wildflowers can make a big difference to your local environment and help keep Britain buzzing.

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