Surprising Spring Sunshine

Hanley and Endon hoped we would wake up to snow this morning, but it was actually a bright, sunny day.  Polar didn't have to go to work today, so she and Grizzly went for a walk around the lake at Trentham Gardens, and we bears went with them.

 A few days ago, there were floods at Trentham, and there was still a lot of extra water in the River Trent and running over the waterfall from the lake. 

We had to be careful where we went to play, as some of the grassy banks were quite boggy.  Polar lifted us up onto a hollow tree so we could do some climbing and exploring, then carried us along to a bank where there were lovely spring flowers growing, violets and primroses.

When the sun came out from behind the clouds, it was quite warm, so it didn't matter that we had been hasty bears when it was time to go out and had forgotten to bring our hats!

We did some more exploring in the woods, where we found some fascinating fungi growing on rotting logs.  We had to run to catch up with Grizzly and Polar, who were watching the grebes on the lake.

There were more spring flowers in the woods further along the lake shore - these were violets and oxlips.  Polar said that the oxlips were flowering very early, but we had noticed some in flower all through the autumn and winter, which is quite strange.

Endon found a small hazel tree to practice his climbing, while Hanley and I did some more exploring in the flowers.  The violets had a lovely sweet smell! 

We found a bench with a good view across the lake where we could sit and enjoy the sunshine, until we saw Polar and Grizzly, and asked them for a lift in our bag, to the Stumpery, where there are plenty of opportunities for us all to climb.

There were more flowers near here.  I recognised them as hellebores, like the ones Polar grows in the garden at home, although there were some pretty peach-coloured ones at Trentham, which I had never seen before.

We enjoyed playing in the sunshine for a little while longer, until our human guardians said it was time to leave the gardens and go for lunch.  We were hungry, so we had some of Polar and Grizzly's pie with mash and mushy peas!

We always enjoy our visits to Trentham and we hope to visit again soon, but I think there might be snow and ice tomorrow, so we will have to stay home.  

Next time we visit, we expect there will be daffodils in flower, which we bears love because they are so cheerful.  We hope to visit more of the parks and gardens around Stoke-on-Trent too, so look out for more blogs soon!

Garden Bears' World - Part Two

After we had finished planting the broad beans, Polar brought another piece of scrap plastic into the kitchen, and a tray of plants that looked like thick grass and smelled of garlic.  

'These are called Babbington Leeks,' Polar explained.  'They will get much bigger than this.  I haven't grown them before, but they are a perennial vegetable, which means they should regrow every year, if we can get them growing properly this year.  My boss at work gave them to me, as little bulbs, and now they need moving into bigger pots, before we plant them outdoors later in the spring.'

We watched Polar pot on the Babbington Leeks and saw that the plastic tray - which had been used to hold big yogurt pots in the supermarket - was just the right size for the leek pots to stand in.  We wanted to help, but Polar said we would get our paws dirty.

'I have another job for you three,' she said.  'I'm going to put some fresh compost in the tray the leeks were in, then you can push an onion set into each module.  It's too wet to plant them outdoors at the moment, so we can give them a start in the greenhouse.'

This was a great job for bears, as we didn't need to get compost on our paws.  We took it in turns to push some of the sets into the modules, making sure that we put them in the right way up - with the pointy end poking out of the compost.

Then Polar topped the tray up with more compost, and found a mushroom box for the few onion sets that were left over.

'Are we going to plant some seeds now?' asked Hanley Bear, picking up a packet of chilli seeds he had seen.

'Yes, we are,' Polar replied.  'But be careful with those seeds, Hanley.  Don't put your paws near your eyes after you've handled them, until I've wiped them with a clean, damp flannel.'

There were two packs of different types of chilli.  Hanley carefully counted out half of the seeds in each packet and spaced them out on the compost in two separate trays, then Polar wiped his paws.  'We can save the rest of the seeds for next year,' she said.  'The packet says they should be good until 2023!'

'These should have been used by 2015!' I said, showing Polar a packet of sweet pepper seeds.  'That makes them older than me!'

There were some new ones as well, so Polar suggested we sowed a mixture of the two, putting the very old seeds in between the newer ones.

'If they all grow, we will have lots of spare plants, but we can take them to work or to the allotment, and sell them to raise money for your Paddington Fund to do Good Things,' Polar said.

'I would love to grow these little tomatoes!' said Endon.  'Can we grow some of those for the Paddington Fund too?'

'Of course we can, Endon,' said Polar.  'They are very small seeds, so don't lose them in your furry paws, and don't use them all.  We can save some of these for next year as well.'

We were very proud of our work but, when Polar carried the trays away to a warm window sill, we saw there was compost all over the kitchen worktop.  I thought we ought to help clean up.

'Don't you worry about that, little bears,' said Polar.  'You've all worked very hard today.  Settle down in your basket and I'll bring you in stroopwafels and tea, after I've cleaned the kitchen.'

Polar has put the broad beans, onions and leeks in the greenhouse, where we can see them from the living room window, and the peppers, chillis and tomatoes are on the living room window sill, so we will keep a close check on them, make sure they get watered if the compost starts to dry out.  

We can't wait to see if they will grow, especially my very old pepper seeds!  Hanley says that if all the chillis grow, he will take some to Polar's friend who makes and sells Indian food at Stoke Market and see if he can swap them for a couple of his favourite veggie samosas, so hopefully we will have a small bears' feast this summer!

Garden Bears' World - Part One

We bears were hoping to have a day in the garden today, helping Polar to sow some vegetable seeds, but it was so wet and cold that none of us wanted to go outdoors and get our fur all soggy and mud on our paws.

 'Don't worry, little bears,' said Polar.  'We can get to work in the kitchen, if I bring in a big bowl of compost.  But first, let's make some recycled planters for the broad beans.'

Polar fetched a big bag full of kitchen roll middles, and showed us how she wanted them cut in half.  We set to work cutting up the tubes, while she fetched the seeds and the compost, and some plastic mushroom boxes she had saved.

'We need to put six tubes into each box,' she explained.  'We're going to plant broad beans in them so, when it's time to plant them outdoors, we can plant the cardboard tubes too and not disturb their roots.'

We started putting tubes in the mushroom boxes, but it was difficult to fit them all in.  Then  Hanley Bear had a clever idea.

'If we squash the tubes to make them square-shaped, they fit together better,' he said, showing Polar how this would work.

'What a clever little bear!' she said.  Hanley was very proud of himself!

The smaller bears jumped on the tubes to squash them, so they could be made square-shaped, then I put them in the mushroom boxes.  When I had a box ready, Polar half-filled each of the pots with peat-free compost, and gave us a packet of broad bean seeds to check.

'These are last year's left-over seeds,' she said.  'We won't plant any that are cracked or split, so it would be very helpful if you little bears could take those out, then put one good one in each of the tubes.'

We found most of the old beans were still good, so planted those.  Polar gave us a pack of new beans to put in the last few tubes, then she carefully covered them all over with extra compost and pressed it down firmly.

 'The cardboard will take lots of moisture out of the compost,' Polar explained.  'So we need to put some water in the trays.  Not too much, though - we don't want the compost to get too soggy, or the beans will go rotten.'

Polar fetched some more plastic packaging she had saved, this time clear fruit boxes, and put them over the bean tubes. 

'That will help to keep them warm when they go back into the greenhouse,' said Polar.  'And it will keep any mice out that sneak in looking for a little snack!'

We were very pleased with our work.  We liked being able to reuse things that most people would throw away.  Polar says it's important to use less plastic but, if you have plastic things, you should get lots of use out of them, and recycle them when they are worn out.

We are already looking forward to warmer spring days when we can plant our beans out in the garden or on the allotment, but there was more planting work for us to do that afternoon!