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8th April 2019

Get Out and Grow with Sudocrem

Press TripΒ¦ Did you know that less than 10% of children can name a single variety of English apple? A shocking number of children in the UK don’t know many of the basics about fruit, vegetables and herbs grown in this country. A large number are unable to identify basic gardening tools and 73% have never grown a sunflower. A couple of weeks ago, we attended an event at Clifton Nurseries in London for the launch of Sudocrem’s Get Out and Grow campaign.

Start Them Young

My experience

When I was growing up, I absolutely idolised my Grandad, as he did me. One of his other great loves was gardening. From the age of 15 he’d collected cacti, eventually owning thousands, knowing all their Latin names and facts about them. He also enjoyed all other kinds of plants and was always up for a challenge. One year we brought some sea beans back from a holiday in Cornwall for him to try growing, which he successfully did. He loved bright, colourful flowers and created the most beautiful borders both in the back garden and front garden. People would often stop as they passed to admire his work. Meanwhile, his apricot tree produced the most delicious, sweet, juicy apricots I’ve ever tasted.

Naturally, I’d spend a lot of time in the garden with him. I remember watching him garden as a toddler and him going to one of the greenhouses to get me a kneeling pad so I could help him. I really enjoyed those sunny afternoons planting flowers with him and have always appreciated a pretty garden since. Whilst I wouldn’t describe myself as a keen gardener as such, I do enjoy gardening and wish I found more time to dedicate towards it.

Encouraging my daughter

Of course, it was inevitable that when I had my own child I’d recreate some of these experiences with her. I started last summer, when she was only one and a half years old. I bought her her own watering can and she loved helping me to water the garden every evening. Recently, she’s helped me to plant sunflowers, tomatoes, chives and potatoes. Gardening is such a fun activity that we really enjoy doing together. I can’t wait until the chives have grown just a little taller so that she can reap the rewards of what she’s grown for the very first time!

Autumn is now only 2 and a half, so it might be difficult to drag older children away from technology and convince them that gardening is just as much fun, if not more so! A recent study showed that less than 10% of children have dug up a vegetable and only 20% have eaten a vegetable they’ve grown themselves. Perhaps if more grew and tasted their own produce, it would give them a buzz of satisfaction, giving them the gardening bug.

I never did gardening at school, so I suppose that if I hadn’t done gardening with my Grandad and parents then I may have been in much the same boat as these children. It would be fantastic if more schools did gardening with children. In fact, I would love to see a proper gardening class added to the curriculum. For decades it was the norm for children to play outside, building dens and climbing trees. However, that has all changed with the advent of consoles and the internet. Along with it there has been a loss of important skills. The aforementioned study showed that only just over half of children had ever weeded a garden or planted a seed.

Get Out and Grow

The Campaign

Sudocrem’s Get Out and Grow campaign encourages families to get outside, plant and grow! There are many benefits to doing this. Spending time in nature is good for mental wellbeing and learning gardening skills is good for a child’s development. Children are also more likely to eat vegetables if they’ve grown them themselves! As anyone who has ever grown their own produce knows, it always tastes far better fresh from the garden than bought from the supermarket.

Clifton Nurseries

The magical Clifton Nurseries was the perfect place for Sudocrem to hold their launch event, as London’s oldest nursery. They encourage gardeners of all ages, inspiring a love of nature than spans across the generations. Situated in Maida Vale, the historic Clifton Nurseries is absolutely beautiful. It is no wonder that it has won multiple Chelsea Flower Show gold medals and has worked with HRH The Prince of Wales, Cartier, Christies and Harper & Queen. As I perused, Autumn’s laughter filling the morning air, I felt it impossible not to feel inspired.

Floral display at Clifton Nurseries, London

The Event

After a story, the children gathered around crates of compost to dig up potatoes and carrots, much to their delight. Then, they each got to plant some sunflower seeds in a large Sudocrem pot (a great idea for recycling when we get to the bottom of the one we’re using!) This campaign encourages children to get gardening and have fun, as well as offering lots of advice!

Growing sunflower seeds with Sudocrem Get Out and Grow

We then had an amazing cake made by Great British Bake Off Winner, Frances Quinn. If I hadn’t been told it was cake, I would have thought it was real bulbs in the plant pots.

Get Out and Grow plant bulb cakes made by Great British Bake Off winner, Frances Quinn

A cross section showed the bulbs even went below the surface. She had even made mini cakes for the children! The cake was absolutely divine and I was over the moon to receive a copy of her recently published book which contains the recipe.

Toddler with plant pot cake at Get Out and Grow launch

Autumn, who was already in a rambunctious mood but was now fuelled by cake, ran off to explore the nursery. Following her, I was delighted to see the variety of plants on offer.

Clifton Nurseries in Maida Vale, London

Yellow Flowers at Clifton Nurseries in Maida Vale, London

Spring flowers at Clifton Nurseries in Maida Vale, London

Autumn received a lovely goody bag containing lots of essentials for gardening as well as a T-shirt, so that we can continue our gardening adventures. She delighted in pretending to water the plants at Clifton Nurseries with her new watering can! It also contained a cute little pot of Sudocrem – perfect for looking after small hands after they’ve been working in the garden. Any little cuts and scrapes will be healed in no time!

Competition

Would you like your chance to win your very own Get Out and Grow goody bag?

Sudocrem Get Out and Grow Goody Bag Competition Giveaway

There are two up for grabs! Enter using the widget below.

Sudocrem Get Out and Grow Goody Bag

Disclosure: We were invited to this event, where we were given a goody bag in return for our attendance. All views and opinions are honest and my own.

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83 responses to “Get Out and Grow with Sudocrem”

  1. Kathryn says:
    8th April 2019 at 5:27 pm

    My little one is two and love shelling me in the garden

    Reply
  2. Kathryn Johnson says:
    8th April 2019 at 5:29 pm

    What a lovely prize πŸ™‚

    Reply
  3. Suan Watts says:
    8th April 2019 at 6:42 pm

    We are growing salad crops

    Reply
  4. Peter Watson says:
    8th April 2019 at 6:56 pm

    I’ve just bought a lot of bee-friendly seeds so they would be first.

    Reply
  5. Amy Bondoc says:
    8th April 2019 at 6:59 pm

    we have alot of work to do in our garden as we not long moved in hoping to plat lots of bee friendly plants liek lavender!

    Reply
  6. Corinne Henson says:
    8th April 2019 at 8:22 pm

    We are entering a local sunflower growing competition so that will be first on the agenda

    Reply
  7. Kate M says:
    8th April 2019 at 10:01 pm

    Over the weekend we planted potatoes and dwarf French beans. We plan to do tomatoes and swan guords (for a bit of fun) next x

    Reply
    • Autumn's Mummy says:
      9th April 2019 at 1:20 pm

      Wow, that does sound fun! x

      Reply
  8. Solange says:
    9th April 2019 at 4:33 am

    We’ll be growing tomatoes.

    Reply
  9. Pauline Hill says:
    9th April 2019 at 2:15 pm

    THE GRANDCHILDREN WILL BE HELPING GRANDAD WITH HIS VEGATABLE PLOT

    Reply
  10. Rich Tyler says:
    9th April 2019 at 9:15 pm

    Strawberrys and tomatos

    Reply
  11. Sarah Lambert says:
    9th April 2019 at 10:10 pm

    My little girl is going through a phase of wanting to buy seeds wherever we go and then wanting to plant in our garden so hopefully we will have lots growing soon

    Reply
    • Autumn's Mummy says:
      10th April 2019 at 1:22 pm

      Aww, that’s so cute!

      Reply
  12. Nikki Stewart says:
    10th April 2019 at 6:29 pm

    We always plant strawberries and tomatoes!

    Reply
  13. Natasha Dodds says:
    11th April 2019 at 12:33 pm

    I really want to plant some fruit and veg this year with my son!

    Reply
  14. Becky Yeomans says:
    11th April 2019 at 8:05 pm

    We are planning on strawberries and sunflowers!

    Reply
  15. Paul Ham says:
    12th April 2019 at 7:21 am

    We just got some wildflower seed packets so that is happening very soon!

    Reply
  16. Christopher Read says:
    12th April 2019 at 10:47 pm

    We will be growing lettuce and tomatoes πŸ™‚

    Reply
  17. Margaret Clarkson says:
    12th April 2019 at 11:40 pm

    We are growing gooseberries and redcurrants.

    Reply
    • Autumn's Mummy says:
      13th April 2019 at 10:59 am

      Ooh, interesting!

      Reply
  18. T Brailey says:
    13th April 2019 at 8:12 am

    We have started planting but we still have some sunflowers and veg to do.

    Reply
  19. Antonia Richardson says:
    13th April 2019 at 9:52 am

    sunflowers peas Tomatoes

    Reply
  20. Nicola Marshall says:
    13th April 2019 at 10:17 am

    I think we are going to give strawberries a go this year.

    Reply
  21. Annabel Greaves says:
    13th April 2019 at 11:06 am

    My daughter has a sunflower she has planted at school that will be going in our garden

    Reply
  22. iain maciver says:
    13th April 2019 at 11:53 am

    potatoes and tomatoes

    Reply
  23. Andrea Fletcher says:
    13th April 2019 at 7:42 pm

    We are growing potatoes, tomatoes, strawberries and lettuce.

    Reply
  24. Natalie Burgess says:
    13th April 2019 at 11:23 pm

    We are going to grow our first sunflower! Xx

    Reply
  25. Simon Tutthill says:
    14th April 2019 at 7:35 pm

    Think it will be some lovely succulent tomatoes

    Reply
  26. Julie Dean says:
    14th April 2019 at 7:59 pm

    Great prize ,my granson will love it if lucky enough .

    Reply
  27. Sally Collingwood says:
    15th April 2019 at 9:54 am

    We like growing flowers and I have some seeds for them to grow

    Reply
  28. Poppy says:
    18th April 2019 at 2:40 pm

    Wonderful idea!

    Reply
  29. Ursula Hunt says:
    19th April 2019 at 12:23 pm

    We are going to grow peas this year

    Reply
  30. Tracy Newton says:
    19th April 2019 at 2:04 pm

    We started planting our garden this morning

    Reply
  31. Catherine S says:
    19th April 2019 at 10:23 pm

    We’re growing sunflowers and potatoes

    Reply
  32. Martina Pichova says:
    19th April 2019 at 11:03 pm

    My daughter loves growing sunflowers (because of their flowers) and beans (because of the Jack and the beanstalk story).

    Reply
  33. Geri Gregg says:
    20th April 2019 at 9:38 am

    At the minute were growing peas but we’d love to grow more goodies

    Reply
  34. Sandra Fortune says:
    20th April 2019 at 10:18 am

    Got lots of annual flowers seeds as I have a huge garden with lots of space to fill and growing some organic veggies too

    Reply
  35. Susan B says:
    21st April 2019 at 4:08 am

    Hoping to get to a garden centre to choose some flowers to put in our patio containers.

    Reply
  36. Ruth Harwood says:
    22nd April 2019 at 8:05 am

    we’ll be spending some time up in the lakes taking walks and enjoying the countryside as well as a break up to the highlands to visit friends xx

    Reply
  37. janine atkin says:
    22nd April 2019 at 2:03 pm

    we’re growing tomatoes

    Reply
  38. Sara-louise Groom says:
    22nd April 2019 at 7:03 pm

    Wow my 3 children would love this .. fingers crossed

    Reply
  39. Chantelle Kemp says:
    23rd April 2019 at 3:05 pm

    Sunflowers 🌻

    Reply
  40. Sarah A says:
    23rd April 2019 at 3:21 pm

    I’m hoping to get some planters filled with bulbs this year so my son can enjoy helping too

    Reply
  41. Faye Reed says:
    23rd April 2019 at 3:47 pm

    Some flowers for our hanging baskets

    Reply
  42. lynsey poole says:
    24th April 2019 at 8:17 am

    At the moment we’ve just planted some sunflowers – but would love to add a wild animal flower garden or bee garden, and some easy to harvest veggies!

    Reply
  43. Anthea Holloway says:
    24th April 2019 at 9:58 am

    We love growing giant sunflowers and seeing who can grow the tallest ones!

    Reply
  44. Carly Belsey says:
    24th April 2019 at 10:49 am

    We will be growing a sunflower and some strawberries

    Reply
  45. Hayley Turner says:
    24th April 2019 at 12:20 pm

    Would love to win this …such a great prize

    Reply
  46. Catherine Gregory says:
    24th April 2019 at 12:41 pm

    We’ve already planted seeds for cherry tomatoes, strawberries and peas. Planting them into bigger pots soon 😍

    Reply
  47. Karen Barrett says:
    24th April 2019 at 6:51 pm

    Lots! Sunflowers, tomatoes, strawberries, peas and beans

    Reply
  48. Tammy Tudor says:
    24th April 2019 at 7:27 pm

    we have been planting fruits and vegetables

    Reply
  49. Susan Willshee says:
    24th April 2019 at 7:33 pm

    We’ve just been re-potting lettuce and we’ve sown seeds for sweet peas. Also they’ve been trying cress seeds on damp kitchen paper

    Reply
  50. Gayle Strong says:
    24th April 2019 at 9:54 pm

    Our family are green fingered so this sounds great to get minion involved in!

    Reply
  51. Sheri Darby says:
    24th April 2019 at 10:14 pm

    We have planted some British wild flower seeds

    Reply
  52. Geoff Hibbert says:
    25th April 2019 at 7:51 am

    We will be planting wild meadow seeds to encourage bees and butterflies

    Reply
  53. Gemma Clark says:
    25th April 2019 at 12:50 pm

    My little one loves to grow strawberries and radishes

    Reply
  54. Rebecca Whatmore says:
    25th April 2019 at 4:21 pm

    Lots of veggies

    Reply
  55. Nicola Jordan says:
    25th April 2019 at 7:46 pm

    Lots of herbs and potatoes

    Reply
  56. Danika Lloyd says:
    25th April 2019 at 8:29 pm

    We planted tomato seeds at the children’s centre today πŸ™‚

    Reply
  57. Natalee Gosiewski says:
    25th April 2019 at 8:47 pm

    tomatoes some herbs and what ever flower seeds the kids choose

    Reply
  58. Laura Horton says:
    25th April 2019 at 8:59 pm

    Can’t wait til my little one is old enough to help me out in the garden and make mud pies!

    Reply
  59. Troy Easton says:
    25th April 2019 at 10:15 pm

    We have been growing Carrots.

    Reply
  60. Kerry H says:
    25th April 2019 at 11:12 pm

    My son and I were in the garden centre today picking up some Sweet Pea to grow in the garden.

    Reply
  61. Nuala Rees says:
    26th April 2019 at 1:09 am

    Because I have fibromyalgia I am looking for things that I can do with my son. Growing plants is something I can do without running around. and it can help the environment is a bonus.

    Reply
  62. Rachel Craig says:
    26th April 2019 at 4:54 am

    Viola, etc as colourful for the garden. Maybe some herbs.

    Reply
  63. Cathryn Crawshaw says:
    26th April 2019 at 7:18 am

    sunflowers for us

    Reply
  64. Rachael Sexey says:
    26th April 2019 at 8:24 am

    We love to grow tomatoes and berries πŸ†

    Reply
  65. Abigail Sage says:
    26th April 2019 at 8:26 am

    Lovely giveaway 😊

    Reply
  66. Dawn Samples says:
    26th April 2019 at 9:52 am

    We always grow strawberries in the garden and myself and my children enjoy helping my mum at the allotment. My favourite are the peapods! x

    Reply
  67. Lynn Neal says:
    26th April 2019 at 10:20 am

    I love encouraging my grandchildren to help me in the garden!

    Reply
  68. paula cheadle says:
    26th April 2019 at 11:47 am

    we will be growing lettuce, tomatoes, different types of veg. our granddaughter loves helping her granddad in the garden

    Reply
  69. Meryl Thomas says:
    26th April 2019 at 1:07 pm

    We’ll be growing peas, lettuce and radishes

    Reply
  70. Susan Bebbington says:
    26th April 2019 at 2:33 pm

    Hoping to plant a sunflower with my granddaughter, so she can watch it grow

    Reply
  71. Kim Neville says:
    26th April 2019 at 5:27 pm

    Sunflower and herbs

    Reply
  72. laura stewart says:
    26th April 2019 at 7:02 pm

    we are growing peas x

    Reply
  73. Georgie Wright says:
    26th April 2019 at 7:26 pm

    Blueberries, tomatoes and herbs.

    Reply
  74. Fiona jk42 says:
    26th April 2019 at 8:06 pm

    last year my granddaughter planted some sunflower seeds, several of which grew into huge sunflowers, so I think we will do that again this year.

    Reply
  75. Adrian Bold says:
    26th April 2019 at 8:41 pm

    We’ll be growing tomatoes and potatoes this year.

    Reply
  76. Jo Hutchings says:
    26th April 2019 at 9:18 pm

    I’d love us to grow some herbs to use in cooking.

    Reply
  77. Nikki Easton says:
    26th April 2019 at 10:18 pm

    We always make a runner bean teepee. Let the beans grow around hazel branches made into a teepee. It’s a great den for the kids

    Reply
  78. Diana says:
    26th April 2019 at 10:20 pm

    Spring onions πŸ™‚

    Reply
  79. Natalie Gillham says:
    26th April 2019 at 10:58 pm

    Lots of walks to our local forests where we love to scoot and search for mini beasts x

    Reply
  80. Lou anderson says:
    26th April 2019 at 11:29 pm

    Great prize. Strawberries and raspberries

    Reply

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Me In a Nutshell

Me In a Nutshell

Welcome to my blog! I'm Laura, a 29 year old mum of two. I live in Kent with my high school sweetheart husband Dave, our daughter Autumn and newborn son Reuben.

I write about my experiences of parenting, as well as my plethora of interests including fashion, beauty, cars, weddings, mental health and the home.

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