Albert Heijn (the local supermarket – a bit like Sainsburys back in the UK) gave out moestuintjes earlier in the year. For each fifteen euros you spent you got a little pot with seeds in – a random one from twenty-four different types of plant in a selection of vegetable, fruit and herbs. Each pot came with some compost and instructions for each type of plant.

This was a great activity for the children to sow the seeds, transplant the seedlings and then pick the resulting produce. And we did quite well with them, especially considering we were away for nearly a month in prime harvest time. We have had a whole load of teeny tomatoes, lots of rocket, a couple of small lettuces, more andijve than we could eat before it bolted. Our courgette plant had lots of flowers but only a few courgettes survived to eatable size. Our poor beleagured bean plant survived enough for us to get three beans! The watermelon eventually germinated but didn’t survive being planted out and nor did the cucumber, beetroot or pickle.

Overall we’ve had quite a successful crop! And we kept the rocket seed to plant next year, though I keep finding self seeded plants round the garden! 

Yummy