Kids Go Gardening - green machines
Every kid knows green leafy vegetables are SUPER good for us. But why?
Because they contain loads of good things to keep bodies healthy, especially vitamin C. Vitamin C is extra handy in winter because the more foods with Vitamin C we eat, the less likely we are to get sick with a winter cold or flu.
Did you know, the darker the green colour, the more Vitamin C a vege contains! Fancy a green smoothie anyone?
What makes leaves green?
The green in plants comes from a pigment called Chlorophyll which plants use to turn sunlight into the energy. Leaves are nature’s solar panels!
Green monster pizza
(Enough for 4-6 mini pizzas)
For the topping: mix together 2 silver beet leaves (finely chopped or whizzed in a food processor), 1/2 cup grated cheese, 1/2 cup ricotta cheese, 1 egg.
For the base: we used mini pita breads but you could make your own pizza base or use toast triangles instead.
Spread the topping onto the bases. Create your monster faces (you could use broccoli, olives, tomatoes, capsicum, spring onions, pineapple… ) and bake in the oven until golden on top.
Green smoothie
(makes enough for 2)
In a blender whizz:
1 orange or feijoa
1 or 2 fresh silver beet leaves
1 ripe banana
1/2 a cup of pure fruit juice
Cool idea: Freeze your smoothie to make popsicles [image]
Did you know?
Silver beet is one of those veges gardeners call ‘cut-and-come-again’. When we cut the outside leaves to eat, new leaves grow out from the middle. Each plant keeps giving us new leaves to pick for months and months!
[image]
Growing silver beet
- During winter silver beet grows really well in pots.
- Water often. Silver beet leaves are 93% water!
- Silver beet loves nitrogen. Feed your silver beet with compost plus sheep pellets, blood and bone or worm tea from your worm farm.
What’s making holes my silver beet?
Is it snails or slugs or could it be the birds? Maybe both? If you think its birds, cover your young plants with net until they are bigger. You can catch snails out if you shine a torch on the leaves at night.
1-May-2017
Mini green 'monster' pizzas
Green smoothie popsicles
What's making holes in my silverbeet?
In the Garden
