Mud & Bloom

What’s in the box?

What’s going on in nature guide
Make your own pine cone hedgehogs
Grow your own bluebells
November quiz
Grow your own dill
Male your own leaf threading
Fungi spotter

The highlights

Without a doubt, the best part of this month’s box was the pine cone hedgehog activity. The only drawback (and the only reason this box didn’t get a full 10/10) is because we found it almost impossible to find any pine cones! I was almost at the point of having to buy some but then finally a friend was able to give me some. We were able to make five but we were also left with plenty of modelling clay so we’ve got some saved to make more (if we ever find any!)

You wouldn’t be-leaf it

We’ve kept this activity to one side this month as we collected lots of leaves that we used for our leaf waxing in last month’s box. We’ve only got lots of very wet soggy ones left in our garden. We’re waiting for a dry sunnier day to collect some. Then we plan to make some leafy bunting for our spare room (where our waxed leaf mobile is also hanging!). We’ve seen lots of great ones shared on Instagram so we have plenty of ideas.

Dill-y dallying

We actually had a bit of an issue with dill in our garden when we first moved in. The previous owners had planted dill and mint in a mini herb garden but both of these had completely taken over. To the point that despite removing all the mint at the root 3 years ago, we still have tons of the stuff growing! So I’ve set aside the dill and a few other seed sachets to give to my mum as she seems to have better luck with herbs than I do.

I think that’s one of the lovely things about Mud & Bloom – you can use the seeds as you would like. For us we don’t have a lot of space so I’m more than happy to cherry pick the plants I really like. Then I can pass on others to friends and family. In fact a few packs would make a wonderful Secret Santa gift for a green-fingered friend.

I’m definitely keeping the bluebells! These are lovely and I can’t wait to plant them once I’ve sorted out the garden one last time before winter really hits.

Our score: 9.8/ 10

This was a lovely box and we really enjoyed having fun with the pine cone hedgehogs. It's a simple idea that can be used again and again, and could even be turned into a Christmas-y activity too. The only reason that I've taken one tiny point off for this box is that we really struggled to find pine cones and I was so close to having to spend money to buy them. Apart from that this was another brilliant box and one we'll return to.

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