It's National Allotments Week this week. To mark this lovely Summer week, allotment groups across the whole UK are opening their gates and holding fun events such as barbecues, plant and produce sales, allotment tours, competitions and exhibitions, coffee mornings and afternoon teas – many of them raising funds to support local charities.
Keep an eye out for events in your area you can join with your little ones. It's never to early to teach your muddy pups how to grow their own healthy vegetables and we're sure they'll enjoy running around in their wellies getting muddy and learning about different veggies, fruit and crops.
Our Muddy Team is no stranger to getting their hands dirty in the garden. Hear from our very own natural green fingers as they share their favourite gardening stories from their childhood.
Mandy - Muddy Care Team
I remember growing some lettuces in our garden with my dad when I was a young child. It was so fantastic to see them grow and to pick and eat them. Although I do remember they were very little and I am not sure they should have been so small but they were very cute!
Natasha - Managing Director a.k.a. Chief Mudder
My favourite memory is of raspberry picking with my Dad in his veggie patch. We were supposed to be collecting them for tea but always end up eating more straight from the bush than we collected then the few we had left we would take inside and mush up with thick cream and sugar which was so yummy! Now my children LOVE doing the same thing when they go down to stay with him and come indoors with gleeful, red smeared faces.
Sam - Schools Team
I loved growing tomatoes with my dad in the garden and the greenhouse - the smell of tomatoes still reminds me of him. I had my own tiny little patch which both mum and dad helped me to grow flowers in - but I think my favourite memory was playing whilst they gardened - we had a rock which was covered in moss and crevices, which contained in my imagination, a whole city of fairy folk!
Anna Sara - Marketing
We had a big cherry tree in our garden when I was a child. I wasn't the bravest little girl but the tree eventually ran out of cherries that I could reach. It took me a very long time to gather the courage and climb the tree but I was absolutely delighted to be sitting up in the crown having tons of delicious cherries. The only thing I didn't think of was coming down. I was scared of jumping off so I had to wait for my dad to come and rescue me!
Trudi - Muddy Care Team
My favourite gardening memories are with my daughter, she loved helping plant vegetables and I bought her, her own lovely tools, which were proper steel mini versions of the real thing. Only problem was my dogs, they used to also help by digging everything up after I planted.