It’s cold outside and the wind is blowing hard, so why not have some fun gardening inside? In this extract from Findus, Food and Fun Findus and Pettson show us how:
Pettson sprinkled some gravel in the bottom of the jar, and then added a 5 cm layer of earth. ‘It has to be earth from outside,’ he said, ‘Full of life.’ Then he planted the plant (if you do this experiment at home try using creeping fig or a spider plant). When Findus had watered it, they screwed on the lid.
‘The plant has everything it needs in this jar and gets sunlight through the glass,’ said Pettson, putting the jar in the window. ‘It can live for ages without our help.’
To live, plants need light and water. They also need something from the air: carbon dioxide. This is a gas, and there is lots of it in the air we breathe out – maybe that’s why people say you should talk to your plants.
Plants make their own food, a kind of sugar. But at the same time they also make oxygen, which they don’t need so much. They release most of it into the air, which is lucky for us humans and animals since we need oxygen to live. All oxygen on Earth has been made by plants.
The jar contains water and carbon dioxide and the lid keeps it all in. Sunlight enters through the glass and the plant can make its own food. The jar is very much like our own Earth. On Earth there are plants and soil for them to grow in. Sometimes it rains, but always with the same water in circulation. No new water is ever created on Earth – just like in the jar. The glass is like our atmosphere, letting the sunlight in.
You can find more seasonal activities with Findus in Findus, Food and Fun: Seasonal crafts and nature activities A Year With Findus (as the new edition is called).
