Salty Sam’s Fun Blog for Children
Number 96
Street Trees
Hello Everyone
The Rocky Bay District Council is very keen on planting trees in public spaces.
And we are now in the perfect season for planting trees.
Trees don’t just look beautiful, they are wonderful for the environment as well; because in a way they ‘eat pollution’ and change the harmful gases into oxygen. We need oxygen to breathe.
Tree-lined streets look more attractive than those without trees. ln fact, houses in streets with trees are very often more expensive to buy than those in streets without trees.
Trees are good for people’s health both physically and mentally because they reduce pollution and give people a ‘feel good factor’! That is why people in hospitals with gardens get better more quickly.
Also, apparently, people visit parks more when they have trees in them.
Planting trees in inner city areas has even been found to reduce crime! People feel better about the place they live and luckier to be there.
Trees seem to have a calming effect on people.
Shelter from trees can reduce energy bills in nearby buildings by up to 10% because they give shade from the hot sun and protection from cold winds. They also collect rainwater in their leaves, branches and roots and so can help to reduce the risk of flash flooding.
ln cities now, many people have paved over their front gardens. ln London, for example, these paved front gardens now account for an area of more than 12 square miles! Maybe house owners have done this because they don’t want to do any gardening and sometimes their front garden is the only place they can park their car. Because these gardens have no earth to absorb water, the roads then flood more easily.
Trees reduce noise pollution as well because they absorb sound.
And a growing tree will benefit the environment in polluted places even more than a full-grown one because they ‘eat more pollution’. That is why it is important to plant baby trees – these are called saplings.
Actually, the money it costs to plant trees is paid back many times over because of the benefits they provide. 
lf you see some newly-planted trees near to where you live, you will probably see a plastic tube in the grass or earth next to them.
They might even have a label on them asking you to water them if the weather gets really dry.
So if you can give small trees outside your house a watering can of water in the hot weather, they would be really grateful. Just take the rose off the end of the spout and pour the water down their drinking tube! Give them as much as you can carry out to them.
Another way you can look after trees is to never pull their bark off because without bark a tree will die. They can recover from losing small patches if they get hit by a car or lorry, but not if it is stripped off all the way around.
You can even start growing your own trees if you have room!
Have you ever done that?
Bye bye everyone – don’t forget to subscribe to my blog!
Love and kisses
Salty Sam
www.christina-sinclair.com
Bill and Bob’s Joke of the Week
Bob: What is big, green and ugly and never smiles?
Bill: l don’t know. What is big and green and ugly and never smiles?
Bob: The lncredible Sulk!
Salty Sam © Christina Sinclair 2015
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of material from this blog without express and written permission from this blog’s author and owner is strictly prohibited.
Links may be used to www.christina-sinclair.com
Picture Gallery
Jacaranda trees in Australia
A snow-covered avenue in Kansas City
A London street lamp
(The tree on the right is called a London plane and is very good at withstanding city pollution)
Sakura tree – Japan is famous for its cherry blossom in the spring
Different types of trees suit different areas
The seeds on a London plane tree look like bobbles
A drinking tube next to a street tree and its stake
Spring time blossom in England
Street tree blossom in England
Street tree blossom in the springtime in England
Street trees can have lots or interesting shapes and colours
And interesting bark – does this look like a bird to you?
They provide colour in the autumn when their leaves change
A tree-lined street is called an avenue
Tree berries are colourful too (Whitebeam)
Street trees can be quite exotic in warmer parts of the country
A strawberry tree (no they are not real strawberries!)
There is always room to squeeze one more tree in
(Whitehall Court)
Little Britain
THE SALTY SAM NEWS DESK
Auntie Alice has finished writing out the pattern for the pink sweater she knitted for Emily’s twelve inch doll, so I can give it to you here. It goes with the black jeans pattern on Blog Post 87.
NEWSDESK MINIMAKE
A 12” DOLL PINK SWEATER
PINK SWEATER BACK AND FRONT (KNIT TWO)
Using 3½mm knitting needles and pink dk yarn cast on 20 stitches
Purl 1 row
Purl 1 row
Knit 1 row
Purl 1 row
Purl 1 row
Repeat the last 4 rows 5 times
Knit 1 row
Cast off
SLEEVES (KNIT TWO)
Using 3½mm knitting needles and pink dk yarn cast on 10 stitches
Purl 1 row
Purl 1 row
Knit 20 rows of stocking stitch
Cast off loosely
(You can cast on 12 stitches if you want looser sleeves or if your knitting is very tight)
TO MAKE UP
Use over-sewing to sew the garment together to ensure fit and reduce bulk in the seams.
Sew shoulder seams up 2cm/¾inch from arm end.
Sew sleeves to shoulder.
Sew underarm and side seams.
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PLEASE CONTACT:
christina.sinclair.ads@aol.co.uk
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Quick Quiz
Can you put these into order of size?
- path
- road
- lane
- motorway
- dual carriageway
- alleyway
BLOW MY FOGHORN!!!
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lt’s the Weekend!
HOW TO GROW PlPS
It’s simple – when you eat fruit you often find pips inside. Plant them in plant pots in a place with plenty of light and see what happens!
Make sure they don’t get too baked in hot sun or go short of water.
ORANGE, LEMON, LIME, GRAPEFRUIT
If you plant these pips and they start to turn into plants, this is how you can treat them to make them happy.
Citrus trees need slightly acid, well-drained soil and a high, nitrogen feed in the summer. They need to be re-potted in the spring.
They like to be very warm and they like lots of fresh air. So in the summer they can be outside and in winter they prefer to be in a cool conservatory away from frost.
They love to have water on their leaves, so you can mist them if they are inside and spray a hose pipe on them when they are outside.
Water their roots every week in the summer, but hardly at all in the winter. They need high humidity though, so keep them on a tray of gravel and well away from radiators and draughts.
Lemons are the easiest citrus to grow and grapefruits are the most difficult. Grapefruits will only grow on a very big tree and all citrus fruits take many months to ripen fully. If you ever get fruits on them only leave about four to grow otherwise the tree will get stressed.
Citrus trees have to be grown by gardeners with a lot of patience.
An orange tree
A lemon tree – you can see a ripening lemon in the middle
APPLE, PEAR, PLUM, GREENGAGE, CHERRY
If you are lucky enough to get these pips and stones to grow, then look after them like house plants until they are about 10-30cm tall or until you feel they are strong enough to be outside and then put them out in the garden where they will be in their natural environment.
Spring is probably the best time, when the weather is warming up and the worst of the winter cold has gone.
A ripe pear
A September crop of apples
Don’t let your plants dry out if they are in little pots, and protect them from very cold weather because roots are more vulnerable to frost attack if they are in a pot rather than in the ground. If you plant them in the ground, put a cloche or plastic tube or wire netting around each plant otherwise a naughty rabbit might eat them before they have a chance to grow big.
Never let trees be choked by grass because they will struggle too much to try and survive. Keep a patch of bare soil around them at all times – you can even put some mulch around them to keep the weeds away.
Apple trees can be quite small
PEACH, APRICOT, FIG
If you want to grow these outside, then you have to be living in the warmer parts of Britain. Plant them outside in a very sheltered place against a south facing wall. Brick walls act like outside radiators; they store heat from the sun and create a more snuggly environment for a tree than in the middle of a lawn.
If you want to be really sure that your trees are protected, it is better to keep these types in a green house.
A fig tree needs shelter from cold weather
You can get two crops of figs a year if you keep a fig tree in a really warm place
(You can see two figs in the top left-hand corner of the picture)
Eventually, if you look after your trees really well, you might even have a crop of fruit one day!
Please note that the material on this blog is for personal use and for use in classrooms only.
It is a copyright infringement and, therefore, illegal under international law to sell items made with these patterns.
Use of the toys and projects is at your own risk.
©Christina Sinclair Designs 2015
Quick Quiz Answers
From smallest to biggest:-
- path
- alleyway
- lane
- road
- dual carriageway
- motorway
An alley can be a narrow route between buildings or trees
Has Jack Frost visited this wood?
(Robin Manges)
