About The Sunflower Fort

The Sunflower Fort is an independent magazine about gardening with children. It is written for parents, grandparents, childminders, early years staff and anyone else who wants to grow something with a young person, whether the space is a garden, a yard, a balcony or a windowsill.

What the magazine covers

The site is organised around three subjects. Growing with children covers how to start a family garden, which crops are easy for beginners, how to grow in containers and window boxes, how to grow potatoes in bags, and how to turn a harvest into a meal. Garden play and crafts covers the things a child can build and make, from a living bean teepee to a miniature garden, painted pots and a sandpit. Garden care and safety covers the plants to avoid, how to manage slugs without chemicals, how to make a corner for wildlife, and the checks that keep a shared garden safe for young children.

How the guides are written

Every guide is written in the third person and aims to be usable on the day it is read. Where a specific fact is given, such as a sowing depth or a safety point, it is checked against a published source, and the source is linked in the text. The magazine does not sell seeds, tools or services, and it does not run a shop or a forum. It has no connection to any nursery, school or business, and it describes every organisation, product and plant it mentions in the third person.

A note on the domain

This domain carried a family gardening site in English for several years, ending around 2017, before the site went dormant. The Sunflower Fort continues the subject, gardening with children, with its own independent editorial voice. It does not represent, and has never represented, any person or organisation that published here before.

Corrections and contact

The magazine welcomes corrections, especially on safety points and plant names. If something is wrong or unclear, write to the address on the contact page and it will be checked and corrected. The full list of published guides is in the growing, play and crafts and care and safety sections.