Saturday, April 4, 2009

Start a Garden

Not a revolutionary nor original idea, but a good one all the same! I grew up in a gardening family. Since owning my own home I have kept tradition alive and plant a garden every year. I want my children to enjoy this too, so this year instead of buying all my vegetable and flower plants, I decided to plant more from seeds. Here is when the little one comes in.
I gathered up some supplies - potting soil, seeds, spray bottle (or other watering device), Dixie cups (probably not what the experts suggest!), and some flag making materials to label each cup. (If you use fertilizer like I did, make sure your child understands it is not for them to touch. This should be obvious, I think, but I wanted to clarify just in case.)
The jobs I had my helper do were simple but still fulfilling. He was in charge of filling each cup with soil as I made the flags. We talked about each kind of seeds and I handed him a few packets at a time, asking him to place the flags on top of them.
When It was time to actually plant, my helper handed me a seed packet, holding on to the flags until I was ready. After each seed went in he placed the flag in the dirt.
Since our initial planting we went to the seed section of the store and I let him pick out a packet of flower seeds for us to grow. He was very excited about it. The excitement continues as the plants are starting to emerge.
So, start a garden today, even if it is just a few flower seeds in a pot for the front porch or a fragrant herb garden.

2 comments:

traci said...

We are starting our garden today. Last year was the first year in many that we didn't get it in in time and it was a disappointment. The kids love it too. Thanks for your comment on the dress!

janet said...

It's great to get the kids into gardening!Great post. My son had the same mario hat when he was small!