Yesterday was overcast and dreary here, and we were (are) expecting a tropical depression to move over the state today. I decided to work on my garden a bit because I want it to be more of a garden for kids to enjoy rather than one they aren’t allowed in, and I thought it would be a good activity for The Younger to be involved in while The Older was at school.
As you can see, the garden sort of got away from me. Admittedly, it needed work when we moved in, but obviously I never did said work, and it turned into The Mighty Jungle.
I knew I basically had to take everything out that was dead or unidentifiable and trim back the rest. Since the pepper plants did have some peppers on them, I gave The Younger a bag, and she became the keeper of the vegetables.
This did not last long. As usual, she got her own idea and ran around the yard finding ‘clues’ (i.e. broken twigs, leaves, a Brillo pad (?), some rocks) and putting them safely in the bag. It worked out, actually, because I got to rip out a lot of ‘stuff’ that she would have yelled at me for tossing if she had been right there with me.
When she came back from her adventure, mystery apparently solved, she was thrilled with the one plant left standing in the back of the plot. She spent a good 15 minutes patting the soil around it, smelling the leaves, and pronouncing it “her” plant.
I am anticipating a lot of time in the garden, and I’m thrilled. I hope to turn it into a whole-family project so we can all learn about this style of gardening. I know The Older loves it; at the old house I had a hydroponic system that he loved helping me with.
This will be new to us, planting in the dirt, and I think it will be fun to see where it takes us!