Attention pays off!

Kira's garden has exploded with life. She demands to see her plants daily, referring to them as "Me" meaning "Mine" (we are working on that word..), pets them, talks to them, and plays music. They seem to love it as I've never seen plants grow so quickly. I relocated some outdoors, and I'm currently working on building a trellis to train her cucumber plants to go up instead of spread along the floor. Who knew gardening would be so..interesting? Next issue is dealing with the deer and rabbit who like to eat all the plants. Looks like this went from a small experiment into a full fledged garden.  While I'm not complaining. it certainly hard as times to get stuff moved when she is too young to know where she can and can't go. Her naps seem to be getting shorter, and her needs are growing as much as she is. 

  This is the part of life I miss, the exploration of life for the first time. She is so excited to learn, share her experiences (despite not being able to understand any of it) and relish seeing new things. She brings a sense of peace and fantasy back into my life, ones that you typically put in the back of your mind while you're flooded with work and trying to live. It's refreshing :)

Garden Mayhem...

    Well, Kira's garden is doing something I didn't expect....it's actually growing! I honestly thought most of these seedlings would die. The packets even say only 50% chance of survival because they are untreated and not genetically modified for guaranteed growth....

    Kira's been waking up excited to see them every morning. She plays songs for them, shows her new toys off, and talks to them. It seems to be paying off.... We will have more fruits and veggies than I know what to do with...Thank goodness for family and friends who are more than willing to take the extra off of our hands. Now I'm not so worried about having more than I can handle, I hate wasting food! When they say allow for 6 to 8 weeks for a seedling to sprout and grow enough survive going outside, I'm not sure what they had in mind. We only started this garden 2 weeks ago and they are very large...Praying for warmth so I can place them outside sooner.

   They also mention "thinning" the seedlings, which I've tried. Kira is O.K. with me putting the seedlings into larger containers and spreading them out, but she was so sad when I "killed" one...since she points to each individual cup every time she gets near the sprouts, one wonders if she's actually counting them! LOL I do hope they all continue to grow this well, she'll have lots to do come spring/summer.

More to come!

Toddler's and Gardens!

My daughter Kira has turned the big "1" in February and man, have things started to pick up!! She's talking more, running around, climbing and repelling off of things and reeking havoc like she's related to Tarzan. I'm finding it hard to keep her occupied without getting deterred. Having to read the same book or play with the same toy 20 or 30 times a day is tiring. Since it's still too cold to take her outside much, finding new things to do is a bit of a challenge. 

So, we've decided to start a garden! In part because we have a small budget, and it gives me something to work on. I've taken into account Kira's persistence to be part of what we are doing, so she's our official garden "caretaker".  Does she understand the concept of cultivating? Not at all! She does enjoy watching the seeds sprout; frequently petting them and saying "Awww" as they grow. Hopefully this will encourage her to eat what she is growing, and be gentle with living things. So far so good! 

  

   With toddlers, bright colors are a must! So the veggies and fruit we've chosen to grow have just that; LOTS of color. Purple, white, dark orange Carrots, Freckled Romaine Lettuce, Cucumbers, Watermelons, Cantaloupe, Strawberries, Blueberries and so on. The Plants are growing in one of our windowsills so she can see them everyday.  She even brings her toy dog that plays music over to the plants, thinking they would enjoy listening to a song or two as much as she does.

We aren't quite sure how long she'll keep interest in this new project, but perhaps being part of a daily routine will be beneficial. Once it's warmed up here we will transfer her veggies and fruits outside.  Spring can't come soon enough!