Mama Bean is KinderGARDENing (4)

There are actually things in the ground now! Not in our main garden, oh no, it will be at least a week until that is dry enough and weed-free (weed-lessened?) enough for planting anything. But in the backyard, the little veggie plot has two rows of cabbage seeds and two rows of lettuce. Plus sticks marking where the tomatoes and peppers will go. I've decided to grow those in the yard this year so I can 'nurse' them a little more. I find the heat-loving plants need a little more nursing. Last year the tomatoes grew in our front flower bed (last year was a comedy of weather-related errors I only revisit in my gardening nightmares...) and it was nice to keep a more daily watch over them.

Here is Bean holding our row marking tool. Our very first year at the big garden, we were putzing around trying to plan things out and the 80-some year old veteran gardener across the path from us gave us this simple tool (two sticks + string, so useful!) because clearly we looked as inexperienced as we actually were. I think of this tool as something precious, and I enjoy using it a lot. And evidently, Bean does, too.

Lately, there isn't a box Bean sees that he doesn't feel he belongs inside of. This box is half-full of twigs from some shrub or something, it can't be comfortable to sit in, and yet, sit he does. With the trowel and weeder we had been using to mark our rows in the dirt. Because whatever tool we're holding is the tool he wants. Until we give it to him and pick up something else, and, well, you know the drill lol. He's so cute when he's being 'helpful.'

This week, our hostess Kim is encouraging us to stay purposeful and deliberate about including our little ones in the garden process, because it is (at least partly) for their future that we're bothering to do this at all (when buying produce is so very easy and growing produce is so less easy.)

So this gardening season lets be purposeful and deliberate with the small gardeners in our lives. It won't always be easy, expedient, convenient, or remotely clean. But remember that just like spring, the season we get to spend gardening with them when they are little is all too short.

We call this the gardening bucket. It was a wedding gift from my best friend K and her mom - they filled it with garden tools, including our favourite weeder and garden cutter thingy, plus seeds and work gloves. We've added all manner of miscellaneous garden crap. We use it every day. Four years ago, I would never have predicted we'd be the gardeners we are now. And maybe, without this bag, we wouldn't have... :)

An updated pic of my ferns (dance of glee!) There are five plants now, almost double the three I stole uh, yeah, I can't even come up with an alternative explanation for how I got them. I stole them. From an alley. They're practically a weed here. I refuse to feel guilty }:) If they double in number again, I'll have ten plants next year!

Proud Papa Bean, Bean (making his 'picture' face, I don't know what he has against the camera) holding our weeder, and Sprout tucked into the background.

Lest you think she's always stuck in a car seat, here she is soaking up some rays. Yummy fist!

It's raining here all weekend. I'm telling myself this is not an indication of how the rest of summer will go. I am praying (deeply) this is not an indication of how the rest of summer will go. I'm desperately hoping... you get the idea. In a gesture of eternal optimism, we bought tomato plants today. I have set aside room for six: Juliet, Sweet Gold, Ultra Sweet, two plants of Sweet 100s (I'm sensing a theme...), and Tiny Tims. We're also growing Baron sweet red peppers. I was surprised to find 'hothouse' fruits like these grow so well in our province, because it takes heroic efforts to make tomatoes work in Cowtown, where I grew up. Apparently, the trick is that our nights stay warmer *shrug* I'm just happy to grow 'em!

See? Happy Mama!
Come visit the rest of the festivities at Kim's place!
Also, I didn't get last week's post up in time, you can read it here if you'd like...