gardening

Growing Little Gardeners

May 18, 2012

“Why try to explain miracles to your kids,” asks Robert Brault, “when you can just have them plant a garden?”

Planting tiny seeds, then waiting and watching as they sprout into fruitful plants, really is like watching many mini-miracles blossom. This is the main reason I love to garden with my children. Gardening makes us stand in awe again and again of God’s amazing creation.

photo credit

There are many other reasons to garden together.

Follow me on over to The Purposeful Mom to read the rest. This post is part of her “Spring into Summer” Series. Be sure to check out the rest of the posts for summery fun!

A Peak at Our Garden

April 11, 2012

For the first time since moving here almost four years ago, we will not be gone for months this summer. For some reason, gardens don’t do very well when you entirely neglect them for the months of June, July and/or August. Odd, isn’t it?

Though we are moving in August, the chance to have a garden and actually be here for much of the growing season was too tempting.

Even if things don’t grow, what could be more fun when you’re two than digging in the dirt, with Mama’s full blessing?

Joshua made three little garden boxes for me when we first moved, but so far all gardening efforts have “failed.” I’m hoping to prove the failure was due to the fact of my absence, not presence. (I have had a successful garden in the past!)

Knowing what a temptation seed catalogs can be, I made out a very specific list of what I wanted before looking through the seed catalog. That helped fight the temptation to order half a dozen interesting vegetables that we probably wouldn’t eat.

Plus, as I kept telling myself, when you properly store heirloom seeds, you can use them for years. (If your property manager doesn’t accidentally throw them away–but that’s a long story.) Next year I can add to my collection and buy those pretty zucchini squash seeds.

I ordered beans, cucumber, yellow squash, basil, and spinach seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. (Their heirloom seeds are very affordable and they’ve got great selection and customer service!)

We also walked to a local gardening store to pick up four pepper and cherry tomato plants. While there, we noticed a bin of clearanced herb and flower seeds. They were old, but for 20 cents a packet worth trying. The kids had lots of fun picking out a packet (and I ended up getting to satisfy my “I want to buy lots of seeds” urge for less than $2.)

I used this companion plant listing to plan the garden.

In the first box we planted

Four bell pepper plants
Three almost cherry tomato plants
Lots of garlic (to help with pest control)
20 cent Calendula/marigold seeds (also to help with pest control and make homemade lotion!)
Basil
Oregano

The second box has

Green beans
Cucumber
Spinach
Nasturtiums (a beautiful, edible flower that Rose picked out.)

I’m waiting to plant the final box til we get more compost. Dear friends gave us mint and lemon balm plants, which (following your suggestions!) are planted outside the garden boxes.

Baker Creek Seeds sent a free packet of lettuce seeds with our order! It’s already fairly hot down here, so those are inside.

So far, even the old, clearance seeds have sprouted! Now if only my little helpers and I can avoid drowning the plants and keep a scorge of lubber grasshoppers at bay, maybe we’ll actually have a garden this year.

Are you planting a garden? If so, what are you most excited about growing?

Tagged with: gardening • toddlerhood

Failed Garden: was it worth it?

June 21, 2010

Gardening means hard work, sweat and weeks of waiting for that first sun-ripened bite of produce… with the hope of many baskets full of peas, tomatoes and squash to follow.

But what if the garden doesn’t produce as well as you hoped? What if the produce you reap barely repays the minimal costs you incurred? Is it still worth it?

Powdery Mildew attacked the zucchini and squash plants. Just as they were reaching the zenith of their producing power, they died. Yesterday we enjoyed the last of the zucchini from this year’s garden. My hopes of a freezer full of shredded zucchini won’t be realized and many of the remaining vegetables will not be ripe before we leave the garden in friends’ hands for a month.

Disappointed? Yes. Was it worth it? Definitely!

Planting a seed and watching it sprout, grow and blossom makes me stand in awe of God’s creation. I believe the world was spoken into existence. Wonder of creation should keep me dizzy with awe. I forget. Easily. Gardening reminds me.

Seeds are cheaper (and more fun!) than a child’s science textbook and open the door to countless questions about life cycles, biology and nature. The weeks of waiting for that first flower to appear open the door to learn about patience. The peas Rose happily hunted for and popped in her mouth were a wonderful bonus.

One of my goals for the year was to spend considerably more time outside than in the past. A garden forces you to get outside, breath in the fresh air and bask in the vitamin D! Gardening not only gets you outside, but is good exercise!

Finally, the garden was worthwhile because it encourages gratitude. Not only gratitude for the amazing variety of vegetables or a big glass of ice water after an hour’s hard work, but that even if my garden fails, we still have food to eat. My children will not go vegetable-less because my zucchini died. For that I am very grateful.

I have had successful gardens in the past, but think that even a failed garden is worth-while.

What do you think?

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers and 30 Minute Challenge at Steady Mom!

photo by Alicia Jo McMahan

Tagged with: gardening • thriftiness

Stuffed Zucchini

June 21, 2010

Zucchini picked fresh from the garden then stuffed and baked makes one of our favorite simple summer dinners.

Ingredients: (serves 4)

2 large or 8 small zucchini or squash
2 large eggs
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1+ cup homemade bread crumbs
1/4-1/2 pound sausage, fried and drained
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup mozzarella or Parmesan cheese

Boil the zucchini for 5-10 minutes or until almost tender. Remove from water and cool slightly.

Once cool enough to handle, gently cut off the top and with a spoon remove the insides, leaving just a small rim.

Blend or mash the pulp and add the eggs, cheese, bread crumbs, sausage and seasonings. If the mixture is soupy add up to half a cup more bread crumbs. Spoon into zucchini.

Place in a greased 9X13 pan and bake at 350 for 2o minutes or until tender. Top with cheese and bake five minutes more. Makes 4 servings. Enjoy!

Tagged with: gardening • healthy living • recipes

Gardening on a Dime

May 19, 2010

The garden blossomed while we were gone and the sunflowers are almost big enough for a toddler to hide behind now! I could scarcely believe my eyes.

We had fresh salad to accompany dinner the past few nights and it looks like before long the squash will attempt to take over the entire the kitchen. Today Rosalind tried her first taste of fresh mint and begged for more of the “candy.”

Even if gardening didn’t save money it would be worth it. Playing in the dirt is fun, but the teaching opportunity is invaluable. Food doesn’t magically appear on the shelves in Wal-mart, but starts as little seeds and with water and sunshine and the blessing of God grows into tomatoes and mint and spinach. Eating salad from seeds you’ve planted and tended helps dispel the divorcement of food from its source that is so easy to fall prey to.

But most of us garden to save money. Building a beautiful garden on next to nothing is definitely possible, especially if you work with others and “scrounge.” In addition to the small garden behind our house, a couple neighbors and I started a community garden by the apartment complexes.

It is beautiful and thriving and cost very little to start.

Soil: If my limited gardening experience (and failures) has taught me anything it is that soil is key.

Good soil equals a good garden.

But improving the soil doesn’t have to cost much. Borrow a roto-tiller from a friend or “rent” one on Craigslist.

Make your own compost or if local colleges have an agriculture department chances are they have a source for inexpensive compost. We were able to get rich compost for $10 a truckload from the University.

Farmers or owners of horses often have aged manure you can pick up for free.

Plants: When at all possible, plant from seeds. Rare Seeds sells heirloom seeds for a reasonable price and if you just want a couple plants, many hardware stores let you purchase individual seeds for a few pennies.

Although it’s too late to start many of the summer vegetables from seed, quick growing plants like cucumbers and squash could still be started from seed and it will soon be time to plant seeds indoors for a fall garden.

Established gardeners often are willing to give you starts of herbs (and lots of helpful advice!) if you ask.

Weed control: An appealing weed-free garden doesn’t have to cost a dime or take hours of work. Discarded bricks scrounged from construction sites and friends work perfectly to divide the plants from walking areas and form pretty beds.

Pine needles, straw or grass clippings are free (or very cheap) and work well to keep the weeds at bay in the walking areas. Depending on the type of plant, they can also be used in the beds to check the growth of weeds, retain moisture and keep the soil from eroding.

Pest Control: Thankfully we haven’t had to deal with many pests yet this year. Companion planting, or the strategic planting of certain herbs, flowers and vegetables next to each other, helps repel many bugs. Some of the most common are garlic and marigolds. Wikipedia has a very cool table of companion plants.

If (or rather when) the bugs arrive, we plan to use a homemade bug spray made of garlic and cayenne pepper. I’ve heard it works great.

part of Thrify Thursday and Frugal Friday

Tagged with: creation • gardening • toddlerhood