Gardening With The Girls!

Anybody who knows me knows that I am a huge plant lover! I always dreamed growing up of going to school for botany one day and although those plans never happened my green thumb never went away. So in the midst of quarantine boredom last summer and with the help of the girls and their grandfather we put together our first family garden! The girls absolutely loved helping plant, care for, and harvest their vegetables... and to my surprise they were so much more likely to try the veggies they picked themselves than they were to eat the store bought ones! A huge win in mommy's eyes because what toddler asks for a salad for lunch?!

After such a successful garden last summer we knew we had to grow another this year! We planted some of their favorites from then like lettuce, cucumbers, and tomatoes... and added watermelon, kale, sweet peas, summer squash, and cantaloupe! The girls have gotten to help every step of the way... from planting the seeds to picking cucumbers. It is a huge learning experience for the kids as well. They've learned so much about how plants grow, all of the different parts, and how all of the bugs and animals in our area play such a huge role in helping them grow and prosper. They've had so much fun watching caterpillars munch on their leaves, butterflies and bees visiting their flowers, and worms in the dirt that they don't even realize they are learning so many valuable life lessons.

And guess what the best part is... anybody can start a garden at home! Even if you don't have the outside space, so many veggies from leafy greens like lettuce to herbs and spices can be grown indoors! We have even successfully grown strawberries and tomatoes in our window sill at our old house when we didn't have the option to grow outside! We opted to grow our garden in raised beds (thanks to the girls grandfather who did an amazing job building them out of old pallets) for a few reasons. The first being our soil here is mostly clay which won't grow a thing. The second is the last thing I wanted to have to do was worry about weeds and grass growing. Who has time to sit out there plucking weeds all day?! So after a few pallets, some top soil, miracle grow, and tons of hard work we have a thriving garden! And an over abundance of veggies.

I'm looking forward to watching Everett love our gardens as much as his sisters and this is probably something we will be doing for years to come! Our next step this summer though... planting pumpkins for the fall! What will you be growing next?