T Wants a Garden!

T wants to garden!

Back at our old house we tried container gardening. While we did live in a good size condo our yard was tiny, shaded most of the day (got a couple hours sun sometimes), and faced north. The crops yielded were minuscule, literally. I have never seen such tiny bell peppers before!

Now that we've moved for S's job we're renting a house while our condo back in our old town is on the market. One thing the homeowner mentioned to us is there's a patch in the back yard the former tenants used as a garden. We have permission to use it this spring.

My husband and I haven't talked much about it since it's only February. However, on Friday T and I were shopping at Whole Foods when we saw two racks of seeds- flower seeds and vegetable seeds. "I want a garden, Mama. May I please buy some? Please?" T begged.

While we returned home without the packets of seeds over supper I brought up a garden again with S. He turned to T "Do you want to have a garden?" He shouldn't have asked! Does T ever! Now T can hardly wait until we turn the soil and plant our spring garden.

I decided it's definitely time to start looking up resources for gardening up here. Last time I have a successful garden was when I lived in Louisiana. But gardening in Louisiana is very different from gardening in the midwest! Well, now that I think of it, that's the last time I had a successful vegetable garden; since then I've just had success with herbs. I used to spend hours gardening in my free time. Houseplants, a beautiful flowering dogwood tree, strawberries, sweet potatoes...

Googling I've already found several interesting resources. Of course, I'll have to buy T some 3-year-old size garden tools, and Montessori resource catalogs will be my best bet for finding high-quality preschool-size tools. As for what to plant when, I found a site that shows region-by-region month-by-month what to plant when. It's not a bad start. I've found a list of books on gardening in my state as well. I'll have to read them.

T would be thrilled to no end if I bought some seeds to sprout. The question is, will he really be as in to the idea of a garden when it comes time to start planting seeds? In toddler time, it's a long way off. A toddler's interest can change so quickly...

My mom sent me a link on tumblr. (Do you tumble? I do a little) It led back to another blogspot blog called Homemade Serenity where I learned something about green onions. Apparently it's pretty easy to grow your own green onions indoors! This is a perfect project for T me while we wait for spring to inch closer.

Any toddler garden recommendations?