planting 101

This afternoon I went to Lowe's to get our garden plants. I came across this children's seed planting kit. We haven't talked much about how things grow since thus far it hasn't been a bit interest of hers, but I thought there is no better time than the present! It came with two hard discs of dehydrated dirt stuff (very technical, I know), a little tray and lid to grow the plants in, some stickers to decorate the tray and lid with and seeds for cucumbers, lettuce, marigolds and sunflowers. So after Molly got up from her rest (since she doesn't often nap anymore) we put it together.


This was after we added 1 1/2 cups of warm water. At this point the discs have absorbed almost all of the water and have each just about quadrupled in size. Here we talked about what the word absorb means.


We got out our snake spoons and spread the dirt all around. Two things: 1) Ignore the state of my house behind Molly, we just got back in town Saturday night and we just got our suitcase back this afternoon so we had been sorting through our belongings. 2) Yes, my child is dressed as Snow White with an upside-down tiara on her head...and?? She dresses up most days of the week so it's my guess that in many pictures of her she'll be dressed up as someone.


She's working hard poking holes with her finger and dropping the seeds in.


Love those little fingers.


All of the seeds are planted and ready to go. After this I took it and watered it and we put the lid on and set it in the window sill. We talked about how plants need water and sunshine to grow and how keeping the lid on helped the plants stay warm and wet and would help them grow.


Then we talked about how each plant's seed looks different, which is good because they each grow a different plant! From left to right they are marigold, sunflower, cucumber and lettuce. Wow, time to get rid of my nail polish, ICK!


We'll keep ya posted on the progress of our plants. Once they're big enough, we'll move a few of them outside into the garden and with any luck we'll have some flowers and veggies in a few months. I know Molly will be proud of all her hard work!