I'll be the first to admit that my gardening style has changed dramatically since adding little ones to our family! While gardening with littles can take a lot of patience and time, it is so worth it! I love watching my girls tenderly (or not so tenderly, depending on the day) take care of their growing plants, and take a bite out of a freshly picked fruit or vegetable while dancing around the back yard. I firmly believe this experience makes them more adventurous with food, and we've been able to sprinkle learning in along the way - colors, counting, science and nature studies - as they grow the learning opportunities grow as well!
The weather here in Ohio this spring has been especially crazy - hot one day, cold the next, wind, rain, snow, etc...we've not been able to get the ground prepared to plant, so I'm starting some of my hardier plants in planters until we can transplant them in their final destinations.
The girls loved helping me dump dirt into the planters and dig around in it. Sweetpea went on a worm hunt and added a few night crawlers to our boxes, because we've been studying how worms improve the soil and help plants grow! I brought over an extra box to let the girls dig once the seeds had gone into the ground.
We now have two kinds of lettuce, cucumbers, kale and collard greens ready to go! A little extra dirt and plenty of "tools" for the girls helped this adventure be fun and successful - I can't wait until we see some little plants peeking out of the ground!
By mid May we will be ready to plant tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant seedlings. I also want to plant some sugar snap peas and beans in the ground in the coming week, and look into some potatoes. Last July we were able to reduce our grocery budget to $20/wk with the bounty from our garden. I'm hoping we can do that again this year!
For more gardening inspiration and ideas, stop by the Frugal Gardening 101 series!
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