Thursday, September 23, 2010

kinderGARDEN Thursday: week 24

Matthew has watched me garden for as long as he has been alive. This year I wasn't going to plant a garden, because I knew we were going to move right after we needed to have the seeds in the ground. When Kim, at The Inadvertent Farmer, announced the kinderGARDEN contest, I knew Matthew and I would have to find a way. So we decided to try growing a salsa garden, in containers, so they could move with us. We also settled on a few extras, like purple green beans. We hurried up and ordered seeds.

Matthew planted every pot.

Soon after we set all our pots out on the porch for sunshine. That's when we discovered our year old dog wanted to drag them around and the year old cat wanted to dig in them.

We covered them with chicken wire. It didn't help alot, but the hot sauce did. Once we moved, we thought the pots were safe, only to have them overrun with little caterpillars that were killing everything! Awww, the joys of gardening.

For Matthew's birthday, a very good friend came to visit. Matthew showed him every single plant and had him sniff every single plant. Matthew had pride in his garden.

I talked to my co-workers enough about our attempts, that they both wanted some purple green bean seeds. Matthew and I happily gave them seeds. Then a fellow kinderGARDENer said she wished she had some, so Matthew and I sent some to her and her son. That was really fun. I love spreading the joy of gardening.

In one of the kinderGARDEN posts we were encouraged to let our kids take the camera into the garden. I was brave and let an almost 3 year old boy take photos.


He did a very great job. He came up with interesting views. I've let him borrow the camera more often since then.

While waiting for things to grow, which happened very slowly, if at all this summer, we watered.


Sometimes we recycled the melted ice in coolers, instead of dumping it.


We watered alot with the hose.

But when that gets boring, there is always watering through the hollow handle of the watering can.

We got to pick purple green beans (which turn green when they are cooked), peppers, and finally a tomato!

Later in the summer we planted more seeds; turnips, carrots, and radishes. One carrot is growing, turnips are going like wildfire, and I think the radishes are finally sprouting. We may have a fall harvest after all.

We planted hollyhock and poppy seeds, along with irises, in the spring. We planted more hollyhocks and irises in August.

We picked apples.

We picked them several times and finally learned how to can all that goodness we picked!

We picked pears this week. We have more tomatoes, peppers, and purple green beans coming on. This has us begging for a little more time, before Mother Nature sends her fall frost.

It has been hard to condense the last 23 weeks into 1 post. It has been a wonderful experience for both of us. I wish that things had grown better, but the weather and caterpillars were against us. Thank you so much Kim for inspiring us to make gardening work this summer. As we prepare to move again, I can only look forward to doing all over again, in a new zone, next spring. I hope there is a kinderGARDEN contest part 2 next year!

For the last wrap-up posts of the season, go to The Inadvertent Farmer. Do check in next week to see who won.

8 comments:

Erin said...

How cute! I wish "the bug" was over here working his watering can magic, I often forget my containers and in this heat I lost several! Matthew sure does have a love affair with his watering can! :)

Auntie said...

What a perfect photo story of KinderGARDEN and the summer growing season. You did a great job showing the highlights. Do you have the blogs indexed in some way so they will be available to you forever, and maybe Matthew's spouse some day? Or at least the photos?

Kirsten said...

love the new header pic! too cute.

i'm so impressed with what you've been able to accomplish on your own, in containers, in the midst of a busy summer. fabulous job, my friend, and thanks for sharing your purple bean bounty! :)

can't wait to see what you are able to grow down south next year!

Cathryn said...

Matthew's watering skills will be very useful in Texas! Good thing he got lots of practice this year!

I think you did a great job keeping the KinderGarden spirit strong all summer!

Shayne said...

The watering pictures are priceless! It's amazing how much kids like to water---and it so works in our favor!

Mom said...

We enjoyed reliving the summer through reading this final KinderGARDEN post. We can tell that Matthew has grown since the first planting. I think the two of you accomplished a very successful summer regardless of the weather and bugs!

The author said...

Erin, "the bug" would definitely hook up ALL the containers with water can magic. He'd water my empty pots too.

Auntie, thank you! I don't have them indexed or tagged, but I think I'll try and work on that. I can get the blog printed out into a book. I think I will start doing that, I'd like for it to be around for a while.

Kirsten, thank you, it's been an adventure! Thank you becoming a part of it. It will be interesting to see what interesting things we can do in TX.

Cathryn, yes, it is really lucky that Matthew has warmed up on his watering skills! I bet we'll water alot.

Grace, yes, kids watering rock!

Mom, you can tell he grew? I need to look at my own photos better! There is many kinds of success and the fact we had fun together is the best kind!

faith buss said...

You've done such a great job this summer. I've been so impressed with your container gardening....seriously. Way to go! Can't wait to do all this again next year. :)