kinderGARDEN Thursday: week 3

Just like the rest of you are talking about across the nation this week, it's rain, rain, ...

...everywhere! At least at the tail end of the week.

The garden is looking soggy, but that's ok. Here in the mid-west, we are in the grip of a drought, so every drop we get is precious to the garden and the crops. Being a farm family, rain is something we treasure and never cuss, because some years we can't get enough. On a side note, before it monsooned, Matthew and I planted some ditch iris and found old plastic edging that had become buried under about 2 to 3" 's of soil. We used it to edge "Matthew's garden."

Because of the rain, we have snails out and about. We found 2 in a mint pot and Matthew had tons of fun letting them crawl on him, but more about that in a different post.

Because we finally got rain, there were lovely puddles to run and jump in.

And I didn't even mind the extra laundry!

But I digress, this is a GARDEN post. Mostly we are waiting for things to sprout and grow. We have lots of radishes, carrots, giant sunflowers, nastrisums, beans, and some marigolds and onions growing. We have not one single squash of any variety up, which is alarming, and only 1 actual green bean plant going. Which I'm sad about because it's such a tasty variety. I have the 3 pepper plants I bought growing, but the pepper seeds aren't sprouting. I've never had luck with them. Bad luck or bad seeds, I don't know. The eggplant isn't growing either and I have gotten it to sprout before. The tomato plant had to have 2 blossoms pinched and has grown bigger. While we are waiting, Matthew and I put dragonflies, bees and a frog stakes out in the garden to add some whimsy.

My mom caught an oh so flattering photo of Matthew and I working out in the garden, pulling weeds between rain storms. *photo by Beth

Last year, one of the assignments of the week was to allow your child to take photos of the garden. Matthew took it to heart and often swipes the camera and brings it back full of garden photos. This is one from this week. *photo by Matthew

And lastly, my helper helped me plant the iris I've found this year so far. This is the most unusual one I've found this year.

Shayne, from Life Under a Blue Roof wanted to know how I got pink blooming strawberries. I'll tell you, I got the only variety at our areas Walmart this year, "Berries Galore." And yes, I know Walmart is bad, but sometimes it's the only place to go. I had 5 varieties of antique alpine strawberries going, but allowed them to burn up right before we left TX, so being desperate, that's what we got and I have to admit, they are stunning. Matthew got the only variety at our garden center and I haven't seen what it's blooms are like yet.

What have you been doing in your garden? To see what Kim, The Inadvertent Farmer, talks about this week, go here.