Out in the garden

[halojedha]

The sun came out and it wasn't too cold! The first time in a week that were wasn't snow on the ground. I took E outside and we pottered in the garden doing our first bits of gardening of the year. I swept the slimy leaves off the paving stones, tidied up the perennials in pots and filled the compost bin. E was fascinated and very chatty, joining in with everything I was doing. We met some wriggly worms, some cold snails and a tiny spider, all of which were very exciting. The worms got politely moved to the compost bin in hopes they'll do some good in there.

It was lovely. There was still ice and the soil was frozen if you dug a little way, but it felt like spring.

It gave me hope that I could plant some things and do more gardening with E - time without them is precious and needed for work, but the housemates and I have grand garden plans. I wonder how well E's tolerance will last?

Comments

[ewt]

What are E's favourite vegetables? Would getting them involved in "time to water the plants" be useful?

I don't know much about holding a small child's interest in gardening, but I wonder if pointing out the different seeds sown at different times might help -- things like the way peas *are* the seeds for growing more peas, but carrot seeds are small, and spinach seeds are weird and corky, and squash seeds are flat teardrops that we then find inside the squash...

[halojedha]

They love vegetables! Especially mushrooms, courgette, broccoli, lettuce, greens and carrot. they are also desperate to play with the little rattly seed packets but so far this has been forbidden, because I don't want them spilled everywhere, mixed together, or eaten.

[juliet]

My experience with L has been that it's been very hit-and-miss, and having other stuff for him to do outside while I did garden stuff has helped. Some things are more interesting than others (he's always happy to help plant seeds; generally happy to help water; pruning is not very interesting). As the weather warms up could you put a sand-tray / water-tray / chalks for drawing on paving slabs out there?

[halojedha]

Ember was quite interested in pruning, if by pruning you mean stabbing the soil with a little garden fork. They do have a water play table outside and they love it, but it's still iced over. Having an activity near where I'm working definitely sounds wise - we can out sand in the play table and we do have chalks, although I'm hoping to be planting stuff out in the ground this year rather than pots, which will take us further from the house. Wondering what kind of garden furniture is likely to get used more than ignored...

[juliet]

E might be a bit small for it yet, but can strongly recommend a hanging seat type thing. L's is this one or similar: https://www.amazon.co.uk/femor-Hanging-Chair-Hammock-Cotton/ and isn't adult-size-rated but he LOVES it and uses it loads all through the summer. (We take it in in the winter so it doesn't go too manky.)