A Gardening Tip and a Makeover

The blog got a makeover, courtesy of my geek chic hubby and his amazing skills. I’m loving it! The chevron pattern and the gray and yellow color scheme make me feel super trendy. What do you think?

And as for the gardening advice… Believe me, I’m nobody to be giving gardening tips. My thumbs about as far from green as they come, but I have been doing some research hoping to make improvements in that area. 

It’s really important to me as a mom that my kids have a healthy relationship with food. I want them to know where it comes from, how much work it is to produce, be willing to eat healthy stuff, and see the entire cycle from seed to table. It’s a pretty lofty goal for someone with a black thumb.

My tip is probably not my original idea, maybe a dormant memory from girl scouts or something, but here it is. I wanted the kids to be involved in the gardening, but at ages 2 and 4 they had a hard time controlling the watering can. They kept turning it upside down and duping all the water out at once.

So I took an empty milk jug and poked holes in the top of it with a pair of scissors. That way I can fill it with water, put the cap back on, and the water will only trickle out of the holes when the kids hold it upside down. A half-gallon jug would probably work even better because it would be easier for them to hold.

The front yard is Eddie’s territory because he likes pretty stuff like rhododendrons and whatnot, but I have a rule for the back yard that I don’t want to go through the work and spend money on planting anything we can’t eat. Lucky for him, there were already some nice perennials back there when we moved in, but from now on I’m taking over the backyard for my miniature farming experiment. I remember reading about World War II victory gardens in the Molly American Girl books when I was little and thinking about how cool that would be. It’s interesting to me that it’s also part of Michelle Obama’s initiative as First Lady. My mom did have a few vegetable gardens when we were growing up, so I did get an idea about where food comes from, but I don’t remember being involved in the process. I want this to be something the kids and I do together.

We planted a baby peach tree this weekend and we are planning to get two apple trees within the next few weeks. (You need at least two apple trees so that they can cross-pollinate each other.) We are also planting lettuce and I want to try tomatoes and cucumbers. Last year I planted a raspberry bush, so I’m hoping it will come back and fruit for me this year. The trees, like the bush, will take a few years before they produce fruit, but so far the kids are loving taking care of the baby tree. It will be fun to watch them grow together.