beginner GARDENING. . .planting seeds

SPRING IS HERE!!!  Last year we tried tending our first little garden.  We planted sunflowers, tomatoes and pumpkins.  M and M had a lot of fun carving their pumpkins for Halloween, and we ALL loved the home grown tomatoes.  

This year we are growing tomatoes, sunflowers and two different types of tomatoes.  M, M and I spent Sunday morning shopping for our gardening goodies.  We spent Sunday afternoon getting our little seeds started.

The MAJOR disclaimer here is that I am learning with my kids on this one. If you are planting a serious garden, please look further into the how to’s!

what you need: seeds ~ peat pots ~ soil ~ plastic container ~ pencil or stick ~ seed markers (tongue depressors)

Big M mixed the soil in his dump truck.  (Best gift ever, by the way. . . he’s used it since he was 2).  We used soil specifically for vegetables and mixed it with compost we’ve been making over the winter.
M and M filled the peat pots with the soil mix.  I used the words empty, full, and half full while they worked.  I also did a lot of counting.  Talking about how many pots were full and how many were left.


I prepared the measuring sticks by measuring the depth that each seed was supposed to be placed and taping the spot the kids would aim for.  It took the kids a little bit of time to figure it out, but that was what made it so cool!

They placed the seeds into the pots, and marked them with the seed marker.  We talked a lot about what the seeds were going to look like before we opened the packages and then we talked about the similarities and differences as we poured them out.
SAVE SOME OF EACH SEED FOR A PROJECT LATER IN THE WEEK!!

I had the kids pour the water into the plastic container and explained how the water would soak from the bottom.  We came back to observe how the water line was climbing the pots.

What are you planting this year?  Come back tomorrow to learn a little gardening song!