Planting Seeds

It's been Garden Week here in JoeyWorld and AndyLand, and we have been working on our garden. I got it turned over Friday, so we were ready to go! Woo-hoo! So we took a trip to the garden center.

The big attraction at the garden center is not the gardens. It's the fish. They used to have a beautiful, lovely fish pond in one of the green houses, but I guess they got tired of being a favorite rainy-day activity and have moved everything outside. Oh, and expanded to a larger pond with more fish. After our fish adventures, I can't imagine folks spending huge money on outdoor ponds with carp, but maybe they are easier than indoor aquariums. Or whatever.

The boys cooed over the new fish pond and the fish, and then Andy ran around the back to look at the trees. He wanted to know what some of them were, but I expect he'll be more interested when they really start flowering and leafing. They were more interested in running through the narrow aisles, touching the different barks, and singing. Yes, indeed. Spring is here.

Then came time to Pick Out Seeds. Its still the first breaths of spring, and we're not usually ready this early to get planting, so we had to explain the concept of Spring Seeds and Summer Seeds. We can't plant squash or pumpkins right now, we have to plant things like turnips, spinach, and swiss chard. That sort of thing. Andy selected lettuce, Joey decided on carrots, and I got turnips (well, the boys decided I would get turnips). I sprung for the overpriced organic seed packets instead of trying to explain the them the concept of bulk seed, since we were using the little packets to explain the kinds of vegetables we could plant. Besides, it's helping the economy, right? And this was a local store, not a big chain thing.

Anyway, we proudly got to plant our garden yesterday. We had made an attempt at the park, but Andy cut his foot pretty badly (but not a stitches situation), so we went home early and got our garden planted instead. Now, our garden is only about 4 feet long and 2 feet wide, so I divided it into zones, which the boys designated colors. Andy is Zone Red, with his lettuce seed. Joey is Zone Green with his carrots. And I am Zone Yellow, with the turnips. I had each of them plant their own seeds. Andy got to spread his and lightly pat the soil over them. Joey got to do rows, which he found really exciting, since it involved digging with a stick. Then I let them both spread mine, and pat them in.

It rained over night a little, and is supposed to rain today. Wish us luck!