Seedlings!

We’ve been gearing up for spring here in New York. Which means all I can think about is gardening and fresh produce coming our way this fall. My dad has always been an avid gardener, and it must be contagious, because I can’t wait to sit and dig my hands into soil every year.

It brings me peace, joy and satisfaction to cultivate the land. I grew up loving our garden, we had so much fresh fruits and vegetables growing up! It was always the best day when my mom would send me into the garden to “pick” her berries or carrots. She didn’t end up with much in the basket, and my belly ended up happy! But, hey, she would always ask me even though she knew this!

I wanted to pass some of that joy down to my kids this year. We don’t live on a lot of land, but my husband made me some planter boxes last year to satisfy my gardening wishes. He’s the best, truly! So, we ventured into planting some seedlings for our garden this year! Normally, I just go to a farmer’s market and grab some planters, but I wanted my kids to see and feel the whole process!

My dad was kind enough to guide me, and loan me some of his equipment. We got all of the supplies ready, and went seed shopping at our local store. The kids loved picking out their seeds! They settled on basil, tomatoes, broccoli and peppers to start! We will add more later that need less time to grow!

The next day we dove into planting our seeds! We set up our plant light, grabbed our planters, dirt and seeds! The kids were all about putting the dirt into the planters, and they made such a mess doing so! It was a lot of fun teaching them, and showing them how to plant heir seeds properly! They did a fabulous job!

My son was so eager, that he sat with planters for the day. He ate lunch with them, talked to them, and basically encouraged them to grow! It was the funniest thing. He was disappointed I said it would take a few days to see anything pop!

I printed some printables about the life cycle of a plant, and we read gail gibbons book “from seed to plant” . She’s an excellent author! The books are bright, educational and an easy read. The kids love her books and learned a lot from it. I also bought the life cycle of a bean toy on amazon, and that was a helpful hands on item for the kids!

Today we woke up to multiple shoots poking up! The kids were beside themselves with excitement. It’s really brought it to life for them, being able to do all these stages so far! They are already talking about when we can plant the young plants in a few weeks!