Yesterday I found one of my strawberry plant’s had died and my spinach has not grown - and it is now (finally) getting too hot for them to do good anyway - so I will probably just pull them up and put something else in.
My beets were doing good - until I became too focused on checking my strawberry plants and turned to see my 2 year old had pulled most of them up. She gave me her intent “I am a good helper!” look and what could I do? Seconds before she had been gently patting the dirt down around some very established strawberry plants. I have to admit I don’t appreciate this sort of help but it still was cute.
She also likes eating strawberries - including green ones. She has been happily picking them whenever I’m not watching and chewing them up happily. Yet she doesn’t even like ripe store bought strawberries - so it’s pretty funny. All my seedlings are growing and thriving - the radishes will be ready for hardening off soon. I wasn’t too interested in growing them - I’m not a big fan of radishes - but hubby wanted some so I thought I’d give homegrown ones a try - maybe I’ll find a good recipe for ‘em.
My TOMATO AND BLOSSOM SET SPRAY
Have any gardener helpers? What do you do to keep them busy? Comments welcome.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Aww, your daughter does some cute things. I don’t have kids so I have no idea what you can do to keep them preoccupied. Maybe give them their own little kids plot to play with and check on every day. I’m sorry about your strawberry plant. That’s sad. It’s been rainy in Nashville and very windy, so I’ve lost a few more green grape tomatoes. Sadness.
Why is it that plants you want to use in summer salads, like lettuce and spinach, only grow well in cool weather? Just one of nature’s little idiosyncrasies, I guess.
We had to give up on our spinach, too. Then someone recommended that we grow Swiss chard, as this apparently tolerates the heat much better, and has a very similar flavor to spinach. It also has pretty red stalks, which will add some color.
I’m sure you will like your homegrown radishes, they’re much nicer than store bought ones, they have a lovely peppery flavor. Just add a few to your salads. We are already growing our 3rd batch of radishes this season. Don’t let them get too big though, or they’ll be bitter.
I can’t help with the toddler, but DP’s suggestion sounds good to me.
I don’t know a thing about plants. I had no idea you had a garden.
As for the baby… well…
You’re just going to have to master the art of watching her at all times and in all things at the same time you’re doing anything.
Ha. Ha ha.
DP- yeah, she needs a sand box or dirt box - or something LOL I thought I’d lost a bunch of strawberries to a magpie yesterday -heard they love ‘em - but everything was intact. whew.
Jan- yeah it is ironic - I’m trying to grow swiss chard too - doing much better than my spinach but is still struggling a bit. seedlings inside are doing great though
My daughter is now 5.5, and a great little garden helper/free farmhand,lol.So it does get better. We found giving her a specific task worked pretty well for us when she was younger (and now) Give her her own bucket and show her a type of weed or rock to put in the bucket.Put one in the bucket as an example,
and dish out a lot of praise when she does it. We also reminded ours constantly not to eat ANYTHING outside without asking us first..some things are poisonous.She dons her hat and gardening gloves and clogs and hits the garden now to pick asparagus,radishes and lettuce all by herself..and she does it well.It is well worth the effort to guide them now so they will want to help as they grow older.
My kids were always with me in the garden when they were young (college aged now). My son was never really interested, but my daughter often had her own plants when she was little. Heck she still does in a way. She wanted me to plant pumpkins, so I couldn’t say no. She often “helped” me in the garden. It made the work very slow, but she loved to dig and plant the seeds. And watering is always fun. The best thing to do is give them their own plot. When they are very little, use radish seeds since they are big and grow fast. If they are planted in clumps or get dug up or get over watered it really doesn’t matter. They may die, just plant some more. A vining plant is always fun for them to watch too. They also grow very fast. Cucumbers are fabulous for that since they can sprawl all over and they give a lot quickly.
Kate- that bucket idea is a gem, I have tons of ideas of ways for her to fill it…
Daphne- my daughter loves watering - including me! lol Radish seeds are a great idea and I have tons and tons of em.
My two year old can spend hours with her little trowel, putting compost into a container and then moving it all back into another one. She’s also good at taking stones out of borders. I’ve made her a little patch of her own with container stuff in it but she’s a bit too young for it yet.
My other ‘little helpers’ the dogs, mostly just eat stuff. Which isn’t much help at all of course.
Jo-
thanx for visiting - my girl loves to take stones out of borders too - and pick all sorts of green things to try to get away with eating. thankfully she is usually distracted by the slide/clubhouse thing my in-laws left us
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