More gardening

Our new place in Michigan came with a whhoooollle bunch of stuff. I'm thinking that most of it is from the girls that lived here before us, stuff that they were too lazy to move with them. There's a bulletin board now hanging on our kitchen wall that previously languished in the basement. There are enough discarded blinds and window hardware in the basement to sink an ocean liner. And we should have left our gardening tools in Duluth, too. Plus I think we could open our own paint store.

Rummaging around in the garage, I came across a medium-sized box chock full of seeds of all types. Cool! There were tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, marigolds, delphinium, zinnia...and then I checked the package dating...and it was 2005. Shoot.


Well, being as I'm in a gardening mood this week, and our nice weather is persisting (plus I needed a good excuse to avoid unpacking) I decided that we would occupy our morning today by planting those seeds. Even if they don't grow, I thought, the girls will learn something and have fun doing it. Added bonus: it gives us a daily activity for the next two weeks. "Okay, now it's time to water the seeds! ....No, it's Mary's turn to use the sprayer...stop, you're getting it everywhere! MARY! Don't spray your sister! Jules...wait...not the dog!!"

Awesome.

Below are the steps for planting six-year-old seeds.

1. Find a workspace. Messy is OK. Eat a snack before, so you don't get too hungry while planting.

2. Choose your seeds.

(Simon is choosing to nap/supervise.)

Julia displays her selection.

3. Fill your planter with dirt.

4. Carefully spread seeds in the planter, then cover. Julia demonstrates this step, while Mary calls for Dominos.

Mary takes her turn.

5. Fight over who gets to use the watering can first. Water the seeds well, then place in a sunny spot.

And here's the finished product. Hope we get more than 3 seeds that sprout...

And a picture of the Moose, to finish it off. (He didn't get to help - it was naptime.)