Saturday, As I was working in the garden, the 9 year old came out and started watching me. At first he played in the corner and watched me. Then he drew closer and watched me and eventually he asked if he could help.
First off, I'm impressed that he came out. When ever I ask him, "What did you do today?" he will tell me about his adventures on Lego Star Wars. Never is it about school or doing ANYTHING out doors. So I was impressed that he was outdoors.
The second thing that impressed me was his abilities. I always seem to have helpers when I'm gardening. I used gardening to mentor three teenagers early in my 20s. I used gardening and landscaping as a way to avoid a fast food job in high school and always had people willing to help me do it and be trained in doing it. However, the last time I had a helper in the garden she was 2 and helped me collect rocks as seen below.
So my vision of what the 9 year old could do for me was a little small. But he was a willing participant and a very helpful assistant. As he hoed out the dirt that I was cutting up with the pick axe, he asked questions and tried to reason things out in his mind. Why do we till? What is a rototiller? why is netting in the soil something to make you unhappy? And to each of these questions it was my job to provide simple answers. It was nice for me to have someone asking simple questions to check my own reasoning. It was nice for him to have someone willing to teach him. I look forward to more experiences.(As a side note, I have nicknames for all of my tools, but unfortunately, not all of the nicknames are appropriate for a 9 year old boy. So with my new apprentice, I will need to stop calling the hoe "Jessica.")
Below are two pictures. The first is a picture of the area in which I will be planting. My area is outlined by the buckets. In case you need more detail - the second picture has lines on it so that you can get a better vision of what all I have access to.
dear sean,
ReplyDeletei have decided that you look best when you are in pictures that include children. My experience can only vouch for when those children are small- but i'm going out on a limb here and including the whole species.
thanks,
guh
Rock climbing? Stump-busting? Pictures with beavers?
ReplyDeleteSean, I'm jealous of your adventures. It all looks so fun! And that pic of you with the 2-yr-old is super-cute.
Maybe once I get a real job Gu and I can have adventures, too :-).
I thought getting the real job was the adventure. (-:
ReplyDeletegood point, sean.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait until we move on to another adventure... and i hope the next adventure isn't qute so stressful.
Wow... you manage to make gardening fun enough to get a 9-year-old boy away from Lego Star Wars! I'm impressed (and still jealous).
ReplyDeleteThat really does look to be a fairly good sized spot for a garden. You already decide what you'll be planting?
By the way- why is there netting in the soil?
I'd like to plant corn, zucchini, strawberries and cucumbers. One of the kids has suggested carrots but because of the soil they'd have to be tiny carrots (if you go down 2 inches in the dirt in CA you hit clay.)
ReplyDeleteThere is a strong possibility that there will be two or three types of Tomatoes.
Melinda suggested green beans and I LOVE that idea so that is probable.
Of course there will be other plants like Marigolds to help keep the pest down and the bees attracted.
I figure this first year will be for experimenting. I haven't grown a crop in at least 7 years...some of this I will have to relearn and try my best to remember what my mom and dad have taught me.
Well, that garden pictured did very well for us this year. Crazy story-we planted tomatoes, but not cherry tomatoes. We actually ended up with two extra cherry tomato plants, our best guess is that some seeds hadn't completely broken down from the compost we laid. We also got one really nice melon. Chad wants to add strawberries and peppers this year so we are expanding around the corner.
ReplyDeletePS I have that first picture of you two framed in the living room.
and you should plant sugar snap peas
ReplyDeleteI'm a little late leaving a comment, but at first I almost freaked out.. that layout looks like my backyard! Except there's GRASS! We're planting similar veggies, and also pumpkins, squash, and peppers.. round 2 for the peppers already this season :( The heat comes and goes and I figure once it comes on for real the peppers will have a better chance.. best of luck with your garden!
ReplyDeleteActually, That garden turned out fine. Everything is growing. We have well over 20 zucchini and over 30 tomatoes of all sorts (though they are all green). It's the fall garden that is giving me a hassle now. It's twice the size of the current garden and has a lot of pea gravel and river rock in it. It will be quite the challenge.
ReplyDelete