A Ladybug Party!

Today at school we had a ladybug party! The children loved it! The parents and teachers also enjoyed it. I'm not so sure about the ladybugs. After all, they had been sitting in that little paper carton in the refrigerator for several days at least. Who knows how long they had been in the fridge at the nursery before I bought them.

Then we finally take them out, dump them out into a new area, one with lots and lots of plants, but also lots of children. Before the ladybugs even have a chance to get oriented, there are dozens of tiny hands reaching down trying to pick them up. We did talk with the children beforehand about ladybugs being good for our garden, and we were going to treat the ladybugs gently. Still, we have some 2 year olds, and other very excitable children. I'm not sure that all the ladybugs survived the party, but it looks like most of them did.

We spent about 45 minutes in the garden with the ladybugs. The ladybugs on the strawberries and lemon balm really seemed to do well. They quickly moved deep into the thick foliage. The ladybugs in the other boxes were not quite so lucky. There are still lots of bare spots in those boxes, since the plants are still small, and the children could easily find them there.

As interest in the ladybugs began to wane, we drifted out to the playground for a picnic of fruit salad, and time for the parents to talk and the children to play. Overall it was a successful spring social. (We'll see tomorrow how the ladybugs felt, if any of them are still there.)

Attack of the Lemon Balm

Lemon balm is a great plant to have in your garden. A member of the mint family, it grows from 2 feet to 5 feet tall, and it's bright green leaves look beautiful, and smell like lemon when you crush them.

Lemon balm is supposed to make a good herbal tea, although I have never tried it that way. My earliest memory of herbal tea is when my grandmother would give me sasafrass or peppermint tea when I was sick. I didn't like tea then, and I don't like teas now. My other grandma would give me these little black squares - medicine of some kind. It tasted a bit like licorice, and inevitably when I sucked on one of those, I would throw up. Amazingly, I really like black licorice, even now.

Back to the lemon balm. Our school garden hadn't received much care the year or two before I started there. Several years ago an eagle scout made that garden his project, and installed raised boxes for the school. When I started two of the boxes were filled with weeds, one had decorative grass, chives, and more "weed" grass. The last one had strawberries, and lemon balm.

We left the strawberries and chives boxes alone that first year, and weeded and planted the other two boxes. This year we decided to tackle the rest of the garden. The lemon balm was beginning to crowd out the strawberries, so we decided to move it. (Hey, it's in the mint family. Crowding out other plants is what mints do!)

This lemon balm plant has spread over the years, and is now about 3 feet by 3 feet. I figured it wouldn't be too hard to loosen it up, cut it out, and move it. Little did I know!

I started with the plastic shovels the children use. You know, the kind that are really sand scoops, but always get called shovels. They work great on the loose dirt in the other garden beds, but they didn't make a dent on the lemon balm.

Next we moved to the sturdy metal trowel we had on hand for teacher use. If the whole thing had been metal, it might have worked better, but in just a few minutes the plastic handle had broken off, and the lemon balm was still in it's place.

Time for the big guns. Out came the full sized, square nosed shovel. I managed to pry up 2 sides of this huge spreading plant, but could not get the other 2 sides loose. Even using the shovel as a lever, resting the handle on the edge of the bed, it didn't work. I could feel that the shovel was at its' breaking point, and the handle would go before the lemon balm did.

This year our strawberry box will also contain lemon balm. Who knows, maybe next year we will move the strawberries, and let the lemon balm have it's own box.

Is This A Weed?

Gardening with children can be a joyful, fun-filled, challenging experience.

My preschool has a garden, a pretty good sized one. It has 4 raised beds, about 4'x8'. There is space to walk in between and around the beds. There is also a retaining wall with a planting bed near the building. The children love to go into the garden and explore. (So do the neighboring rabbits, squirrels, and other critters. This year we even have a turkey living nearby.)

As soon as the weather starts warming up, we take the children in to the garden, armed with their plastic shovels, and let them dig in the boxes to their hearts content. They dig, and I pulled up the weeds they dig. (Hey, I live in a place where weeds grow year round! Thankfully, so do some other plants.) As they begin to ask me what I am doing, I explain to them about pulling out weeds, and getting the garden ready to plant.

Finally the weeds are out, the dirt is all nicely dug up and turned, and we are ready to plant. Planting with young children involves a definite plan. Here is ours:

1. show the children how to poke a small hole with their finger, drop the seed in, and cover it up.
2. Hand out seeds.
3. Hand out more seeds.
4. Hand out seeds until all the seeds are gone.
5. Begin watering, and watching for the jumbled mix of plants that results.

Next comes the watering and waiting stage. The biggest challenge here is keeping a sharp eye out for those who try to sneak a shovel into the garden, thinking that we are still digging.

The children love to water, so we do it the slow but satisfying way - fill up their bucket or watering can from the hose, and let them water wherever they want. The seeds and soil sometimes get stirred up with this method, but the children are satisfied and involved in the garden. Later, as the children are lining up to go inside, I set out the sprinklers and turn them on to make sure everything is thoroughly watered.

The radishes are the first to sprout. This year they only took 3 days, followed closely by weeds. Of course, when plants are so tiny, it is not always easy to tell a weed from a plant, so we wait, and continue to water. Soon you can tell the weeds from the lettuce, radishes, carrots, onions, and tomatoes. There are also a few other unfamiliar (as yet) plants, and I try to remember seeds we handed out to plant. I am almost sure we had some zucchini and pumpkin seeds as well, but those plants are still so small we have to let them grow a bit.

We go into the garden and look at all the plants. Every day we remind the children that if they want to pick and eat strawberries out of our strawberry bed, like they did last year, they need to leave the cute little strawberry blossoms. Any kind of flower is hard to resist picking when you are three and four years old.

As the children explore the garden, looking for lizards, sticks, bugs, and whatever else children look for when they are outside, I sit down at one of the garden beds and start to pull the weeds.
Soon a couple of children are watching, and ask, "What are you doing?"

"Pulling weeds so our plants have room to grow."

"What's a weed?" Then comes the explanation that weeds are plants we don't want, followed by the question, "Can I help?"

Of course they can help. That is what having a garden is all about. I show them what the weeds are. Thank goodness most of the weeds in this box today look the same. I also point out the lettuce, carrots, and other plants growing, and remind them to look carefully before pulling any weeds. The rest of our garden time is filled with "Is this a weed? What about this?" We carefully pull out weeds until it is time to clean up and go back inside.

After several days, a couple of my most consistent weed pullers are starting to recognize the weeds and the other plants without asking, and answer that never-ending question from the other children, "Is this a weed?"

Finally our work is rewarded with a tantalizing taste of more to come. We have one little radish, ready to eat. We pick it, clean it, and cut it up into tiny pieces. Everyone who wants to takes a taste, and we let them describe what they think.

"It's hot!"
"I don't like it."
"It tastes like mushrooms."
"It's crunchy."

Now we look every day for more plants that are ready to taste.

The best part about gardening with children is watching them, and seeing how their love of gardening is sprouting and growing, along with all the plants.

Amazing Plants

Plants are so amazing! Over the years I have learned that plants will do their best with whatever they have.

My tomato plant, which on my patio doesn't get 6 or more hours of full sun, is still growing. Not as fast as it would in full sun I know. My dad's tomato plants, which do get a full day's sunlight, are twice as big as mine, but mine is still growing. I have just moved it to the one spot on my patio that does get about 4 hours of sunlight, so next time I check, it should be about two thirds the size of my dads. (Uh oh, am I doing fractions here? Math, in the garden? Who would have thought.)

The mint was in that sunniest spot, and it is spilling over it's pot on all sides. I just moved it to one that doesn't get as much sun, but I have learned that mint can handle the shade. The mint at my last house grew very well in a shady flower bed under the fruitless mulberry tree.

I have strawberries that are starting to bloom, and that conjures up visions of strawberry shortcake. Homemade shortcake with my mother's recipe. Yum! Cover that shortcake with spoonfuls of strawberries, and top it with a scoop of ice cream, and you will think you are in heaven! Store bought cakes and shortcakes just don't compare. Any of you who have your own favorite homemade dish will know exactly what I mean.

Okay, back to the plants. The chives need to be trimmed. They just keep growing and spreading, even though they are in a spot that gets very little sun. I think maybe the sun's reflection off the white walls and sliding glass door help provide enough light.

The comfrey has several leaves shooting up now. Maybe in it's shadier spot, it will stay at a managable size for a patio. (In full sun, it will grow 3 or 4 feet high and just as wide.)

My latest planting dilemma, where could I put a lemon tree. My parents get fresh lemons from a neighbor, and over the past week we have been making lemonade. Regular lemonade, raspberry lemonade, and strawberry lemonade. Come summer and fresh watermelons, we will try watermelon lemonade. (We loved that when we had it at the state fair.)

So I have begun to think about how and where I could grow a lemon tree. If I get a dwarf tree, or a miniature, I could still fit it on my patio. Time for another visit to Stark's Brothers. They always show lovely pictures of all these miniature fruit trees, that grow full size fruit. Oh yes, they don't ship to my state. I guess it's time for a visit to my local nursery.

If a lemon tree lives up to what I have seen, that plants do the best they can, whatever conditions they are given, I should be making my own lemonade by next year!

Snips and Snails, and Dillweed tales

AGGGGGGHHHHHHHH. I went out to my patio this morning to water my garden, and it was like walking into a nightmare! After months of no snails, and no signs of snails, there they were, sliming all over my plants!

Okay, so it was really just two snails, and they had already moved off the plants and were heading for a dark, cool hiding place for the day. If I actually see the snails, I hand pick them and dispose of them, so those two snails will no longer be visiting my garden. (Of course I used gloves! I'm not going to pick them up with my bare hands! Just the thought of touching those slimy creatures........................ well, I'll leave that to your imagination.)

You guessed it, my dreams of dill will always just be dreams I guess. Hmmmm, could there be a correlation? No signs of snails until I put the dill out? My other plants still look relatively untouched, but the dill is just a couple of sad little green stems poking out, and cut off about half an inch above the ground. Once again, completely decimated. I'm giving up on my dreams of growing my own dill.

Hey, that leaves an empty spot. Time to start dreaming of what I can use to fill it up!

Dreams of Dill, Take 2

I have already shared my experiences with trying to grow dill. In spite of the snails, in spite of the cat, I still have this urge to grow dill. Maybe it is just to show that I can, I don't know.

So, I am attempting another dill plant. This one will be out on my patio. I haven't seen too many signs of snails here, so maybe, just maybe, it will survive this time. The cat doesn't go out on the patio, so I know she won't eat it. I did smell skunk last night. I wonder if skunks eat dill. I sure hope not!

Today is day one of the new dill plant. Stay tuned to find out what happens to the dill.