bear received some flower seeds for his birthday. it was a whole set that came with plastic pots he decorated with a special marker and colourful stickers. since planting the seeds, bear has been planning what kinds of flowers he wants to grow in our garden this summer. definitely sunflowers, they seem to be his favourite!

i love that he has this strong desire to learn about flowers and growing things. these new curiosities have provided great opportunities to chat about growing food, farmers and what they do for us, about the environment and how we can take care of it. 

[ L-R sunflower, zinnia, marigold ]

lion also wants to be involved, but mostly just because there are fun tools involved. once it’s safe to plant seedlings outside i’ll let him plant a few himself. 


i’m trying to decide what plants i want to plant in our backyard, as well. it’s fairly shaded, which is great with the kids, because they can run around for hours back there. but, it’s tough to grow stuff. i’m hoping to get my hands on some giant or jumbo hostas to fill in some of the dull holes in the back. last mother’s day i received a hydrangea, so i hope it thrives this season. my mom gave me some ferns from her garden, but our friendly four-legged visitor loves to poop on them, and in doing so last summer he bent some of the pretty badly. hopefully they too survived horatio and the winter.


thanks to pinterest, i’ve found some great ways to take advantage of the limited amount of direct sunlight we get in the back.
like this vertical garden for our fence…

[ source ]

[ source ]

i am eager to get digging and have dirty fingernails (well, not really dirty), but it is only march 14th and up where we live the rule is after may-2-4 long weekend it’s safe to plant stuff in the ground. that midas well be a million years from today.
sigh.


what kinds of things will you plant this growing season?