Thursday, July 10, 2008

Seed Money Update

Given all the gardening interest from the Government Seed Money post, I thought I would offer a quick update on our little container garden.

Keep in mind, my kids helped with the planting. My 4 year old was very meticulous about getting the seeds in the holes, but my 2 year old flung them about the minute they hit his hand. All this to say, the labels may not match the sprouts. We over seeded, and will have to thin some of the sprouts. I haven't done this in a while, and figured our odds were better if there were more seeds.

Thyme - very small with little growth since they broke ground
Rosemary - nothing
Basil - seems every seed has sprouted and they are over an inch tall now.
Sage - nothing
Pepper - a couple small sprouts
Marjoram - nothing
Cilantro - lots of good sizes sprouts
Parsley - can't tell if they are parsley sprouts (which I imagine look a lot like cilantro) or if they are just wayward cilantro sprouts.

I think the Pepper and Marjoram may have drowned, my kids "helped" water that bucket when I wasn't paying attention. My 4 year old is spellbound by the whole process, and gives us daily progress reports.

8 comments:

PeonInChief said...

Rosemary is really hard to sprout from seed. If your kids get any, they will have done better than many experienced gardeners. And I'm glad they're having such fun with it. Try nasturtiums in the ground with them. Incredibly easy. Find a sunny spot. Take the seed. Place in shallow hole. Cover. Wait a few days to a couple of weeks. (I laugh when I see nasturtium sprouts in 6-packs.)

husmanen said...

Last year my kids were eating watermelon in the backyard and spitting the seeds everywhere...now we have renegade watermelon plants along all the edges of the lawn. Nice.

Also, went on vacation for two weeks and came back and the cucumbers totally attacked the other plants and are using the tomatoes for support.

2cents said...

I planted my first vegetable garden when I was an undergrad in college and had to stay in town for summer school to repeat a class I had failed.

That garden changed my life. It was easily the most productive garden in our student community. I had vegetables coming out of my ears and loaded up all my friends and family and neighbors and filled my freezer. To this day, I love to eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, even though I can't plant a garden every year.

I hope your kids get the gardening bug and learn to appreciate a healthy diet.

Buying Time said...

I hope the kids will have a greener thumb than I. Mr. BT and I liked the idea from the movie 28days, keep plants alive first, then a pet, then work on people. Well we never got past the plants.

In fact we seem to be going backwards. My daughter received fish from Santa this year (theydie off here and there...but seem to be stable for now), and so now we have moved on to plants.

PeonInChief said...

BT, that's not quite how this works. There are plenty of people who can raise children who can't take decent care of of a plastic flower. Not being able (or willing) to grow a garden is not evidence of one's nurturing skills with other living things (pets, children etc.)

I have several friends in the helping professions (social workers, teachers) who should not be allowed within 15 feet of a growing plant, and should be barred by law from any plant nursery.

HOUSE2008 said...

Haha! I managed with some effort to um..kill a cactus plant by overwatering???. Should be easy raising one right? It even came with instructions! Well now here's my 5 month old without instructions....I looked alll over her:) Just add water right?

PeonInChief said...

house2008--
there's no evidence that killing a cactus bodes ill for your child. Many cactus shouldn't be watered until it is a the edge of fatal thirst. (The same is true of many succulents as well.) It's difficult for the nurturing to wait that long--sometimes they don't need water for a month. Since the baby requires liquids much more often, your overwatering of your cactus probably indicates that you'll do pretty well.

PeonInChief said...

and house2008, I don't have any children, so I don't know where the instructions would be. Sorry.