I love seeing the signs Spring rapidly appearing around our garden & Minnie has had great fun spotting them as she plays outside. Yesterday was such a cold, windy wet day we thought we'd do some gardening inside.
I found a large seed tray (with no holes in the bottom) & added some compost. Then we collected some small flowerpots, a small seed tray, & our gardening tools. Last year Minnie was given a great gardening set which came from the Early Learning Centre. The set is strong & sturdy, easy to clean, great for gardening & all comes in a handy carry case.
First Minnie planted a primrose in her chosen cup & saucer plant pot. By adding the compost to a large seed tray Minnie was able to independently fill the pot & plant up her primrose.
(I should add here that I had covered the floor around the table with a sheet of plastic to catch any stray soil!)
We then set about planting our seeds. Last year we grew a selection of fruit & vegetables from seed, & it was wonderful for Minnie to be hands-on at the beginning of the process & eating the goodies at the end. To watch her collect organic food from our garden & eat it was just fantastic! We grew our fruit & veg in trugs, large plant pots & hanging baskets, but started the seedlings off on a windowsill inside. The tomato seedlings below were planted just 3 weeks ago!
This year we're planning to grow vegetables, fruit & salad again, but starting off by just planting a few things as we have limited windowsill space indoors. Minnie has just planted peas, tomatoes, pepper seeds, along with a few calendula (Marigold) seeds.
As these are going to take some time to grow, we planted some wheatgrass which grows within days... perfect for eager toddlers! ;-) We've grown cress before, but this is the first time we've tried growing wheatgrass.
We filled our seed tray with compost...
Added our seeds...
And then watered the soil.
Minnie is excitedly watching the seeds grow & change every day, after only three days roots & long shoots have grown. We're hoping they'll end up looking something a little like this...
We had a little compost left in the seed tray & Minnie had fun pouring, scooping, patting, & sprinkling the compost around the tray & remaining plant pots. She then added a little water from her watering can & made some mud! I am quickly discovering this is a mixture my daughter loves!! She continued making mini mud pies & mud castles using the flowerpots, & loved squishing the mixture between her fingers.
This was a great activity for a cold wet day, but we can't wait to get outside again & start planting & sorting our garden ready for Spring!