This post is an entry for BritMums’ #KidsGrowWild Challenge (find the linky here) with Moneysupermarket
I love gardening. No, really, I do. Or at least, I love the idea of it. The reality, with two small children, tends to be rather different.
I imagine popping out into the garden, doing a spot of digging, sprinkling seeds about, chucking a bit of water on, and then wandering off for a few months while nature does its thing, and coming back at the end of summer to harvest the fruits of my labours. Sadly, that’s not how it works. Instead I take two small children outside, spend what feels like hours redirecting them from digging up the wrong bit of garden or beating each other around the head with the sharp pointy digging things. There’s also a bit of lifting the baby out of the freshly dug flower bed repeatedly, until I give up and decide he can be washed, and at least he’s not sitting on the seed bed any more, and some rather determined explanation of what to do with the seeds to the three year old.
Is it just me? Or does gardening work like that for other people too? Here’s the photo version anyway.
What I didn’t get pictures of was Tigerboy trying to eat the seeds. (Sunflower seeds are edible anyway, right?) Or the wind blowing the packets away before I’d got the seeds out. There’s no picture of him turning the water butt on *without* the watering can underneath it, or of Smallest trying to water him when he wouldn’t get out of the way.
Oddly, I didn’t get any pictures of them laughing in the sun. Which surprises me, as we did a lot of laughing. When I gave up lifting him out of the mud and just let him paddle, bare feet in the soil. When he trailed little footprints across the patio through the spilled water.
And she really enjoyed the planting. We counted seeds as we put them in holes. She took such care of each little embryonic plant and she’s thrilled to be watching them come up a little more each day. (I do kind of wish we’d managed to plant them so we knew what was where, but I guess that was asking too much of a 15 month old.
I really hope we get some flowers. But even if we don’t, it was worth it for the fun.
NinnyNoodleNoo says
I have done some planting with Anna on my back, but it can be heavy work and my joints just aren’t up to it (I really *want* to babywear, but I tend to save it for walking upright over rough terrain where I can’t use the pushchair, rather than lots of stooping and kneeling, etc, which I struggle with).
She likes to try to eat the soil. Some days she’s happy to sit in her pushchair and watch for a while.
Ted generally runs around screaming like a loon (you’d think he never saw the outside, when in reality he does, daily). He will fetch and carry if asked, though.
Nin is helpful and does lots of planting and will now competently prick out seedlings and also plant out things. However, generally I have to wait for John to be around to watch Anna, whilst I get on with planting (or we swap and I watch Anna whilst he digs as I’m a bit useless at any heavy work’).
Still, proud that we’ve managed as much as we have this year after the past few years rapid moves and the over-grown enbrambled garden and rock-covered front we moved to in January 🙂 Here’s to staying here a little while and getting back into the swing of things 🙂
Pinkoddy says
Oooh you’ve done really well – I see growth. I struggle with that bit. As per we’ve left the first stage until the last minute too.
Kate on Thin Ice says
I like your philosophy that it is the fun that matters and the honesty in this post. Commenting for myself and on behalf of BritMums and thanking you for taking part.
Monica says
Oh what fun, everything i plant fails, maybe the key is to start young, but i’ll have to get someone else to show mine 2 how to do it. 🙂