I've decided that this year, I will not be the only one gardening. I am hoping to give the kids bunches of projects to do so that they will not spend their days cooped up in the house. Summers are great for things and when you have 10 kids in the house, schedules just make things go better.
So I want to teach my nine-almost-ten year old daughter to bake bread. I want to read Miracles on Maple Hill to the kids - the little ones won't remember it. I want each child to have a little garden plot, to grow things they like. Now, we can't ask the babies what they like so they'll just have to deal with whatever we plant for them.
So we started out with a box. A four-foot by four-foot square - give or take a couple of inches. Now I found out it should be less than four feet, but I think we should be able to reach all the spots just fine. We laid it on the ground and dug it out in some spots so it could be level.
Then I took a pitchfork and dug up the soil about 6 inches down. We turned it and then raked it, so that it would be loose and not packed down. Roots like unpacked soil better.
Then we raked it and put more soil in and raked it even more.
Finally it was full enough and we are leaving it till this next cold spell is over and next week we'll probably be planting.
That night we sat down and drew "maps" of their plots so that we would know what is to be planted and where. We'll draw out 16 one-foot by one-foot sections in each box and plant things in each one. Tall things go in the back and we'll have a trellis of some sort in the back.
I think they'll enjoy harvesting out of their garden plot, but maybe not the weeding. Regardless, they will learn about growing things.
We divided them into three teams with one of the older boys as leader of each team. They'll work together to help each other keep the weeds out of their spots.
Making the most of today
Steph
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