Gardening with Kids- Start your Seeds….

It is officially Spring, well at least it feels like it here.  Well in some parts of the country it feels like summer but I am not easily fooled and do believe that something chilly will still come.  I did however decide to slowly work on my garden since it needs a lot of help.  Today I started seeding some flowers and herbs to make sure that the little ones get an understanding how nature works and spring happens.  Plus I wanted to recycle all those egg cartons that I have laying around after Easter, so many Eggs so little time. Time to start seeding for most colder/northern states is May-June for Southern April-May.  Of course with the weather we have been having this year you can pretty much forget the entire chart.

You can start with whatever you want but Pansy’s are really easy choice or if you live in a small apartment herbs are great for container gardening and cooking.  In your local nursery pick up whatever herbs/flowers/seedings you choose as well as a bag of Seed Starter. 

Fill the egg cups with seed starter and press them in slightly.

 Put a couple of seeds in each compartment.  Usually 3-5. I went a little overboard on this picture  probably because I was mesmerized by my reflexion, just like Narcissus.  Ohh how I love those flowers, they are like a prettier version of a Daffodil.

Cover these with water and wait till it steeps down and waters the carton.

You can have the kids decorate the carton by drawing, painting, gluing stuff on it.  I think it is great for them to know what the plant will look like when it blooms of in a case of herbs germinates.  There are so many ways to be creative here.  Make sure you cover them and place in a warm spot but not in direct sunlight.

I let my almost 2 1/2 year old twins decorate these two.  Of course it is not their writing or those flowers on the top carton but the doodles are.  You can see how different they are even in their doodling style.  She (top) was trying out ever single color to get the experience and was very detailed oriented in covering the space.  He (bottom) tried two markers and moved on to better things.

Mainly covering himself.  Thank Goodness these are washable… Are they?  Actually not sure… oh well…

It did not take my daughter very long to  follow.  She was again a little bit more detailed oriented meaning she will be scrubbed harder.