Garden Prepping!

I have had an eventful week so I was only able to post once... I'm still getting the hang of all of this. I started this post Wednesday of last week and never finished it. 

Well we have started prepping the garden for this summer and fall! It's always exciting for us to see the process of seed, to bud, to plant and then the food we'll get to eat! We also compost, for a couple of reasons. One: we tried to not compost for two years and our garden struggled, Two: I love the science lesson for our kids behind it. They get to see our scraps used in a way that helps nourish the garden that we can eat from. The worms break down the food and turn it into fresh soil for our plants to grow. They love it! And Three: We don't waste much food in our house but the scraps we do have don't take up space in our garbage can. Unless we've had a party or had a special event we fill our little 32 gallon can once every two weeks. That is six people and one little person is in diapers! We cut a lot of our waste by composting and recycling. When I wanted to downgrade to the 20 gallon can the customer service lady was skeptical about the amount of trash that leaves our house. Our rule is we don't waste.

We have a CRAZY amount of worms. My littles aren't too squeamish. This is Daelyn holding a key component of the decomposition process. 

Edison holding the "Nake!" or worm if you speak Edison. Involving more than one sense is beneficial for childhood development, it also give a broader perspective to the world around us.

Daelyn planting the lettuce seeds. In the corner you can see our Rosemary and lemon balm. 

Covering her seeds

Dirt is also fun to just play in. 

Jayden was admiring our tall asparagus.

For scientific purposes we had her stand next to a stalk of asparagus to see how tall it was compared to her. This was taken a few weeks ago and it is now almost as tall as me. I'm 5'6".

Edison wanted to plant the brussels sprouts. I personally have never had them and we are all really excited to see how they turn out and how I can make them taste yummy. 

He couldn't quite make it into the allotted spots so dad helped out. 

We have: Strawberries, Thorn-less blackberries, Raspberries, Rosemary, Lemon Balm, Mint, Elephant Garlic, and asparagus.

We planted: Lettuce, Brussels Sprouts, zucchini, butternut squash, cucumber, cilantro, corn, sugar snap peas and sweet onion. 

Still needed: Broccoli, pumpkins, tomatoes, more strawberries, cantaloupe, carrots, Basil, sweet peppers and watermelon. ( Most of these will go in the kids own planter boxes. I will post about those as we make them. They will have to weed, water, prune and see how different plants do in our environment) They are so excited!

We have a decent sized garden but we're looking to expand!