Our garden...

Spring is on it's way and Jake and I have been spending a lot of time getting our veggie patch ready for the new season. We've spent hours weeding and preparing the soil - it's really quite a workout! Anyway, last week, we finally started planting our first seeds. Poor Jake was getting really bored with spending hours working and not actually seeing anything grow. We've bought a few stepping stones (we need to get more, I know) and rocks to mark off areas where we've planted our seeds. This week has seen lots of our little seeds beginning to sprout and Jake's feeling a lot more enthusiastic about the garden again. He just wants to be out there digging and planting, it's all I do at the moment. Today we've got nothing on until bed time and this morning I was asking Jake what he wanted to do when we get home. His favourite outing is to the aquarium in the waterfront and I suggested going for a pizza afterwards - believe it or not, he turned me down and said he'd rather plant stuff in his garden.

So, although it still looks quite barren, but when you get down and have a close look, there's lots starting to happen...

To be honest, I'm not quite sure what these are (note to self - make signs next time!) I think they might be aubergines...

Peas...

Carrots...

Leeks...

This spider was so tiny and well camouflaged, Jake couldn't see it...

Mustard lettuce...

Cress & Rocket...

Potatoes...

Teeny, tiny lemons. Our tiny tree is full of them... Strawberries! We bought 3 plants last year and have 20 this year!! Trying to grow them properly with plastic and all...

So, if you're looking for a good way to keep your kids busy, gardening comes highly recommended. And to be honest, besides the weeding, Jake does most of the hard labour. I'm not even allowed to dig the holes (he uses the big spade too!) and watering's completely his responsibility, as is 'harvesting'. I really just guide him and help him decide what to plant where. Truth be told, I'm a really bad gardener, so this is all a bit of a guessing game for me...