Monday, May 16, 2011

Green, green garden

I told you I learned to love gardening, right? Well, my husband, who is the hobby gardener in our family; encouraged me. I mean, us, as the girls got interested in gardening, too. After clearing the bushes, mowing the lawn, and cutting the weeds and thrimming down the rose bushes; we planned our garden.

We decided to have a herb garden on the side of the porch which is accessible from the kitchen. Then we decided not to cut down the old trees scattered around the garten and instead wait after they bloom (we were not sure what kind of trees they are). We've decided to have a flower garden near the garden fence.

After planning, we listed down what we needed and drove to the next home and garden shop. We got sacks of garden soil, bought another pair of garden scissors (the girls doesnt have the time to share as they need to work faster, according to them), and choose the kind of herbs and flowers that we wanted. The girls had a hand on choosing the herbs and plants. How did they choose? Because they love the smell, they eat them, they would eat them, they look good, etc.

Back home, everbody got down on their knees and started the dirty work. The girls planted the seeds (and the plants) around our chosen herb garden corner. There's lemon thyme, dill, chives, basil, parsley, rosemary, bärlauch (bear's leek), mint, and lemon balm.  We also made space for radish, varieties of carrots, peas, cucumber and varieties of tomatoes. We also added a strawberry patch.

The girls took turns in watering the plants, their responsibility. Almost everyday, they would report to us how the garden is growing. The first greens they saw, were of course, the weeds! But they didnt know that, so we told them how to recognize the weeds and how to remove them.

Another reponsibility of the girls: to remove the weeds. They accepted the job at first, but afraid of plucking the wrong 'green' -- they delegated the job to me. Watering the garden is more fun!

After a few weeks, our garden is green (with weeds in between). The girls enjoyed watching the plants growing. They have started counting the green strawberries. And our trees? It turned out they are cherry trees, and the other bushes were currants and blackberries!

Our garden is now very green. And some fruits and plants are giving it different colors such as red, black and orange.

We cant wait for the first harvest! (And I want to know if I have the green thumb, too!)

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