Thursday, June 19, 2014

Garden Mountain

One of our families invited us to help plant their garden.  About a month
ago we had a small group visit Vivian and Millie’s house.
        IMG_3530
              IMG_3528
Vivian had an interesting theory; each plant needs a certain depth for their roots so what if the garden was a hill, like a mountain, would everything grow?
 
 IMG_3610 IMG_3531
She had a plan drawn explaining where each seed would be planted according
to the space their root needed.
           IMG_3542
IMG_3533IMG_3536
We started at the top of the mountain to plant popcorn.
IMG_3540IMG_3544
What a great experience to dig into the soil and get our hands dirty pushing the seeds into the ground.  We also practiced sounds of letters to help us decide what each seed started with so we could print the name on a stick.
IMG_3548IMG_3553
Can you guess the next seed?  It starts with a ‘k’ sound.
IMG_3549
Vivian showed us how to sprinkle the carrot seeds from our fists.
IMG_3558
IMG_3561IMG_3562
Next was pumpkins that needed to be poked into the soil and covered.
IMG_3566IMG_3567IMG_3571IMG_3573
Then we stretched a short fence around half of the mountain to plant peas.  The children measured the depth of the hole by using their finger and planted a seed in front of each fence peg.
IMG_3601IMG_3603IMG_3607
Lastly we erected a bamboo teepee.  The children shovelled dirt around the poles to help secure it to the ground.
       IMG_3617
Around each pole they planted beans.  As the beans grow they will climb the pole.
      IMG_3631
We finished gardening by giving the mountain a good rainfall.

One month later
IMG_2241 IMG_2242
Pumpkin,                                                   beans,
IMG_2246 IMG_2248
peas                                                                    and carrots
                                           are all growing. 

Thanks Vivian and Millie for teaching us about seeds and growing a garden mountain.

We’ll be back in the fall to help harvest.