Let Me "Hep" You, Pwease!

This is Ella.

This is Josiah.

These are two of my brother’s three children. The oldest, Kayleigh, wasn’t able to join us, but these two, especially Ella, makes up for that! Ella LOVES to help. It doesn’t matter what you’re doing, she wants a piece of the action. I love this little girl’s zest for life. She’s expressive, stubborn, and down right hilarious. And she was thrilled about helping Grandma and Grandpa with their garden!

Josiah, on the other hand, is much more reserved. He has some pretty severe skin allergies that don’t allow him to dig in the dirt. So, he had a great time playing with Grandma on the swing set in the backyard.

While Mom waited for the kids to show up, Dad and I ran to Lowes to see what other vegetable experiments we could try. We definitely decided that we needed some marigolds. Planting these flowers around your garden, tomato plants especially, helps keep the bugs away. They don’t like the smell. Frankly, I don’t either. So we purchased about six plants to keep around the garden.

We also decided to try our hand at lettuce. Lettuce is typically a colder weather plant and we are taking a risk planting it. There weren’t any seedlings available, so we went with straight seeds and some oblong planters to plant them in. This should be Ella-proof, right?

After we got home, we took everything to the backyard to get Ella all set up.

First things first, the marigolds were placed on the bed. Ella did this with great care!
















I wish I had pictures of her planting the seeds with Grandpa. I’m not sure how I missed that one. Maybe it’s because I was trying to keep her from spilling the seeds everywhere. I didn’t do a very good job of that. She was so excited that all the seeds kind of got dumped into little piles, instead of planted in a nice long row. If this lettuce makes it, it will be a total miracle! She was so proud of herself that you just couldn’t get mad.

After everything was planted and in its place, it was time to give it a good watering. Josiah decided he was the man for the job! He sweetly followed Grandpa around, holding on to the hose, to make sure that all the plants got their share of the water. Some plants got a little more than others.

 

With Ella's help, my Dad made a gate out of some old fence he had in the garage to keep out any skunks or raccoons.








So, planting day had come to a close and our gardening adventure had truly begun. Our dreams of delicious vegetables were securely planted in the ground, watered, and protected with a makeshift gate and some plastic mesh. Now we wait.

Planting Day!

Well, the day finally came...time to plant all of our lovely little seedlings! The weather could not have been more perfect. It was overcast and cool, and the ground was nice and soft after the rain from the day before. My dad had lined the garden bed with compost a few days before we began planting to give the ground a chance to rest. Everything was ready to go!



Before I arrived, Mom and Dad had already planted the strawberries and herbs in large, galvanized tubs. Perfect receptacles for plants that don’t need much room!

Then, it was tomato time. Oh, my favorite! Tomatoes are great plants for pots, instead of planting them directly in the ground. The plants generally grow up and not out too much, so a cage or trellis is necessary.

Have you ever seen the upside down tomato planters? My niece Ella thought that was the funniest thing she’d ever seen, so of course we had to get one for her! This is planted with a great beefsteak tomato called “Celebrity.” This variety is a very dependable producer and the tomatoes are delish!

Now to start on the garden bed!

First things first…

We set all of the plants in their pots on top of the garden bed to be sure we gave each plant enough room to grow. Grouping similar plants together helps maximize your space.

These lovely plants are bell peppers. Now, why my dad bought so many pepper plants, I’ll never know! Sometimes you can’t leave him alone with a basket in a store. These are not large plants so they don’t need a large amount of space between plants.





At this point, I began to feel like a REAL gardener. First of all, I was totally filthy. I had mud on my jeans, my gardening gloves were black with dirt, and my gardening clogs (yes, I said clogs) were covered in mud. It. Was. Awesome. I had been digging in the beautiful soil, planting these young seedlings in hopes that they would one day produce something delicious. I had even dug up some worms and didn’t gag. Total accomplishment! And to top it all off, it had started to rain. It was like my own little made-for-TV movie moment.

With this phase of the garden done, we got word that my niece and nephew were coming to “help.” Ella is four and Josiah is eighteen months. Are you getting the picture? So off to Lowes once more to find some kid-friendly plants for them to help with.

Phase two was underway…