Proof I’m not a killer of all things green

Back in May, I had Lance and the girls out in the vastness of the backyard, preparing for a new family project.  We were attempting a great feat- a sunflower garden.  I found the idea in a Family Fun magazine. 

Lance, being way smarter in the gardening category, hacked and hewed a giant U shape in the dirt and then mixed all the soil up with horse manure.  It was oh, so fragrant. 

The backyard has a new horseshoe shaped design.

Then me and the girlies used packs of differing sunflower seeds to sow into the horseshoe.  I got four varieties:  Mammoth sunflowers that are supposed to grow up to 12 feet and actually produce sunflower seeds, some regular sunflowers that are supposed to grow up to 6 feet, some red sunflowers that are supposed to grow up to 5 feet and some kid-sized sunflowers that are supposed to grow up to 3-4 feet.  We had a pretty good assembly line going.  I, using a ruler and a teeny shovel, made little holes, Addie would fish the seeds out of the packs and Emma would drop them in and fill in the hole. 

Some of the seeds we used.

Our assembly line hard at work.

Then we watered and waited.  Mother nature took her sweet time but eventually we began to see some teeny shoots grow taller.

Proof of life!

Hardly the promised 12 feet, but getting there.  We noticed the birds had snacked on the seeds we planted into the ground.  They particularly liked the red sunflower seeds, so our little garden will lack that color. 

There was only one real snag.  Because I am super duper smart, I had Lance dig the horseshoe smack in the middle of the yard, which is really really really far from a water spigot.  So we had to rely on rain to water our little flowers. 

An actual sunflower!

Whole buncha sunflowers!

Everyday the girls and I trek out into the minature jungle and marvel at the new stalks that have sprouted and count how many blooms we see.  We also get really creeped out by the bugs that swarm around.  Like these things:

Creepy green bugs that live in our garden.

But the girls especially love finding and capturing these:

Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home...

 

Butterflies...flowers that fly and all but sing. --Robert Frost

I have no idea if it’ll rain again, so I may need to break down and actually water the durn things.  And so far, the Mammoth sunflowers look anemic.  But we’ve had an awesome time, me and the girlies. 

Eight packs of sunflower seeds:  $8.00

Dirt tilling tool:  $25.00

Sweating in the dirt with your kids and watching nature work:  PRICELESS