It’s important to (try to) slow the boys down and observe their surroundings. I asked them to look more carefully – more closely – at one of their plants, or a part of a plant, and draw. Here’s what they came up with:

Rex LOVES his chives. I appreciate that he imagined what was going on below-ground, as well as above.

Jude loves art, and he’s full of creativity. He drew himself  watering his garden scene.

Morris’s picture captures all the green tomatoes in his garden.

J planted two corn seeds in the corner of his garden, and their growth rate has been unbelievable! So yeah, in Iowa we watch the corn grow…and we’re impressed at how quickly it reaches our heads and then into the heavens. I once heard a story about a farmer who would stand in his field and swear he heard it growing. Well, there’s no chance of hearing it in our gabby garden. There’s too much talk of Minecraft, baseball, and bizarre bugs.

 

We took a week off of measuring our plants, so June 19 is absent from the chart. I did this somewhat on purpose, to really see a difference in growth. There was clearly a growth spurt during those two weeks!

Tomato plants shot up and little yellow blooms – some with green bulbs underneath – are everywhere! Our pole beans filled out and their arms are reaching for something to wrap around: tomato cages, the garden fence, other plants. (I should have given them something to climb, and may need to do that later.) The herbs are full and ready to harvest: I picked and dried some of the dill and froze some of the basil in small baggies. Our garden is growing!

(*Two weeks later.)

REX	June 4	June 11	*June 26
Tomato	11-½”	19” (1’7”)	32” (2’8”)
Chili Pepper	10”	12”	4 peppers 4 flowers
Chives	7”	9”	Filling out

“My potato plant sprouted. My mint is spreading. My whole garden is filled. It used to have seeds and now it is full.” -Rex

JUDE	June 4	June 11	*June 26
Tomato	11-½”	12.5”	24”
Bean	2.5”	6.5”	All over!
Corn	1”	13”	50” !!!
Eggplant	6-¾”	7.5”	1 Purple flower
Sage	5-¼”	5.5”	Filling out

“My potato plant has grown and there’s a purplish-whitish flower on my eggplant!” -Jude

 

MORRIS	June 4	June 11	*June 26
Tomato	9”	15” (1’3”)	34” (1’10”
Cabbage	4”	7”	Center folding
Spinach	5”	8”	To seed
Bean	2”	6”	All over!

 “The leaves are kinda big (on my tomato plant).” -Morris

And so are my boys! Family and friends comment on how tall Rex looks lately. Jude’s once clown-sized shoes now fit perfectly. And, I notice Morris’s pants from this winter are now high-waters, and long-sleeve shirts creep up his forearms. They all need haircuts and are constantly stealing snacks from the pantry.

 

Rex, Morris, and Daddy all have lettuce growing like crazy in their gardens. Rex has Bib and red leaf lettuce; Morris is growing spinach (not quite lettuce, but lettuce-like); and Daddy is growing Bib and green leaf lettuce. One of the best things about growing lettuce is you can harvest it over and over throughout the summer, provided it doesn’t get too hot or too many pests attack. This is in contrast to the cabbage we’re growing, which takes up a lot of space, can only be harvested once, and the caterpillars apparently love it.

One evening we harvested a whole bowl full of lettuce, taking leaves from each boys’ gardens. Jude was in need of a structured activity, so I nominated him to clean it and make a big salad to his liking.

He wasn’t thrilled at first, but after washing the leaves, and finding a caterpillar attached to a leaf in a cocoon (Understand, creepy crawlies are one of the loves of his life!), he got into it.  His salad was delicious: ranch dressing, string cheese, and croutons. He might be up for salad making again…IF I can promise him he’ll find another bug.

The boys have become very attune to their gardens, especially in the areas of defense and protection. Weeds are quickly spotted – Intruder! – and plucked out by their little fingers. No one messes with their turf. They now know the differences between their vegetable plants and weeds, which they didn’t know before this project.

“The weeds are pointed on the end, like grass,” they tell me. Or, they’re short and have curvy leaves. Their plants are tall and thriving, so the little stinkers are easy to spot.

Originally, I dreamed each boy would water his garden every day, but that dream has gone by the wayside. Instead, the boys take turns watering. At first, they complained and whined, viewing it as another chore interrupting their special time with action figures. Now, they complain, but they complain less, and I even think they enjoy spraying once they get started. The hose is like a giant squirt gun after all.

Boy, are our boys’ gardens growing!

Boys exclaim about their plants changing. Even without the tape measure, they notice their plants are taller, fuller, and some are blooming.

I asked them what they noticed about their gardens this week. What has changed?

REX	June 4	June 11
Tomato	11-½”	19” (1’7”)
Chili pepper	10”	12”
Chives	7”	9”

 “My peas are growing good. My garden seems more filled with life.” (Rex)

JUDE	June 4	June 11
Tomato	11-½”	12.5”
Bean	2.5”	6.5”
Corn	1”	13”
Eggplant	6-¾”	7.5”
Sage	5-¼”	5.5”

“This week I planted potatoes.” and “My corn is huge!” (J)

MORRIS	June 4	June 11
Tomato	9”	15” (1’3”)
Cabbage	4”	7”
Spinach	5”	8”
Bean	2”	6”

“It has grew bigger!” (Mo)

Our first little harvest was used as a trade for FUN!

We traded Rex’s basil for pool passes to Aunt Heidi’s and Uncle Tommy’s pool. Our three boys swim with their three boys weekly, and man, is fun ever LOUD! The boys play Marco Polo, basketball, a slam dunk jam, and various other raucous activities.

Aunt Heidi loves to use basil in her salads, so when the top leaves of Rex’s basil plant started to get about two inches long and an inch or so wide, we thought some fresh herbs would be a nice gift of gratitude.

I love gardens with a little character. The boys and I like to stroll through a neighborhood garden planted by a group of Master Gardeners. These gardeners let the plants speak for themselves mostly, but they also add touches of character: a fairy house and chairs planted in the middle of succulents, or a gnome peeking out from under a tomato plant.

My boys have lots of character, so I decided I’d give them a $20 budget to decorate their gardens a little. I took each boy to our local grocery store where they have a garden section full of decorative items. They have at least a hundred brightly painted tin sculptures, and Jude selected a large, blue airplane with a spinning propeller and two pots to plant. He begged – I mean begged – to go over-budget (by $20) and spend some of his Christmas and birthday money on a little yellow bird. I couldn’t say no to that.

Morris picked out a two things. He can be quite decisive when he sees what he likes, and he spotted a double wind-spinner right away. He didn’t even want to consider anything else. As we were checking out, he found a display of ceramic mushrooms. He had to have the blue one, which he keeps shoved deep into his garden with only the top sticking out of the earth.

Rex has been uncertain about how to decorate his garden. Uncertain or disinterested, I’m not sure. I purchased a blue gnome awhile ago, which sat on our kitchen counter until I decided to offer it to him. He said, sure, he’d take it, so now it nests in the corner of his garden by his chocolate mint plant.

As you can tell, the boys bring a lot of their own character to the gardens. 🙂

I thought it might be cool to do a little measuring activity. Just how tall are your baby plants? Then we can measure throughout the growing season and see how they’ve grown.

We took our first measurements one week after planting, on June 4, 2016.

I let each boy hold the tape measure (They love tape measures! The boys usually use them as super spy weapons or flexible swords.) and read the measurement. My four year-old needs a little help, but he can read the numbers separately: one and three. I record all of the information. My plan is to make a growth chart for the boys to fill in every two or three weeks.

Measurements:

REX	June 4
Tomato	11-½”
Chili Red Pepper	10”
Chives	7”

I asked Rex what he thought was the biggest change in his garden

He replied: “My chili red grew a flower.”

JUDE	June 4
Tomato	11-½”
Green-Bean	(Seed-¾”) Plant 2.5”
Corn	1”
Eggplant	6-¾”
Sage	5-¼”

I asked Jude what had changed about his garden.

He answered: “Yesterday, only one bean was up and today I have three!”

MORRIS	June 4
Tomato	9”
Cabbage	4”
Spinach	5”
Bean	2”

Morris noticed that his tomato plant was growing. When I asked what was different, he said, “The leaves are kinda big…” 

While I’m at it, I thought I might measure the height of my boys, as well. I can see how much they’ve grown during the summer.

Rex: 57” (4 feet, 9 inches)

Jude: 53” (4 feet, 5 inches)

Morris: 42” (3 feet, 6 inches)

It’s a little tricky for me to keep my hands off during this part. I love to plant! I really want to dig the little holes, nestle the plants into the earth, and gently cover them back up. Instead, I let my boys have this satisfaction.

We planted our gardens on Sunday, May 29, 2016.

Jude planted his garden first. He wanted to plant each plant by himself, and he carefully selected where they’d go. When I told him to place his tallest plants in the back, his mind quickly calculated what should go where and why. For example, when selecting the spot for his dill, he considered and said, “This (square) would be the worst possible spot for the dill because the corn would block all the sun.” He gets it.

Jude dug all the holes for his plants, took all the extra wrapping off, tore the bottom off the plants with the recyclable pots, placed the plants or seeds into the earth, and carefully covered them up. We saved five squares for potatoes that were coming via mail (Burpee.com), so his planting was done quickly…maybe too quickly for him. He really loved it.

Morris planted his garden next. At age 4, he wants to do what his brothers do, but his attention span is shorter. With his dad, he dug the hole for his tomato plant, tore off the bottom of the paper pot, carefully placed it in the earth, and covered it up. He continued with the cabbages he wanted, but started to lose interest after that. His brothers were on the trampoline, after all! Reluctantly, he popped pea seeds into the little holes I dug, and then said, “I’m done, Mom. You do the rest.”

Rex was the last to plant his garden, and he did so with care. As the oldest, he takes responsibility seriously, and he wanted to make sure he did it right: placed plants in good spots, and covered them with enough dirt. To speed the process along, he asked that I help did the holes while he prepared the plants (took off the paper pot bottoms and wrappers) and planted them. He planted his entire garden, and then we were done!

Three boys. Three gardens planted!