Kinder Gardens - The Final Post

This is the last week of the

Kinder Garden - Let Them Get Dirty.

Above is the project the first born has been

patiently trying to do over the last 6 months.

Growing a Pea Tent.

The peas have been got at by birds and snails,

but they are finally off and running.

He has been so patient and just says

Oh well, we will plant some more :)

A friend has just suggested a natural pest conrol remedy

we have not heard of before.

Soak a bulb of Fennel in hot water, let cool

place in a watering can and apply to plants.

The bugs don't like the anaseed aroma.

So far it's working :)

Thanks Liesl

For my last post, I will give a little history of our patch.

It started back in 2003, first born was only 9 months when

we moved to this house,we had a large expanse of grass and

a dead tree (gone in this pic)

in the back yard.

A vegetable patch was first on the agenda.

Pa came to help

Another  labourer boy came along in 2004

Holidays were spent working in the yard,

rather than spending money on trips,

we stayed home and reduced our debt

(we are now debt free!!!)

We have had a holiday or 2 over the years :)

did not miss out completely.

And we have ended up this 

educational,

healthy,

organic,

social family spot

 in our back yard

The 3 boys, (another arrived in 2006)

have been involved in the patch all the way,

from building, planting, picking and cooking.

A couple of garden awards have also be won along the way.

The boys were going for a hat-trick,

after winning best vegie patch in town 2 years in a row.

The competition does not run anymore.

The best thing about being involved in the comp

was having an Open Garden for the public.

People streamed in, the boys had a ball

giving people guided tours and

informing them what all the plants were,

about compost and natural pest control

On weekends, the boys help Peter

They even take it upon themselves to do

some cultivating while dads at work

(nobody was injured during this gardening session - amazingly)

Hunting and gathering spuds

Our boys benifit in so many ways from our vegie patch,

more than I expected they would.

At other peoples houses, they ask

"where is their vegie patch?"

They presume everyone has one.

A patch is not time consuming, once it is constructed,

its pretty easy, an afternoon here or there.

Having said that -

my husband spends a lot of time on ours!

It's his hobby, where he teaches the boys about it,

and where he chats and spends time with the boys.

I have enjoyed participating in "Kinder Gardens" and

looking at the other inspirational children in their gardens.

Even though it has been winter here,

we still managed to pull together our posts most weeks.

I will definately still be visiting the other participants,

a couple of favouries

Faithbuss

The Inadvertent Farmer

their photography is fantastic.

Till next time

Jacqueline