"For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." ~ Romans 1:20

You know spring is officially about us when just about all thoughts are on everything bursting forth to new life.  As we have watched our woods in back, we have seen the bright greens edging their way from the ground up, all the way to there only being a few trees still lacking their new attire.

You just can't help getting in the gardening mood!  This year is our first attempt at growing a small garden area in our backyard.  My childhood memories consist of every spring planting a very large garden on our small family farm.  You know there will never on this earth be food that tasted so good again.  Rich red ripe tomatoes, crisp carrots, and sweet juicy corn....are a few of the delightful memories from my childhood garden.

While we do not have the land to grow a very large garden, nor do I think we would because I also remember the intense work required for such a thing, we do have enough for a couple small raised beds.  So, while it's a bit early yet, we decided to call upon my gardening heroes (my parents) and commence to getting our hands dirty.

We planted two beds; 6' x 4' and 4' x 4'.  We used a pretty even mixture of potting soil and top soil.  In the larger bed we planted some seedlings that we had started indoors (roma tomatoes, carrots, bell peppers, and basil); and also planted seeds for zucchini and a few Yukon Gold potato starters.  The smaller bed we will probably be using for planting Hannah's perrenials; depending on how many more vegetables I find that we want to grow!  She just started the seeds indoors this past week.  I have dreams for making one more 4' x 4' possibly down closer to the creekside to plant Milkweed plants and butterfly bushes in.

Great book that I have gotten lots of ideas from:

Great website and activities for gardening with kids:

Gardening with Children

Backyard Fun and Gardening - FamilyFun

My First Garden - EXCELLENT! 

Ways to get children excited about gardening:

• Mom needs to jump up and down with excitement too!
• Begin by reading great but simple books on gardening, including what the fruits of their labor will be.
• Let them choose a few things to grow, even if they want to grow corn and perhaps you don't have the room, encourage them to plant a couple seeds/plants just to see the process and perhaps get an ear or two of corn to eat!  Or see if you can re-direct to a more profitable vegetable choice.  It doesn't have to be vegetables, choose flowers or a tree!
• Help them come up with a plan of how to layout the garden.
• Start some seeds indoors ahead of time.  Even though this process is more work seeing something grow from seed is priceless in lessons.
• Encourage them to keep a written journal.  Take photos (or let them) for them to keep in their journals.  If they are too young to write very much, encourage drawing pictures of the steps.
• Get some real tools.  Real children-sized gardening tools are available.  Even younger ones can partcipate by using plastic ones.
• Let them be a part of labeling the plant stakes markers.  If you'd like they can draw pictures which you can cover with laminate or packing tape and attach to the stakes.
• Use this opportunity to teach about plant life cycle and how amazing it is that God put exactly what that plant needed to grow in that little tiny seed.
• If you don't have the area outside to plant, don't hesistate to plant in containers and still enjoy the process.
• Involve them in reaping the harvest!  Enjoy a wonderful meal prepared from their delicious creations.