Planting!

May 6

The rain stops. Finally. We head down to our little garden after school and start to dig. The earth is dark and wet. Every turn of the shovel brings up big wriggling earth worms. My girls squeal and want to hold each one. I gently pull the marigolds out of the plastic pots and hand them over one by one. I ask them to figure out where they should go to help keep the plant eating insects away. We have a long discussion about butterflies, lady bugs and daddy long leg spiders all who are deemed helpful and we hope are not bothered by the marigold scent.

I dig holes for the tomato and strawberry plants. We gently pat the earth around them and admire our new additions. Then we move on to planting the marigolds. They have been laid out around the edge of the bed, some closer than others. Not perfectly spaced as I would have attempted. But they are perfect just the way they are. Gardening for us is about watching things grow, for noticing, and for getting excited about worms.