If you look to the right (in the sidebar) you’ll see that we only have seven more days till the carrot harvest. I bought cell pack starter plants at the nursery in late August and planted them with the wee ones next door (aka Jassy’s day-care kids).
Cell packs of carrots (bottom, right)
Newly planted carrots (Jassy made each of them a place-holder)
I’ve kept a sharp eye on them in case they faltered. I didn’t want someone’s first gardening experience to be a dud. So…when one of the small plants drooped and then dropped, I sprung into action. In the dead of night (well…late afternoon anyway), I swapped out one of the healthier carrots on the other side of the curb garden. I want each of the tiny gardeners to harvest a carrot of their own.
Healthy carrot tops, seven days till harvest
When Boomdee was here last week, she wondered aloud if we should have thinned them. Hmmmm…I have no idea. I’ve always thinned plants that I planted from seed, but for some reason assumed these were one-carrot-per-cell pack. This morning I scraped away a small amount of soil at the root line, and sure enough, several tiny carrots are growing together.
It’s too late to do much about it now. Chalk it up to another lesson learned at gardening nirvana.
Meanwhile, stay tuned for harvest day. I’m pretty excited.
Halloween Countdown:
Final count (probably) not counting the still-green pumpkin growing near the curb garden.
Gardening Nirvana 
Oh dear Alys! Carrots need thinning, Boomdee was right. If you are concerned about the size of them [and you can always check with another dead of night forage] I wonder if you might suggest to the tiny gardeners that the garden fairy has whispered in your ear that the carrots need a little longer to grow a bit bigger …. … Whatever the outcome I’m confident that provided the tiny gardeners get to eat a carrot, no matter what size, it will have been a successful introduction. Can’t wait to hear how it goes 🙂
those pumpkins are looking pretty good – I stumbled upon a recipe on how to make roasted salted pumpkin seeds from home grown pumpkins a couple of nights ago – made me think of you and smile!
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You’ve given sage advice and I’ve followed it. A longer post to follow. Suffice it to say, you were both right. I’ve unearthed a plant with six!!! tiny carrots looking for space to grow. (They smell wonderful, by the way)
Mmmmm…roasted pumpkin seeds. I’ve not had those in years. Must make an effort to do that this year.
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Jumping up and down and clapping hands in most un-sage-like manner …… 🙂
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LOL
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PS I’m loving your header picture – is there a story?
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Thanks, Pauline. Yes. More to follow soon.
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What a great idea to get tiny people to turn into tiny gardeners! 🙂 It’s going on my (long) list of “things to do with my son when he’s a bit bigger”!
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I loved gardening with my boys when they were small. My now 16 year old had his own little wheelbarrow (though he preferred to help push mine) and at two, helped me plant seeds and annuals. I remember saying to him “drop in the seed, cover with soil” and he would parrot back “drop the seed, cover with oil’ …I’ve never forgotten that. My now 13 year old grew pumpkins with me for ten years, and only now shows less interest. He’ll be a gardener later in life, I just know it.
Enjoy your little one (I’m sure you do).
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That story of your son planting the seed is so cute! My little man is 19 months so he’s a bit young for actual gardening (he prefers eating soil to planting!) but he loves touching and looking at flowers so the potential is there already. It’s great in any case to get kids interested in the garden and nature even if they never become gardeners, it gets them aware of the environment and nature.
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Well said! I’m amazed at the knowledge my boys have, just by osmosis. It’s a good thing to have, I agree.
19 months…what a cute age (when they aren’t having a tantrum).;-)
I remember the “pop everything in your mouth” stage. I called poison control once when my son popped an azalea flower in his mouth (and seemed to swallow it). I was gently assured that we would have to boil several flowers in a soup and drink it before it was potent enough to hurt him, but it sure frightened me at the time.
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Oh yes he loves eating random things he finds on the ground, always a worry! 🙂 He has some tantrums, mostly because he can’t talk much so I think he gets frustrated not being able to express himself. But in general he is a very happy little fellow.
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Our pediatrician said that 18 months was generally worse than two for just that reason. Between 2 and 3 they have the language explosion, and things are easier.
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Exactly! He’s annoyed but he can’t say why, plus we can’t negotiate either because he doesn’t understand.
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Then one day he’ll be 13 and you won’t be able to negotiate for a whole different set of reasons. 😉
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Ah yes. If anything, the teenage years frighten me most! 🙂
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I too love the header picture!
And the carrot harvest countdown 🙂
I look forward to hearing about the tiny gardeners and their excitement over the harvest!
(good thing it was Boomdee there and not me; I’dve had no idea that carrots needed to be thinned)
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Thanks, LB! Those are my sweet peas, growing in the curb garden and my beautiful necklace, a two-peas-in-a-pod gift from Boomdee herself.
Stay tuned for the carrot update. They are indeed crowded little clumps of carrots, vying for space to grow.
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You are always surprising me in the very nicest ways. ((( Alys ))) you’ve updated your header! That was so kind hon, I’m tickled that you’re showing it off, mwaaaa and ❤ <3. I really miss you this week !
As for the carrots…..I only know that ONE thing about vegetable gardens because I grew a whole row of mutants and misfits myself, LOL.
Atttention GN readers: Boomdee knows basically nada about vegetable gardens !!! LOL.
I think you're absolutely adorable to share your curb garden and encourage these tykes and to ensure they have success. Your mini gardener-wannabe's will be thrilled no matter what! Maybe you can have them trace their carrot masterpieces onto art paper and paint themselves up a work of garden art! As every artist knows, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder"!
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I love my peas-in-a-pod necklace and all it represents. It’s beautiful like you. It seemed fitting to photograph it among the sweet peas growing in the garden.
LOL to your row of mutants and misfits, not that it happened but at your description.
What a cute idea making carrot art. I’ll have to run that by Jassy…I’m sure she’s game.
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