Growing Special Memories With A Family Garden
Family Movie Night is one of the least expensive ways to gather my family together. I love to think of Themed Family Movie Nights and this week we learned to Grow Special Memories with a Family Garden and Peter Rabbit.
May has arrived, which means that everyone should officially be shopping for Mother's Day or at least looking or thinking of what the plans will be for the day for the most important person in their life. Are you tired of getting the ladies in your life the same things every year? This year get her something different! I have decided this year that my gift from my husband and kiddos really must match something that makes a perfect gift for the women they are celebrating. Me! I am so over getting candles, soaps, bathrobes and brunch out at a very crowded restaurant with not-so-great food.
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I've already informed my husband that I want the outside of our home cleaned up. In the past couple of years, he has let the landscaping slide. Since our son is a teenager, he has been leaving the grass cutting to my son and that is pretty much all that has been getting done. The landscape is over grown, dead and very tired looking. I have tasked my family to get our front yard looking in tip top shape for Mother's Day for me.
This will include cleaning up the shrub beds, trees beds and flower beds. We have to be mindful of what we plant in all of our front yard landscaping since we live in the midwest and we are only able what is appropriate for our climate and for the specific conditions in our yard. We have evergreen bushes and evergreen trees that are interspersed with spring and summer flowers as well as annual greenery to create a beautifully landscaped front and side yard. However, nothing has been done with these areas in a couple of years, since my son took over the cutting of the grass.
On Mother's Day, everyone will be tasked to cleaning up the front yard, hanging baskets full of petunias, pulling weeds, and adding dirt and mulch to beds and trees. The biggest task of all will be getting the square foot garden prepped and ready for seed planting. At the moment, my tiny garden has been a play area for my daughter's rabbit. She and Truffle have dug some holes and tunnels and been having way too much fun in there.
Do you have a garden during the summer months?
Summer is the best time for gardening in my area! We have had one for about a decade now and having a garden has really fostered a love of the earth in my children, especially my daughters. We have raised worms for the sole purpose of putting them in mushroom compost mixed with garden soil for our garden. We have had great luck except for this past summer. I'm hoping that the lack of sunshine last year will not be a repeat this summer.
We don't have a lush garden filled to overflowing with a variety of vegetables like Mr. McGregor's garden in Peter Rabbit, but one can aspire to have a small, perfectly formed show garden someday! What we do have is a small garden filled with beets, carrots, radishes green beans and tomatoes. Over the years we have tried a variety of vegetables, but these five veggies are our favorite and seem to do the best in our area.
“Now, my dears,” said old Mrs. Rabbit one morning, “you may go into the fields or down the lane, but don’t go into Mr. McGregor’s garden."
I learned gardening from my grandmother who had Mr. McGregor's garden. When I think back to how beautiful her garden was, I smile. I really can't imagine having a garden that large these days, but I don't live on a farm either. I spent many hours weeding with her, digging up potatoes and picking green beans, tomatoes and cucumbers. I now do the same with my own children, but on a much smaller scale. What better way is there to spend time with my children during the summer months. We are growing special memories.
Not only are my children outdoors, instead of indoors, they are enjoying fresh air, nature, dirt (got to build up those immunities), they are also learning a valuable skill--how to grow their own food. They are learning a skill, patience, gentleness, and nurturing by watering, weeding, and working together to grow veggies. Making a garden flourish is heard work! The easy part is enjoying the fruits of your labor!
How To Start A Garden
Select a Location
Clear the Ground - Gardening Gloves
Enrich and Till the Soil - Garden Tool Set
Pick the Seeds - Carrot Seed Cards
Plant the Seeds
Water & Weed - Watering Can
So, as you can see, I really like to have plants around my home. A beautifully landscaped yard makes me happy and an overflowing garden makes me really happy. Like Mr. McGregor, we have to put up a fence around our square foot garden because we do have a wild rabbit who likes to visit and nibble away at the tops of all my radishes, carrots and green beans. Last summer, he nearly wiped out my entire garden!
Recently, PETER RABBIT™ joined forces with Slow Food USA’s “Plant A Seed” campaign, working with schools and local gardening programs and they honored Earth Day a couple of weeks ago. They are also encouraging families to plant seeds together. And that is exactly what we will be doing on Mother's Day this year! And after we have planted our summer garden, we will enjoy a beautiful garden party.
I have created a Mothers Day Seed Packet Template and a Teacher's Appreciation Seed Packet Template. All that needs to be done is to simply print, glue, fill and give them away to all the special mommas and teachers in your life!
<PIN THIS PRINTABLE TO USE FOR LATER TEACHER APPRECIATION DAYS>
<PIN THIS POST FOR LATER AND MORE SUMMER GARDENING>
| DON’T FORGET TO PIN THIS FOR MORE FAMILY MOVIE NIGHT IDEAS |
