So Much Fun

I've given in.  I fought the good fight for nearly a decade.  It's time to throw in the towel (trowel?) and admit defeat.  Wiser minds have prevailed.  Observation confirmed my suspicion.  Though they love to plant seeds and eat what grows, the most fun the scholars have in the garden harkens back to a simpler time in their lives.  

They miss the sandbox.

One raised bed has been planted by "the big kids."  Somehow, the younger scholars have internalized the concept of delay of gratification.  They recognize that good things come to those who wait.  They respect the fact that the 2nd bed is the 3rd, 4th and 5th grade garden.  They look on it with admiration.  They caution one another to keep the digging activities to the 1st raised bed, the one I've decided is their sandbox.

Grandma's Garden has plenty of trowels.  We also have a big box filled with soil.  Every morning, there are new little shoots popping up.  The scholars notice them, wonder what they are (Grandma has no idea), and then proceed to dig them up.

We have almost as many watering cans as we do trowels.  First grade was quite interested in the patterns an overflowing pool can make in soft soil.  There were bridges built.  Imaginary plants drowned in enthusiastic watering, while other scholars, like the two in the back of this photo, water painted with the foam brushes.

Our tree stump was carefully cleaned.  The sap was sticky so I'm cleaning it up so that kids won't get stuck when they sit on the stump.

There's lots to do in Grandma's Garden.  Not all of it involves plants.