So I’ll admit it, I’ve never planted anything. At least not as an adult. I’m sure we planted things in school and I can remember going to the garden with my Gramma from time to time. But I’ve never had a garden myself and I don’t do any landscaping here at the house. I’m guessing I have my mother to thank for that. I don’t recall having ever seen her tend to plants either. Actually, I believe I remember her saying once that she could kill fake flowers… or something along those lines.

Now my Kiddo is a different story. She’s interested in all kinds of digging & planting. She certainly didn’t get it from her father either (FarmVille does not count!). She spends a lot of time with my In-Laws who have always had a small garden and who always have new things planted all around the house. I’m thankful that she has learned so much from them about different flowers. She’s 4 years old and she can point out more types of flowers than I can.

Last summer she had her own garden spot at their house. On occasion, she would finish eating a piece of watermelon or an apple and she would ask to save the seed to plant in her garden later. Of course she just went out, tossed it in a whole and never thought of it again. Nothing ever grew. But this year, we decided she was big enough to really try some of her own gardening.

We found these awesome little kits at Hobby Lobby, where I also purchased some cute garden tools for her for $0.99 each! We picked up two of these kits from Crayola – Tomatoes & Zinnias.

You get a little tray with 10 ‘pods’ and one pack of seeds. After adding water to the tray, the pods will begin to expand. The soil is encased in some sort of coconut fiber. The package gave a website to learn more about coconut fibers but when I tried, I couldn’t find any information. I’m not sure if using those fibers benefit your plants in some way or if it is just a green alternative to using some sort of synthetic material. I’d like to find out more.

Once you add the water, the pods will float and then the waiting game begins.

Once the pods have soaked up most of the water and are no longer floating, you’ll notice there are small holes (some of the seemed to have ripped and are larger) in the coconut fiber. This is where you can place two seeds in each pod.

The Kiddo was able to do every step of this project. She made sure all of the pods were face up before adding the water, poured the water herself, placed the pods back into their designated areas after they had floated around in the water for a while and then placed two seeds into each one.

When you’ve finished, you replace the clear covers that came with the tray and you have your own greenhouse! Allow them to grow in the greenhouse for a while then remove the lid. After a little more time in the tray, we’ll be able to take them out and plant them outside. I think we’ll move them to a pots this weekend and leave them for a bit before putting them in her garden, We are in Tennessee after all, who knows when it might snow again!

I have some photos from week one and I’ll take some this weekend, which will be the end of week three. I’ll post them later.