A PLAY GARDEN

inspired by this pin, we set out to create L a fun little play garden last week. armed with a bag of organic garden soil, pink flowers, a strawberry plant and mini-sized garden tools we dug out of the garage, we got to work. okay, M got to work because he's the guy and he knows how to do the dirty work like digging up the sod and creating the shape of the garden.

but L and i planted everything and she's been having fun since. it's so much fun to watch her do her gardening thing and i love that she is learning about nature and being good to our planet.

i have a feeling the garden will always be a work in progress. eventually i want to add some herbs and veggies and i am sure we'll let her pick new flowers every spring and fall.

the details:

M carefully dug up some of the sod so we could replant it elsewhere and then he used a shovel and edger to cut out the shape we wanted the garden to be. ours is about a 5x5 section against the fence in our backyard.

after we had the section cleared out, M used the edger to put the little border up so it would stay in place. we just picked up a roll of 10 ft border at home depot for around $7 and we cut it in half to leave an opening.

we raked through the dirt to loosen it up and get the bigger clumps of grass out and then we topped it off with the bag of organic garden soil. you can use any soil, we just grabbed the organic one because it was cheaper and was okay for vegetables and flowers.

we planted some pink annuals that L picked out, a strawberry plant and we transplanted some sunflowers and misc herbs that she had planted in a milk jug during preschool one week. we also left a chunk of grass in the corner to hold the "grass man" (a library project) and it will also be the future home of some painted rocks. once i find rocks and she paints them!

and that's it. she usually goes out and plays a little each day and i remind her to water her garden. otherwise, we let it be and the rain helps us out every now and then.

it was a fun and relatively easy project. if you make one, i'd love to see it!