spring homeschool lesson fail

about a month ago, pea and i finally put our green toys planters to use and planted some cosmos, basil, and one other type of flower that i have since forgotten. i had no idea what to expect, my green thumb has not been utilized much since grade school.

i told him that we'd likely see sprouts about a week after we started the project. much to my surprise and pea's delight, the sprouts were at their tallest, most vibrant stage just three days after planting.



green toys indoor gardening kit, evi gnome dolls, and a tree by anne moze make up our "seasonal table" in the kitchen

 when i say their most vibrant stage, i mean their most alive stage. i don't know where i went wrong after that. i would let pea water them every other day or when the soil seemed dry and he was always very careful not to flood the pots. then one day i accidentally flooded them and it all went downhill from there. sprouts are tender things and ours suffered from both over and underwatering. for a few weeks i kept reviving them from different stages of my apparent neglect and lack of knowledge.

and then it all came back - elementary school gardening 101! i remember the same exciting sprouting stage of big open green bursts in our little baby food jars. i remember coloring pages about the phases and i remember taking my happy little sprouts home. then the wilty, browned, and useless things would overhang the baby food jars. i remember that and i'd like to blame my mom, but maybe i just don't (and never did) have a future in gardening.