Little Hobbits' Garden

Pippin my boy, full of joy,

How does your garden grow?

With basil leaves, tomatoes and beans,

and marigolds all in a row.

Pippin is eager to check his garden every morning. Often times he will be out there before we've even had breakfast. And, if I'm not able to go out with him to open the gate for him, he will go into the garage and enter the garden through the doggy door. I can't believe he fits through the doggy door! I guess little hobbits can squeeze themselves into small places.

At any rate, Pippin is very pleased with his garden. He and Frodo had been asking to make a garden for about two years, but I just never quite knew what to do about our horrible rock and clay soil until I found the book "The All New Square Foot Garden" by Mel Bartholomew. With book in hand, we went to the local home center and bought our boards, peat moss, compost, vermiculite and seeds. Voila! Instant garden, just add time...and water.

We have planted...

zucchini, watermelon, cantaloupe,

sweet and cinnamon basil, five kinds of tomatoes, green beans...

and marigolds, cucumber, dill, parsley, oregano, and cilantro. Pippin also planted one piece of our popcorn to see if it would grow. It did, and we now have a little corn stalk about 8 inches high.

Pippin is seriously looking forward to the watermelon and cantaloupe! As for the veges, he doesn't like many of the summer veges. What he's really looking forward to are the cool weather veges. He's counting the days until he can plant his carrot seeds and sugar snap peas. Frodo, for the most part, likes lettuce and carrots. We will have to plant some more lettuce next month to carry us through the fall.

I think it's amazing what children will do if given the opportunity to make something of their ideas. Childen shouldn't be relegated to making macaroni necklaces and other useless twaddle just because they're young. Frodo and Pippin were only 8 and 4 when they first developed the desire to plant a garden. At the ages of 10 and 6 they were able to bring their idea to fruition. We are now reaping the harvest of their notion...literally!