How does your garden grow?

Forget talking to your plants... it is staring at them that does the trick.

We are ready for spring at my house. Unfortunately, the weather says otherwise. It has snowed several times last week, and the temperature hints at being warmer - high forties - but then it always dips below freezing at night. Everything is wet, as it either rains or snows or both at the same time.

Since we dont' have a place outside to plant flowers or have a garden, I decided that Boo might like to plant some flowers inside. We could get a jump start on spring this way. I bought a rectangular flower box and a packet of flower seeds designed to attract humingbirds and butterflies. They are different varieties in bright pretty colors. About 10 days ago, on a Saturday morning, Boo and I got out the potting soil and I showed her how to plant flowers. She was so excited! She helped me carefully pour the soil into the planter. Then I sprinkled a few seeds into the palm of my hand and showed her the different seeds. "See, Boo? This one is small, round and black, while this one is sort of shaped like a banana. Each seed will make a flower grow. The different seeds will make different flowers." Trying to remember she is only 3, I was still excited to share this knowledge of nature with her, hoping she would understand. I sprinkled the seeds across our box of soil. "My turn!" she cried. I sprinkled a few seeds in her hand. She held it out to me. "Now look, mom. This seed is round, and this seed is like a shape thing-y, and this one is... well it looks like a... well it's just weird." I had to bite the inside of my cheek not to laugh. Sometimes she is just too darn cute! We sprinkled the seeds until the whole packet was gone. Then we carefully sprinkled a little potting soil on top and watered them. Boo was so excited! "When do the flowers come?" I told her in about a week, we would see little green stems, and it would take longer to actually have flowers. (50 - 84 days according to the package). She went with me to put the flower box on the patio, hoping for a little sunlight through the rainy day.

Every day Boo would come home and check on the flowers. She helped me water them and would sit and stare at them. Saturday morning, after being watered, Boo asked if she could stay on the patio on watch them. I tried to explain that she wouldn't actually see the flowers growing, but she was not to be deterred. She wanted to watch them. I agreed, as our patio is fenced, and fully expecting her 3 year old attention to wander after staring at a pot of dirt for more than 30 seconds. After a few minutes, she screamed "MOM!!! A GREEN THING!!!" I went out to the patio, and lo and behold, a little sprout had pushed it's head above the soil. "I TOLD YOU I HAD TO WATCH THEM!!" Well, leave it to nature to make a liar out of mom. I smiled and we talked about how they would keep growing, until the whole pot was full of pretty flowers. She was so excited! She kept going to check on the flowers all day Saturday, and by the end of the day we has sixteen sprouts. By Sunday we had about 30 and this morning, as I put the flower box outside for some sun (doubtful, it is raining again) we had more than 60 sprouts, some of them 2" already!! I'm surprised... Boo is ecstatic!

Now, I'm no gardening expert... in fact I usually kill potted plants, but I'm convinced they grew because they knew they were being watched and decided to show off for an excited three year old little girl.