It turns out that our youngest child is really, really keen on gardening. Over the last few weeks he has patiently and gently planted seed after seed, lovingly patted them into place and given then a big, slightly overzealous, daily glug of water.
Boy 2 is a loud, confident, cheeky, boisterous soul, who is at his happiest having a rough play session with daddy or big brother. He has not been, over the last couple of years, averse to a bit of pushing and hitting of his lovely friends, which has been a bit of a parenting challenge if I’m honest.
Seeing his gentler side come to the fore in the last few weeks, while he’s pottering around the garden, has been just very lovely and we have had some blissfully happy days lately; enjoying the sunshine and the planting. Even the lady who does the gardening activities at his nursery has commented on his interest as well as his gentleness and patience.
He has been very keen to plant salad things, after discovering recently that he does, in fact, like lettuce. And he has even roped his less enthusiastic brother into this gardening lark by employing him as chief label writer.
As well as label writing, biggest boy is very keen on the garden hosepipe and it’s various bits of gadgetry. He set to work as soon as he returned from school today and gave the garden a much needed soaking.
Over the last couple of days, we have created this little salad and herb area in the corner of our garden, next to the bike shed, which we daubed with some leftover blackboard paint. We begged some chalk from our new neighbour this morning and listed, on the side of the shed, all of the things that our boy has planted so far.
Both boys seem quite keen on it, and it has definitely made a neglected piece  of the garden look a bit nicer. I’m hoping his enthusiasm continues, and Mike and I can sit back and enjoy the fruits of their labour!
