Growing Marigolds

Spring is coming! I want Ava to have the opportunity this year (she's 3) to plant her own flower seeds and watch them grow as she cares for them. I asked my mother-in-law for some tips for planting some marigold seeds we kept from a marigold plant we had before. I also asked a blogging friend of mine, Karen, from The Sower's Corner, if she had a recommendation for a quick growing flower for little ones to plant. Fortunately, she responded, "Marigolds!"

So, I rounded up my pretty little pot, some dirt from a gardening project last summer, a small shovel from the kids' sandbox, and our marigold seeds. It was dark outside when I got the urge for us to plant the seeds, so instead of doing it outdoors, we spread out some newspaper and did it indoors without any mess.

We planted the seeds three days ago, and tonight when we went to water it again (we've been spraying it with a spray bottle) we saw a little sprout coming up! A little sooner than expected, but I'm pretty sure it isn't a weed. :)

Marigold Update: June 12, 2011

Thankfully, our marigolds are still alive! Here is a picture of our little marigold successes... When the blooms are dead, we will pinch them off and save them in our Seed Packet Envelopes until next spring when we can plant them again!

As a side note, we bought the red petunias (barely pictured here)
for 50 cents from the garden center's cart of discounted plants,
and they are doing just fine. Yay for us. Pretty flowers.