Black Thumb Traditions

So, the garden is going in again this year. We have been told before that we should plant around Mother's Day, and somehow it snuck up on us. But Saturday was gorgeous, so we borrowed a tiller and readied our bit of earth. See that handsome man tilling back there?

The girls loved the dirt. They played and played in it, and I didn't care in the least.

After all, if we are going to build traditions around gardening, they may have to be at the beginning of the gardening part, because the end is not always so fruitful. The harem was actually quite useful picking out rocks and early bird weeds.

We found some garden friends along the way.

I admit that everyone gets really excited, but then later when the weeds are growing and it is really hot out there, no one feels like pulling a thing.(Except Tyler, he is actually quite faithful, and the only reason we have any harvest.)

We went and got some of our plants tonight. That was fun, except for the part where I put the car key in Daisy's pocket since I didn't have pockets of my own. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but I should have taken into consideration that this is DAISY. The Daisy I found putting label stickers on the actual DVDs today, instead of the cases. The Daisy who now knows how to get into the second-aid kit so I find her with bandaids on daily. The Daisy I found with about three yards of floss wrapped around her fingers this morning cutting off circulation. Yep, that Daisy. You may all laugh at me. 

When we got to the car, I checked her pocket, and sadly, the key was absent. So I went back through the entire Garden Center retracing my steps to Greenhouse#8 and back, looking all over the ground, but no luck. Back to the car, and this time I brought the culprit herself. I asked Daisy where she might have put the key, no longer thinking that it fell out on its own. "In the dirt," was her reply. Not a good sign, when you are at a nursery. There are only a thousand plants to check. Okay, I exaggerate. Most of the plants she couldn't have reached, but there were still hundreds to inspect. I figured we had spent the most time in Greenhouse#8, so that is where I based my search. Daisy was very helpful walking up and down the rows, but she had no idea where she had put the key. I kept imagining some random shopper going home with his tomato plants to find a key planted with them. What would you think if you found a car key in your vegetables?

The good news is that right when I was about to give up, I spotted it. Just sitting there in some random flower pot. She hadn't even 'planted' it, it was just lying atop the dirt, like she said. I know that my speedy prayers were answered rapidly, and that this isn't the first Daisy that Heavenly Father has sent to a household. I couldn't even be mad at her, because it is not like she asked for the key...I was the stupid one who gave it to her. Plus, she was so cute helping me search. But I think this won't be one of the traditions we continue next year.

So wish us well in our gardening endeavors. It is a good thing all the kids like dirt. But why wouldn't they? Dirt, good. Mud, bad.