Gardening Girl

We've been having so much fun teaching Hannah about gardening lately!  We've taken out a bunch of books about seeds and gardens from the library, but she was also curious about seeing it in person, so we've done some planting of our own.

Dan did some research and figured out that you can grow plants directly from dried beans, so we gave it a try.

First we soaked the dried beans in hot water overnight, and then put a few in each plastic baggy with a very wet paper towel.  We put them in a sunny window with the bean side facing out.

Once they sprouted (within a day or a few days) we transferred them to little paper cups.

Hannah helped with the whole process - she really liked making holes in the soil with a pencil!  Look at how hard she's concentrating - she was so serious throughout the whole thing.

Showing off the bean sprout

We also planted some herbs in a window box outside - Hannah really enjoyed collecting rocks to put in the bottom of the planter and watering them afterwards.

Trying to carefully take a seed out of the packet

My beautiful, very serious little lady

Watering my chive plant

It's been fascinating watching the beans grow - I think I'm enjoying it as much as she is.  This is what they look like this morning:

Kidney beans

Chickpea

One kidney bean, two Lima bean plants

I had no idea that beans grow like this - did you know? Eventually the bean itself will fall off, according to this fun picture book we've been reading.

We also planted some more on Thursday evening, but they haven't sprouted yet. Something to look forward to!