When you garden with children, you never quite know what is going to happen around your place. While Connor had grand ideas of have surfboards etc in his garden, but with so much on, we decided to simplify things, and make it more achievable. His ‘Surf’s Up’ theme will be next year’s plan, and is parked for now.

That being said, it wouldn’t be our kids gardens without something different in the garden. We’ve had ‘Dinosaur’ labels; Star Wars; Peter Rabbit; Bees and Ladybugs; Lights and possibly my favourite ‘Alice in Wonderland’. This year it is Bugs. It is possibly not as elaborate as some years, but that is possibly more reflective of his age. This one all came about when we were spring cleaning. He has upcycled his signs (and his brother’s) and stuck bugs on some of the signs. As most of the garden themes have come with a scarecrow or bird scarer of sorts, I should be grateful we don’t have a giant bug sitting somewhere in the garden. I won’t suggest it, as no doubt, it will happen.

His garden is almost ready for his garden visit. His kumara went in this morning, and he tied up his tomatoes, which with the wind today was perfect timing. Noticing the wind at work today, it was reassuring to know that I had taken the time yesterday to sort mine.  

This afternoon Connor did a quick weed, and fixed a few bugs that had fallen off. We also had to spray his onions as there were a few more Black Aphids on them. It is really only one that has them, but all the same, they all got a spray, including those in the other bed. We used the Yates Natures Way Organic Citrus, Vegie and Ornamental. We have had good results with it in the past and usually have some handy so that when we notice them, we can deal with them straight away.

Tomorrow, Connor is planning on doing a quick feed before school, and then he is pretty much done for his home garden challenge. From there, I start to help him a bit more, and it becomes more of a family/team effort. He has done a pretty good job. Like the rest of us, there have been days when he hasn’t wanted to do things. Gardening with kids is not always smooth sailing. They make mistakes; they get frustrated; but like us, they get there in the end.

Once Connor was sorted, I managed to squeeze in a bit of light weeding. Looking at the tomatoes I realized that we definitively did the right thing with the wrap. The two very end plants are a wee bit smaller than the rest, and you can see a couple of the leaves are a bit wind burnt. I am reluctant to fully enclose the area, but I may but a low wind break in. I will have a look in the morning and see what I can do.