Sowing Seeds of Literacy & Art in the Garden

Plants are not the only thing that grow in our garden. Literacy and art come to life with garden signs throughout the space. Pictures and print allow pre-readers and early readers alike to "read" about our gardening experience and lending a hand in the creation of garden signs gives a personal artistic touch from all of the hands that help to dig, sow, pull weeds and harvest here.

In fact, our garden plan itself started off with a literary experience this year. At the beginning of the season, S and I had a date to the garden shop after reading the book Pizza Day by Melissa Iwai. To be clear, he's not such a fan of pizza (unless it's literally just dough and cheese!) but he wanted to plant a pizza garden, nonetheless. We chose a couple of tomato plants, a pack of sweet pepper seedlings, some oregano, some basil and some nasturtiums and dill to help invite beneficial insects and ward off less preferable ones. And the same boy who won't even try a grilled cheese sandwich, who once cried in a restaurant because one showed up with pesto on it, loves eating basil leaves right off the plant! (Go figure, it wasn't the pesto that made the sandwich a problem, it was the sandwich itself. Next time, we'll just order a dish of pesto...)

Well, once the raised bed was built (thanks to help from S, Y and their Tatty) and the seedlings replanted, it was time to add some signage! Both boys got busy with this activity (and so did I). At the very least, labeling our plants helps to keep track of the "few" things I'm growing this year. (Ok, ok, I admit it, I may have surpassed "a few." Again.) It also infuses our outdoor space with a print rich environment and adds an element of art and beauty to the garden.

 There are so many ways to create garden signs. Pinterest has a wealth of ideas to peruse! Wooden paint sticks, craft sticks, actual sticks, rocks, plastic forks, clothes pins, purchased plant tags... I've even seen refurbished plastic animals and dinosaurs painted a solid color and printed with plant labels! (This idea may show up again in my own garden!) I got pretty busy during breaks between C's busy eating schedule painting and printing garden labels...

I decided to get more hands on deck for our pizza garden. I printed off some black and white images of a pizza pie and set out oil pastels, cut up photos of tomatoes, peppers and herbs from seed catalogs and some glue sticks. Each of the boys got busy in his own way. S used oil pastels and first colored on the sauce. Then he colored in the crust and last, he added in an abundance of his new (and only) favorite pizza topping--basil!

 Y started off with oil pastels. Then he walked over to the art center and grabbed some ink and rubber stamps, adding layers of flowers and garden themed stamps to his pizza. And, continuing to layer, he next got very busy with the glue stick and magazine cutouts. At last, he was done!

S cut out his pizza on his own and Y had some help from me. We ran them through the laminating machine and duct taped them to wooden paint sticks on which I'd printed the words "Pizza Garden." S wasn't feeling done yet. He's recently discovered he loves art and wanted to continue to create garden signs. He decided to "recycle" the scrap from his pizza cutout and noticed the outer edge of the circle created two arches--the perfect shape for a rainbow. He carefully colored each color of the rainbow, in order (asking for some help to remember the order) and then added in some pink as well. He cut that out, we laminated it and he dictated what he wanted written on the stick. He's decided it is a sign to hold up whenever he sees a rainbow. We "planted" it with our cucumbers. I know, I know, I was only going to grow a small pizza garden...but pizza goes so well with salad...and berries...and herbal teas...and loofah sponges...and peanuts...and flowers...and blue potatoes...fairy gardens...broccoli...mammoth sunflowers...

So I may have gone a little overboard on the plants this year. Again. But with school ending in just over a week and all three Sprout Scouts home for the summer, we will have plenty to keep us busy outside (and if we're lucky, in the kitchen as well)!

Happy Planting & Playing!