Outdoor Hour Challenge Early Spring Bulb Hunt Archive Challenge
This week take your outdoor hour time to get outside and look for signs of early spring bulbs. You can use the ideas in the Early Spring Bulb challenge from the archives.
In that challenge, you will find directions for reading about the crocus, the daffodil, and the tulip in the Handbook of Nature Study. Also, there are suggestions for where to look for bulbs and journaling ideas for your nature journal. You may also wish to view my own entry for ideas on how to complete this challenge: Early Spring Bulb Study-Watercolor Time.
If you are a member here on the Handbook of Nature Study, you will find this archive challenge in the Winter Nature Study Ebook in your library. In the ebook you will find a custom notebook page designed for use with this particular challenge.
Don’t you love nasturtiums? They are such a happy flower and they remind me of my grandma. Her garden seemed to just sprout them in all the corners and I always have thought they were easy to grow and care for.
I have not had much success in growing my own nasturtiums. I have tried a few times and this year I received nasturtium seeds (Little Firebirds) from Renee’s Garden. I read the back of the package and it said they would be great in a container so I planted them in a fairly large pot on my back deck. My seeds quickly sprouted and the leaves that formed were so pretty and lily pad shaped just like the package said. But, over time, the leaves started to turn brown which I thought was from lack of water so I stepped up my watering.
Things grew worse instead of better and now all I have is a pot of crispy leaves, no flowers.
Not sure what happened there…over-watering?
The rest of the garden is going strong and I am reaping some rewards in the form of zucchini, cherry tomatoes, and basil.
The zucchini is Astia from Renee’s Garden and the seed package says it will grow compact plants and yield an abundance of tender zucchini. I have picked about eight zucchinis so far and I think my dog or some other critter has eaten a few too. I am really liking this variety but I left too many plants in my pot…..next year one plant per pot.
The tomatoes are Litt’l bites Cherry from Renee’s Garden. The package says that this plant is perfect from pots and baskets and I can tell you that I have had huge success with this veggie. The problem is that some critter comes at night and eats anything almost ripe. I have put up a cage and netting around it to protect the fruits for us to eat!
The basil is Italian Cameo from Renee’s Garden. I love, love, love this variety and it is easy to pick a bunch really fast. I harvest some every few days and it just fills right back in for the next time.
The peppers are growing every day in our hot summer afternoons. These are Baby Belle Peppers from Renee’s Garden. They are a mini snack or salad pepper which they say I can pick either green or wait for them to get red before harvesting. I think I will try doing it both ways and see which I like better. I am having success with the plants in a pot on my back deck.
So there is a short update on the garden in pots! I so enjoy getting out there every morning to survey the progress and water, trim, pick, and taste something. I have decided I don’t need a big garden to get that “garden fix” that I need in the summer. Lesson learned!
One last new thing on the deck…a second hummingbird feeder! I placed a new feeder along with some red plants to attract a few more hummers to my yard. They love both the red geranium and the red petunias….great tip for those of you trying to establish a new hummingbird feeder. Use the natural colors to get them interested in visiting your feeder and then they will become regulars.
Summer fills my days with gardening and bird watching….and cloud watching. We are still in our drought here in California and every time there are clouds we hope for rain but so far….nothing!
Read pages 568-571 (Lesson #157) in the Handbook of Nature Study. Read through the suggested lesson activities and pick a few to use while in your garden looking at a larkspur (delphinium).
If you have never worked through the Outdoor Hour Challenge on Flower Parts, this would be a great supplement to your larkspur study. Use the information and links in that challenge to learn the plant part names and then start to use them in your study of flowers. This challenge is in the Garden Flowers ebook if you have a membership to the Handbook of Nature Study.
Outdoor Hour Time:
Find a flowering larkspur to observe either in your garden or at your local garden nursery. Use the suggestions from the lesson to help your child see the way an insect pollinates this beautiful flower.
Here are a few suggestions to get you started:
How does the bee hold on to the flower?
Where does it thrust its tongue?
Advanced study: Make note of all the flower parts while closely looking at a larkspur blossom.
Follow-Up Activity:
Create a nature journal entry featuring the larkspur (or delphinium). There are two notebook pages included in the ebook, one for a larkspur study and one for a general summer flower study.
If you want to purchase the Summer Nature Study Continues ebook so you can follow along with all the notebooking pages, coloring pages, and subject images, you can join the Ultimate or Journey Membership Levels. See the Join Us page for complete information. Also, you can view the Summer Nature Study Continues – New Ebookannouncement page for more details.
I finally got all my herbs planted in pots on my back deck. I decided to stick to the basics, ones that I use regularly in cooking during the summer. I knew I was limited in pot space and in watering ability because of the drought.
Those factors forced me to pick carefully and choose herbs I use all the time.
Here is my short list!
Cilantro- These are growing from seed I received from Renee’s Garden. They are looking great and I paired them up in a pot with the thyme and oregano. I know I will need to keep the other two herbs pinched back or they will take over the pot but that shouldn’t be a problem if I get into the habit of harvesting a bit of fresh herbs every few days.
Basil – The basil is also from seeds that came from Renee’s Garden.I am anxious for my first harvest of basil later in the summer! I picked a variety that is meant for containers…perfect!
Lemon Thyme and Oregano – These two herbs I cheated and purchased them from Home Depot. I just wanted to have a little green spot in my containers and was too impatient to wait for seeds to grow this time.
Chives – I have some garlic chives in my regular garden that have survived the drought. But, I wanted to try growing some regular chives up on the deck to see how well they grow. I planted seeds and they just started to sprout and grow….too small for a good photo, maybe in the next garden update I will be able to show their progress.
So that is it! Nothing too fancy or unique for our container garden up on the deck. Simple is sometimes better. With the third year of drought and heavy watering restrictions here in my county I am needing to look at our garden in a whole different way. Now that all my children are living outside the home, the demand for fresh veggies has declined to where I may be able to get by with the zucchini, cherry tomatoes, and little peppers that I have growing in pots. 2015 is the year of a new start in gardening and I am always up for a challenge.
How is your garden growing? Did you plant any herbs?
Whether your family spends a few minutes a week outside or hours at a time, share what is going on in your world.
How Do You Join?
Answer all or just one of the prompts in a blog entry on your own blog or right here on my blog in a comment. If you answer on your blog, make sure to leave me a link in a comment so that I can pop over and read your responses.
During our outdoor time this week we went….
The most inspiring thing we experienced was…
Our outdoor time made us ask (or wonder about)…
In the garden, we are planning/planting/harvesting….
I added nature journal pages about….
I am reading…
I am dreaming about…
A photo I would like to share…
I will be posting my Outdoor Mom’s Journal entry once a month. Look for it during the first week of the month each month.
Outdoor Mom’s Journal – June 8, 2015
During our Outdoor Hour time this month we…..spent some time at the Oregon Coast during a negative tide where we could explore the many creatures that were exposed. Colorful seastars, anemones, and crabs were the highlights of the day! We try to time our visit to the ocean to coincide with a low tide so we can really see some interesting things. This page may prove helpful: Tides.com.
In the garden….we are planting herbs and veggies and flowers in pots. I am enjoying the process of watering a bit every day with our shower water and see the sprouts come up and flourish. I received quite a few different seeds from Renee’s Garden that say they are particularly for containers. I will let you know how it goes this summer!
A photo I would like to share….this is a magnificent snail we saw in the redwood forest. Isn’t he great!
The most inspiring thing we experienced….glorious sunset walks on Harris Beach. We lingered and watched. We strolled and talked. I savor those moments with my son…all grown up but he still appreciates the beauty found all around us.
Please join me! Share something that you have done lately….looking forward to reading your entries and comments!
“We often hear the fact stated that in the present day only those who know how to advertise are successful; but we have with us by every roadside, and in every field, and in the depths of the forest, many successful little advertisers, who have lived and flourished for many centuries because of their advertising. For every bright or fragrant blossom is an announcement telling abroad to all the world that sees and smells, that it is ready for business.”
These words written by Anna Botsford Comstock bring a smile to my face. This time of year we see many blossoms “advertising” that they are ready and waiting for the winged insects to visit and then carry pollen on to the next flower. The Outdoor Hour Challenges for the past month or so have focused on wildflowers and coming up at the end of May we will have some garden flower studies. These are perfect opportunities to combine a flower and insect study, sharing the relationship and benefits of this wonderful arrangement for both.
“In teaching the children this subject it is necessary that they should watch flowers and see the insects visit them. If there are flowers in the neighborhood of your schoolhouse, let the children take notes and report on the different kids of insects which they have seen visiting certain flowers. For instance, let them watch for a week, and note all the insects that visit a certain thistle, or any other convenient flower.”
This is such a simple but powerful lesson for your children to learn directly from the field. Take them outside to look at flowers and their insect visitors and then follow up with a simple nature journal entry.
Let me know how it goes for your family!
The quotes in this entry are from The Winged Pollen Carriers by Anna Botsford Comstock. I can’t find where I originally copied this quote from but I am sure it is on Google Books somewhere.
This is the time of year that I dream about during the long dark days of winter. The time when we see the yard spring to life again and remember what green is like…at least for a little while. My front yard is ablaze with poppies, dogwood, California lilac, iris, and soon there will be sage and butterfly bushes to enjoy.
One of the new things I am growing this year is a plant that I found in the Renee’s Garden seed listing. It is “cat grass” that you grow for your cats to eat. Mine have discovered their pot of cat grass and have decided it is delicious.
I put the pot in the window near where the cats like to sit and look out on the birdfeeder. It didn’t take long for the seeds to sprout and grow! My cats are regular visitors to this plant now and I am going to sprout some more seeds in a pot outdoors.
California Drought Year Four!!!!!
This year I have a few things growing in pots on the back deck. I will be adding some more seeds for veggies and flowers later this week. We are using a drip watering system for the first time here on the deck and I am excited about it. In the past, we have hand watered these pots every morning using water caught from the shower and water from a watering can filled with the back hose. This is going to be a much more convenient watering system and use far less water.
You can see my sunflower planted by the birds in the nearest pot. It is already 14″ high!
Here is a close up image of the sunflower. It makes me very happy!
You can see the drip irrigation system up close in this image. All of these plants were from last year’s seeds and have sprouted all on their own.
Salvia is such an easy plant to have in pots. I just pruned it back last fall and not it is coming back so very nicely and full of buds.
So there you go! I spend a few minutes each day just enjoying the surprises that come in the early spring. There is always something new to discover and once I get my seeds in the ground I will really start to enjoy all of those wonderful Renee’s Garden seeds that she gifted me.
Read pages 558-560 in the Handbook of Nature Study (Lesson #153). Make sure to study the diagram so you can help your child see all the inner and outer petals of the bleeding heart blossom.
This is another week to look at garden flowers or wildflowers, especially bleeding hearts. If you have access to bleeding hearts, gather some to bring indoors for observation as suggested in the Handbook of Nature Study lesson.
If possible, observe the flowers when insects are visiting, noting the method of gathering nectar.
Advanced Study: Use the suggestions in the Handbook of Nature Study to observe carefully the bleeding heart.
Follow-Up Activity:
Reread the lesson in the Handbook of Nature Study. Make sure to write a description of this flower in your nature journal with as much detail as possible.
Use watercolors or colored pencils to draw a stem with the flowers.
Join us for this series of challenges every week here on the Handbook of Nature Study.
Look for the new spring challenges to post starting April 3rd!
If you want to purchase the Spring Nature Study Continues ebook so you can follow along with all the notebooking pages, coloring pages, and subject images, you can join the Ultimate or Journey Membership Levels. See the Join Us page for complete information. Also, you can view the Spring Nature Study Continues announcementfor more details, list of topics, and a sample.
The drought in California just keeps going on and on…creating conditions in my yard much like the thick of autumn. We have brown leaves falling and dry crispy lawns brought on by the heat and watering restrictions imposed by our local water district. We can water three days and with very limited time windows. Even watering for those three days a week with longer watering times, my yard has suffered. I gave up trying to keep the flower beds going and we never even planted a vegetable garden.
Our grapes look more like raisins and the usually lush green foliage is turning brown and leaving the vines exposed.
Even our drought tolerant plants are withering in the heat leaving us wondering if they will come back next year. Time will tell.
Our sunflowers are all dried up and the birds have already eaten most of the seeds from each flower head. I am glad that they have a source of food to draw from in our yard but it is much earlier than normal for them to be scouring the yard for food.
August is usually prime time for my cutting garden and I can count on gathering vases and vases of flowers for my kitchen table and window sill. Not this year. My daisies, coneflowers, zinnias, and hydrangeas are all done and dying.
There are a few flowering plants left in the front still going strong…sage, lavender, butterfly bush. I have seen the hummingbirds visiting each and every plant in the front yard. There have been butterflies and bees, moths and beetles. Now I wish we had switched the backyard over to be more drought tolerant like the front yard. It may survive.
To contrast this year, here are a few August garden entries from the past:
I know there will come a time when I can freely water my yard again. I will plant vegetables and see my green grass grow soft under my feet. I look forward to eating the fruits of our labor and feasting my eyes on the wonderful colors of my garden flowers. In the meantime, I will be patient.
This month the Handbook of Nature Study newsletter featured lots of information about gardens and gardening with children. Now that the weather is warmer, think about starting some seeds with your children, even if it is just in a pot on your back patio or deck.
I have created a Nature Study – Gardens Pinterest Board and I would love for you to follow along to receive some of the best gardening with kids ideas I can find.
[pin_board url=”http://www.pinterest.com/harmonyfinearts/nature-study-garden/”]
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