From Gardener to Archaeologist

It seems that we have been trying to sow our carrot, spring onion and leek seeds for weeks. Deterred by weeds, wet weather and a week away it seemed that we might never get around to sowing these crops. But today we finally filled the rear raised beds with the tiny seeds that will hopefully grow into crunchy carrots and tasty leeks and onions. Garden Girl and Garden Boy spent the morning alternately helping me sow these seeds and assisting Garden Dad with the weeding in the raised bed where they later planted peas.

After a lunch eaten in the 'garden' of our Little Garden Helpers wendy house Garden Girl and Garden Boy decided to do more digging in the soil, but this time in the role of archaeologists rather than gardeners. I buried some broken pots and plastic jewels, shiny buttons and pieces of mosaic tiling for them to find and they were thrilled to be allowed to use my 'real archaeologists' trowel. Using small food bags as finds bags they gathered a collection of artefacts which they then washed and cleaned ready to display in their wendy house museum. Using small plastic propogators as their glass display cases they laid out their museum objects with care, then distributed museum leaflets to Garden Dad and myself so we would be encouraged to visit. Small though the museum was, the displays were well thought out and the staff knowledgable. I was informed that they will be changing their displays regularly as the museum staff are both eager to carry out further excavations in our garden so I am looking forward to a return visit soon.

When the museum closed for the day, our Little Garden Helpers returned to help Garden Dad grapple with the netting for the pea supports and to carefully place peas in the ground. I hope that by planting these much earlier this year we will have a far better harvest than we did last year. Fingers crossed.