The Alphabet Garden

Eli, Simon and Isaiah have their own garden this year. Last year Simon had a bed in my garden, but this year he has his own (shared with his brothers) right next to their playset, and it has been an enormous success.

Simon like to address the world alphabetically. When he set himself to memorizing the states and their capitals, it was alphabetically. He likes alphabets of places, birds, historical sites - you name it, if it comes in A-Z form, Simon will be pleased. So it shouldn't have surprised me, but did, that Simon insisted on an alphabetical garden. And that's what we did. We had a mix of flowers and vegetables. Here's our list.

A=Angelica
B=Beans (cool purple bush ones)
C=Cucumbers (pickling type, Simon and Isaiah are both pickle addicts)
D=Dianthus (these were picked out at the local garden center)
E= Eggplant (didn't really thrive in the cool, wet weather we've had all summer, but we picked a couple.
F=Flower of an Hour (did poorly)
G=Gourd (birdhouse type)
H=Heliotrope (also known as "vanilla cookie flower" for its scent at our house)
I=Impatiens
J=Johnny Jump Ups
K= Kiss me Over the Garden Gate (which took up way more than its share of space).
L= was supposed to be liatris, which I didn't plant until the bulb had sat in the sun too long, so became Lemon balm
M=Morning Glory - Grandpa Ott's (which tries to take over everything)
N=Nasturtium
O=Okra (we're just about to harvest our first pods - it has been a cool summer here)
P=Pumpkins (jack o lantern type)
Q=Queen Anne's Lace (laboriously transplanted by Mommy who muttered a lot of not too nice things about transplanting weeds into gardens and the lack of better plants beginning with Q)
R=radishes (which no one but Mommy and Daddy really liked, but provide instant gratification)
S= Snapdragons and strawberries (there was some debate)
T=Tomatoes
U=Umbellifarae (sort of cheating, carrots are umbellifarae)
V=Vinca
W= Watermelon (which isn't going to mature, but is exciting to loook at - we only succeed with watermelon in pots or black plastic)
X= X-tra flowers. There's actually some wildflower out there that has a latin name including X, but we got lazy.
Y=Yarrow
Z=Zinnias and Zucchini

Tonight we're eating the last of the purple beans, stir fried with oyster sauce, chicken soup with zucchini and carrots in it, and the last of the alpine strawberries with a bit of sugar and lemon balm. A bouquet of zinnias and snapdragons is on the table. And we're planning next year's garden, which is going to have a colonial American theme, if Simon's attention span for that sticks long enough.

Garden with your kids.

Sharon