Tuesday, May 1, 2012

The First Strawberry Blossom

It hasn't been long at all since my daughter created her first strawberry garden, yet I walked outside to discover her very first blossom this morning!


As you can see, I've slowly been adding cut grass to the container in order to provide some mulching.  In this case, the mulch is not only helping to retain moisture, but also helping to feed the plant as it breaks down.

You can see that another flower will be opening soon, as well, if you look to the right of the blossom.  Indeed, the strawberry plant to the left (not shown here) has three flower buds forming, also.  Soon she'll be in blossom heaven, since strawberry blossoms stay open for quite a while before they begin to form berries!

Temperatures have been dropping to below 40 in the nighttime hours. Because of this, I've been having to run out before bed to cover the plants, so seeing this blossom let me know that my work has been rewarded!  Yay!

Aside from that, though, all of the work has been done by my three year old daughter.  She takes it very seriously, too!  My daughter goes out to check on the plants, waters them, and takes any grass clippings I give her straight to the container.

There's no pressure, though.  Aside from asking if she's checked on her strawberry plants, I do absolutely nothing, unless she needs to know how to do something.  She's taking these duties and running with them!  It's wonderful to see her embrace this responsibility and independence.

I was very proud when I pointed the new strawberry blossom out to her:  Her response was to say, "No picking the flower, Mommy!"  I'm glad that my child who normally picks every flower in the yard understands this necessity.  She's certainly retaining the knowledge she's been given!

And she definitely wants those strawberries!


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