Gardening :: Journal Sketches

Gardening Journal Sketches, originally uploaded by islandj.

Well, I must confess a great deal of excitement that the vast majority of our plantings of two weeks ago are NOT dead! In fact, most are still alive and well, and the few that died probably can trace their demise to several accidental, humpty-dumpty style leaps from their window container. Most were, in point of fact, able to be put back together again, but one or two simply couldn't take the shock or indignity of such treatment.

And so we've had much to learn and think about. We've used a handy e-book on seeds to learn about some terminology (seed, embryo, germination, tap root, seedling), as well as what each of the changes we watch mean. We've seen the soaked seeds begin to sprout, and then grow, we've been astonished by the network of white roots that simply pour out of the pea's little mesh dirt home, and we've watched with delight the bean plants (literally a handful of pinto beans from the 25 lb Costco bag tossed into some dirt in an old colander) take off and nearly become a bouquet they are so pretty.

Every few days we take a moment, pick a particular seedling, and sketch it in our garden journals. Siena and I have really enjoyed doing this. We both fell in love with a little sunflower seedling that, for over a week, kept it's seed shell aloft on its growing green leaf (you can see my drawing in the upper right, Siena's in the lower left). I was skeptical about our ability to actually capture this on paper (and so I've got lots of photos), but so pleasantly surprised to see what success we've all (including Sterling, who agreed to sketch a bean plant that is growing in the middle of the grass, where he and Siena dug a little hole and planted it a week or two ago - his is the top middle sketch) enjoyed. And taking the time to draw these seedlings - and attempting to do them justice - has honed our observation skills quite nicely, prompting us to see things we would normally just overlook.

I'm reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes right now, and it seems that at least once in each tale he chides Dr. Watson: "You see, but you do not observe." How very true it is in high stakes sleuthing, and how true it is in the little things in life as well. We are learning to observe more, and how much richer we are for it!