From Seed to Plant

Though I wish I could claim otherwise, I am not in the possession of a green thumb. In fact, I'd venture to say both of mine are closer to black. I pretty much manage to kill every plant that has the misfortune of depending upon me for its survival, save a resilient rubber plant that refuses to die and has been a member of our family for 5+ years. Despite my less-than-stellar track record with plant ownership, I thought it would be fun to get a little project going with Kaiser to help him learn him how a seed grows into a plant. Many moons ago, back in the days when I was Ms. Lewellen/Mrs. Braly, I did this with my second graders during our plant unit; of course, it was always a hit!

Kaiser and I got this process startedalmost three weeks ago, on May 5th. The first step was choosing our seeds. I had previously purchased a bag of mixed beans for the boy to bulldoze/scoop/dump with his trucks, so we went lookin' in that container for ones that had some potential.

Lots to choose from...

"Dat's a lima bean!"

Limas and pintos and kidneys, oh my!

To get the seeds a-growin', we dampened some paper towels...

Into the ziploc bags they go!

Taping them up on our back window.

Let's get this party started!

"Now, how long before we have plants?"

The next day, May 6th, we peeked inside the plastic baggies to see if we could observe any difference.

Anxious to see his beans!

No plants yet!

Lots of wrinkles in those seed coats, though.

A couple of days later, on May 8th, we took yet another look. This time, there were some more noticeable changes.

Something's growing...

 "I spy sprouts!"

Well on their way...

At that point, we probably should have gone ahead and placed our seeds in some soil. I don't know if it was because we had company, or because Kaiser was kind of feeling under the weather, or what, but I held off two more days. By the time May 10th rolled around, those teeny-tiny sprouts were not so teeny-tiny...

We got some roots up in heah!

Clearly, it was high time to get these bad boys planted. Kaiser was all about getting his hands dirty. 

Filling some cups with soil.

We chose one of each type of seed.

Getting the soil nice and wet.

The next day, May 11th, there wasn't much to see, but that didn't keep us from giving our seeds something to drink.

Responsible caretaker.

"C'mon and grow already!"

Fast forward three days to May 14th, and finally we had some legitimate plants! Woohoo! It was so cute seeing the look on Kaiser's face when he checked on them first thing in the morning and found a couple of little stems peeking up at him.

Our patient waiting paid off!

I told Brett I wish I'd had time-lapse photography to watch the growth of these suckers. It was crazy to me that this is what they looked like early in the day: 

 Notice, the pinto on the right is not yet visible.

Here they are that night before I headed to bed:

The pinto popped, and that leaf on the kidney sure did appear quickly!

And again just a few hours later, when I awoke on May 15th:

Another leaf shows itself!

Kaiser wanted to take a closer look after his breakfast.

So exciting!

"Careful, careful..."

Showing off his plants to Daddy.

Within two more days, on May 17th, we had at least a couple of full-fledged plants on our hands. 

But the one on the left is lookin' a little runt-ish...

On May 20th, I knew something was definitely awry with Mr. Lima Bean Plant. I don't know whether it was over-watered (Kaiser had soaked it pretty darn good a few days back) or what, but its lack of leaves and refusal to grow taller did not bode well.

One of these things is not like the other...

I decided this would be a perfect opportunity to give Kaiser a peek at all the parts of the lima plant. 

Checking it out.

Burial at trash can.

RIP.

Our kidney and pinto plants continued to grow at rapid speed, and yesterday, May 23rd, I thought that they had finally outgrown their measly plastic cups. It was time to give these guys a more spacious home!

Lean to the left, lean to the right.

Filling up that pot.

Those are some crazy roots!

Patting down the "dut".

"Drink up!"

"Do you think they're still thirsty?"

And that brings us to today. Our plants are still here and still green, so I guess I consider that a victory. :) I'm not quite sure what to expect from here; their stems don't seem very strong and are bending underneath the weight of their massive leaves, so perhaps they need some support. I should probably do some research about that! 

A bit droopy.

Nevertheless, Kaiser has had such fun watching and participating in this "from seed to plant" process. Though there probably won't be any vegetable gardens in our yard anytime soon, I do hope to do some more planting projects with my boys!

Proud of my dedicated gardener.