Planning Our Sunflower House

Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots 

A sweet friend recently gave me this book about gardening with kids.  I love it!  It’s packed with fun ideas and adorable drawings, along with specific instructions for tackling a variety of projects: Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots: Gardening Together with Children by Sharon Lovejoy.

The Sunflower House

I was particularly captivated by the plans for a simple Sunflower House.  We’ve grown sunflowers before (so I know we can do it again) and the boys are at the perfect ages (7 and almost-4) to enjoy the concept of their own little space surrounded by these tall beauties.

We also grow morning glory vines every year–they’re a family favorite.  Actually, my late mother-in-law used to grow them when Mr. Native Texan was a child and my first packet of morning glory seeds came from her shortly after we were married.  So we kind of grow them in honor of her. Plus, they’re such an easy, beautiful plant.  I know they’ll be perfect as the roof of our sunflower house!

Ordering Seeds

Using the instructions from Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots, I ordered our seeds online from Pinetree Garden Seeds.  

The gardening season here in Northern Virginia generally begins around Mother’s Day, and Baby Brother is scheduled to arrive the last week of May–at which point I will be off the radar for some time. 🙂  Therefore, I wanted to be ready to plant our Sunflower House during that small window of time around May 20th.

Making Plans

Mr. Native Texan has agreed to provide the manual labor necessary for clearing a small spot out back, near the sandbox.  The boys are super-excited and I’m glad they have something to look forward to.  Baby Brother’s arrival will be a major time of transition for them (and all of us!), so it will be fun to start this easy project together and then watch it take shape over the growing season.

We’re already scouting out tree stumps and such, to be used as furniture in the Sunflower House.

Mini-Nature Journals {free printable}

Another sweet friend included these charming garden journals in the family Christmas basket we exchange each year.  I’d been saving them for the growing season, without a specific plan for how to put them to use.  When we decided to plant the Sunflower House, I knew these would be a perfect go-along for the boys!

We already keep nature journals, so they’re familiar with the concept of drawing what we see in nature.  These cute little journals will provide an excellent way to document the progression of our Sunflower House.

And guess what: the journal covers are available as a free printable!  Find the instructions and downloadable pdf here:  My Garden Notes.

What special gardening projects do you have planned for this year?

Read more about our Gardening Adventures:

• Sneak Peak: This Year’s Garden Experiment
• This Year’s Garden Experiments, Take Two 
• Square Foot Gardening: How to Construct Sturdy, Economical Trellises for Climbing Crops
• This Year’s First Harvest
• Green Beans Galore
• Learning to Can (Can) 
• Benefits of Using Herbs in Flower Arrangements 
• This Year’s Garden Experiments: Organic Bug Control
• This Year’s Garden Experiment: A Headless Chicken & The Great Guinea Massacre