Should you have the good fortune of meeting Reggie Smith, the owner of Westwind Seeds, she will gladly tell you about her experience as a child with Sparkler Radishes, which inspired her love of gardening and seeds. My daughter happened to be the fortunate recipient of some of Reggie’s Sparkler Radish seeds. From that time until I gave in, my daughter asked me again and again to plant her seeds. Though it took me some time to make a spot in my summer garden (the kids’ garden was being pasteurized) I eventually found a spot she could plant her radishes.
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| Daughter with Sparkler Radish Seeds. |
To give you a background on Sparkler Radishes they are red, round, and are in the mid-spicy range for heat. Some of the radishes can be quite hot while others can be quite mild. In any case, they are your regular grocery-store type radish.
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| My daughter showing off her Sparkler Radishes |
Within a few days of my daughter planting her Sparkler Radishes she came into the house shouting “My plants are growing, my plants are growing!” Each day she checks on the plants when she wakes up and when she comes back from school and each day she says the same thing.
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| A 2-week old Sparkler Radish - They grow quick! |
So, what am I growing these days? Children. Well – more like raising them. And I find it much more rewarding then my garden will ever be. Gardening helps me to find correlations between my family and my garden like this: What is the similarity between Sparkler Radishes and little girls? They both grow up quick!
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| Little girls - they grow quick! |
Jay this is such a wonderful post....I love Sparkler radishes too...you remind me of my dad who would have said he is growing or raising children which was so rewarding to him...he nurtured us and our interests...oh you have brought tears of joy to my eyes!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the reply, Donna. Little children are so precious. I'm happy to hear that my experience reminded you of your father and I'm glad you enjoyed the post.
DeleteI loved this post, it brought a really big smile to my face - your daughter is charming! I look forward to seeing her radishes when she harvests them!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much!
Deletevery cool...
ReplyDeleteAw.. how cute! My kids are also excited whenever they get to plant things in their little plots. They've been 'helping' me build a veggie garden, and my oldest made sure that I would not put any strawberries in it, since she was in charge of growing strawberries in her garden!
ReplyDeleteIt is so great that you are spending time with your daughter while she is growing up. They do grow up so fast!
Thanks for the reply, Indie. I'm glad you enjoyed the post. I think its great when we can involve our children in gardening. I enjoy hearing about your children too.
DeleteI'm just beginning to learn to let my children get involved. Most of the time I am just trying to keep them from throwing rocks at or stepping on my plants. Though I do love my kids very much.
You're doing a great job as a dad and a gardener.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I sure try.
DeleteVery cute Jay. Emily is so cute I want to eat her up! Your blog is really coming along great. I've read several posts but a lot of it is over my head I'm afraid. Some very interesting things though. We need to become much better gardeners over here.
ReplyDeleteDearest April,
DeleteThank you so much for joining my blog and the complement about Emily. I try to make things simple - I promise. Sometimes in my initial draft of blog posts I get carried away. Editing helps me to come back to earth and realize that most everyone who reads my posts will probably not figure out what I am saying unless I relate it to generally-understood background knowledge. I hope the best for your garden this year and we'll see you this summer!
Since radish are fast crop. we usually inter-plant radish with other slow growing veggies to save space.It will give your cute daughter more space to grow.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your reply, Malay-Kadazan girl!
DeleteYou make a very good point. The radishes are currently in the space that I have planned for my sweet potato plants. I am not ready to set my sweet potatoes out so I'll just let those radishes grow. After the radishes are harvested I'll probably appoint my daughter as "Keeper of the Sweet Potatoes". (=