A patch of pure magic where tomatoes ripen in the sun and Tootie is absolutely not supposed to eat them.
Grandma's vegetable garden is the kitchen of the backyard — where food grows from seeds, patience gets rewarded, and Tootie is absolutely not supposed to eat the tomatoes.
Monarchs pass through on their fall migration. If Grandma plants milkweed, they sometimes lay eggs here.
SeasonalA huge bright-green caterpillar that can strip a tomato plant overnight — but it becomes a beautiful Hawk Moth!
SeasonalWithout bees visiting the flowers, there would be no vegetables. Every tomato was made possible by a bee.
ResidentGrandma's best garden helpers. Each one eats dozens of aphids per day.
Frequent VisitorIn Grandma's compost pile, thousands of worms turn scraps into rich soil. The secret behind the big tomatoes.
ResidentBig, fat, sun-warmed tomatoes that Grandma picks in August. Rule one: Tootie gets zero. Rule two: See rule one.
Standing in neat rows like a tiny onion army. They grow back after you cut them — like magic you can eat.
Deep purple and glossy, growing slowly all summer, getting bigger and more purple week by week.
The biggest, laziest plant in the garden. Vines sprawl everywhere while the fruits slowly get rounder and more golden.
Basil, rosemary, and mint near the garden gate. Grandma always lets you rub a basil leaf and smell your fingers.
Pull up a chair, sugar. Let me tell you about this place.
The garden is where Tootie learned her most important lesson: patience. She watched the tomato seeds go in cups in March, get planted in May, grow all summer. Then in August the first red tomato appeared.
Tootie ate it before I got back from getting the basket. Just reached up and snapped it right off the vine. Looked me dead in the eye while she chewed. That's four months of patience paying off right there.
A garden teaches you that good things take time, and that the waiting is part of the gift — even when Tootie doesn't agree.
Plant one seed and journal its growth every week. How many days from planting to sprout? Sprout to flower?
Start Activity →Count every insect visitor to flowering plants for 10 minutes. Which flowers get the most visitors?
Start Activity →Dig a small hole in the garden bed and one in the regular lawn. Compare color, smell, and worm count.
Start Activity →The backyard is full of neighbors waiting to meet you. Where will your Owl Eyes take you next?