Seeds! Seeds! Seeds!

I recently picked up a book from the Library for my daughter, called Seeds! Seeds! Seeds! by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace.  Buddy, the bear gets five colorful bags in the mail from his grandpa, each holding a surprise. It talks about all the colors, shapes, and sizes of seeds, getting the children interested in remembering the names of the seeds, counting, sorting, etc. But it builds curiosity among kids about the germination and growth of seeds into plants.

My daughter is extremely excited about our new hobby. We pick all the seeds from the fruits we eat, from the kitchen shelves, from the vegetables, from the park. We see a seed, it comes home to our little garden we are growing.
 We sow the seeds together and I tell my daughter, we need to wait for it to grow. She thought if she waited there right then, it might sprout. The innocence of a 4-year-old!

The morning ritual is to go straight to the garden and say good morning to all the plants, see if any of the seeds germinated.
When my daughter spots a sprout, she gets so excited and shouts in excitement, "See Mumma what I made, I planted the seeds, and I waited and I waited, and there the plant came". I tell her, "you were a tiny seed like this, and look, how big you have grown". And she feels proud.

We have so far planted cantaloupe seeds, which were the fastest to sprout, 3-4 days. We'd open the kitchen cabinets and pull out some mustard, fenugreek, cumin, poppy, sesame, and plant them too. These took a good amount of time to sprout. We have tried growing peppers, apple, peach, lemon, orange, avocado, tomatoes, seeds from the park. You feel a sense of pride when you see the transformation of seed you've sown into a beautiful, thriving garden. 

Quick Tips for beginners:

1. Label all the containers and the dates when it was planted so its easy to track
2. Sow 3-4 seeds in a container, if it is small. Leave at least a few inches gap between seeds, so they have room to grow
3. Water them enough so the soil is moist and not runny
4. Read my Don't throw your containers! to get an idea on reusing the plastic containers for potting
5. Have been making my own compost, which is yielding me rich soil, for the plants
6. Once the roots have established well, transplant them to bigger pots or the ground. Wet the soil well, and use a trowel to remove it gently.

Now the great task is to manage the plants well, and keep them growing big. For me, I presume the challenge might be managing all these plants in my small space. I need to check online and read some gardening books to keep my plants healthy, happy and growing.
I'm happy and excited like my little girl seeing the seeds germinate.