Kid and Caboodle: Musings of a "Split-Shift" Mom
By Peggy B. Hu
April 2006

Hope -- if not produce -- springs eternal in our gardens.

When my husband and I bought our house 10 years ago, we thought it would be nice to have a vegetable garden in the backyard and a flower garden in the front. For several years, my husband bought seeds, watered plants, and weeded diligently.

At first, the vegetable garden looked promising. The first year, we had a fine crop of lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, and tomatoes. My husband even managed to grow two very sweet, softball-sized watermelons of which he was inordinately proud.

Unfortunately, the garden quickly attracted the attention of a very bold rabbit. Not only would this rabbit nibble our produce, but he would also flop down in the middle of the garden to sun himself whenever he took a break from snacking. This rabbit infuriated my husband, who tried spraying it with a garden hose and throwing newspapers. These methods made the rabbit leave the garden temporarily, but he always returned as soon as my husband left. My husband also bought a chili pepper-based spray to try to make the vegetables too spicy to eat, but that did not appear to deter the rabbit either; rather, the rabbit seemed to regard the spray as an interesting flavoring to enhance his meals.

Despite the predations of the rabbit, my husband decided to plant more seeds in the vegetable garden the following year. As expected, the rabbit began to visit as soon as the vegetables started to show, but to our surprise he also was accompanied by a rabbit about half his size and considerably more timid. My husband and I mused that perhaps the rabbit had brought one of his offspring to show off the "fine eating establishment" so close to their burrow. Apparently my husband grew enough produce that year to satisfy both of them, since the following year we had three rabbits -- "Grandpa," "Daddy," and "Baby"! At that point my husband gave up on the vegetable garden.

The flower garden in the front yard ultimately did not fare much better. The previous owners of the house had planted a few types of flowers -- columbine, honesty, tulips, and a rambling rose bush -- that thrived in the shade of our house. Some of the plants we chose and brought home from the local nursery -- mostly dianthus -- also did well on their own, but many needed more care than we had time to give after we had our son. Finally, we decided to pull out all the flowers and replace them with small white rocks. We hoped that the rocks would be easier to tend, since there was no need to weed or water them, and they would not interest any animals looking for food. However, we quickly found ourselves working just as hard to keep out the things that benefit a regular garden, such as dirt and decaying leaves. Perhaps converting from flowers to rocks wasn't such a good idea after all ....

Now that our son is 3, perhaps we should start gardening again and harness his toddler instincts to this purpose. Our son has already shown interest in plucking dandelions and wild crocuses from our lawn; perhaps we could set him to weeding? He also likes to play with the garden hose, so perhaps we could also teach him how to water the plants. And if he decides he wants to chase rabbits from time to time, so much the better.