With Christmas and The Girl's birthday practically slammed together, we have a TON of new toys. Many of them are science oriented. For example, we got a Grow Your Own Rock Garden kit, a Raise Your Own Praying Mantis kit, a Grow Your Own Carnivorous Garden kit...are you starting to see a theme? That doesn't include the Learn to Make Light, Fizzy Foamy Science, and the Learn all About Weather kit. We have enough science project kits to get us through until next year. In fact I have told The Girl that some kits would most definitely have to wait until summer time.
When I read that the Praying Mantis kit would hatch 150-200 baby Praying Mantis cuties, I thought that was a kit better kept outside. Thankfully, I got no lip from The Girl on that one. She didn't even think about how if it was too cold outside they would be living inside, and who knows maybe some of them would be living outside of the "kit". No, she said she would rather have them in the summer time so she could release them into her garden when they were big enough. She said we wouldn't even have to worry about the other bugs killing the plants. The Mantises would take care of them.
That's exactly why I suggested we wait until summer time.
EXACTLY.
Today, I thought we would take a look at our Carnivorous Garden kit. I wanted to see if we were going to have to feed these plants right away or what the protocol was exactly for these weird plants. That's when I found out that this particular kit has you growing these plants from seed. I also learned that it takes about ONE YEAR for the Venus Fly Trap to get big enough to really see the "trap" part. I thought it would be wise to get started on that kit right away.
After digging deeper into that particular kit, we learned that carnivorous plants are quite finicky little creatures. During months 3-6 of their growth cycle (yes, I said MONTHS) they need to have a specific amount of light each day and stay within a specific temperature range.
M'kay.
I am not sure how this is all going to play out, but Hubs has suggested that I just go out and buy a special plant lamp thing.
M'kay.
Don't get me wrong, I think this will be so totally cool, and such a great learning experience for everyone involved. I just have a feeling that with the amount of time that is involved here, I might be the ONLY one involved. Three and six year olds tend to lose interest in things after, I don't know, about 30 minutes.
I am hoping that since The Girl has successfully gardened for the last few years, she will have an understanding and appreciation of the time table we are working with, and will be patient with this experiment.
Like I said, I think it will be really cool...If we can do it.
Until then, I am currently germinating carnivorous seeds IN MY REFRIGERATOR for the next SIX WEEKS.
Can I offer you a cold beverage?
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