The Garden

I see rabbits and squirrels by mother's garden a lot, but my garden attracts the birds. Lots of times the birds will try to peck at my garden, and mother says that I have to shoo them away - most of the birds aren't the pretty kinds that you see on television or in the park, so I don't mind getting rid of them. Mother tells me that the dirty-looking black birds will eat away at my entire garden if I let them, and I know how hard it is to find new seeds sometimes, so I just do what I'm told.

Right now I have six seeds planted, which is about the average that I keep in at one time. I always plant a seed right when I get it, though, because mother says that the longer I wait to plant a seed, the less likely it is to grow up healthy. Also, if I don't plant my seeds right away they need to be put in the freezer, but mother always complains that she needs more freezer space, so I don't want to upset her by putting them in there. One day I asked mother why she can buy the seeds for her vegetable garden at the market and keep them wherever she wants, but my seeds are so difficult. She told me that I'd understand when I'm older, so I just dropped it because I know that when she responds like that, I'm not going to get a different answer, no matter how much I bother her. I can't wait until I'm older.

Jimmy and Jackie are looking very nice today, but I don't know if they're ready to be picked yet. I was lucky enough to find them both in one day behind the clinic, so I planted them at the same time. I'll bet they're twins, because they sure look a lot alike. The seed I planted two weeks ago is beginning to sprout. I can see the tips of the fingers just beginning to emerge from the soil. I'll give it a few more days until I name that one - I like to get a better look at my plants before I give them a permanent name. One of my plants that I started 4 weeks ago has one full leg sticking out of the ground. I thought it was funny that he was growing upside-down, so I named him Flip, but mother said that Flip probably wouldn't ever get ripe enough to eat because plants that grow the wrong way usually stop maturing and need to be thrown out before they're done.

I planted two other seeds within the last two weeks, so those haven't even sprouted above the dirt yet. I think that Jocelyn will be the best pick for tonight's meal. My mother told me last week that she thought I picked a very nice seed when she saw how plump Jocelyn was growing - seven pounds, by her estimation. After I cut a ripe one off the stem, I usually let mother clean it off in the sink. While she's doing that, I will pick up the remains of the plant that are left behind in the garden. Mother says I can just let everything dry up in the sun, but I like to keep my garden looking nice, so I pick everything up and dispose of it.

Jocelyn behaved well after being cut from it's support stem - sometimes they will be very antsy once I bring them inside, since they have been used to their garden surroundings for so long.