Planting stuff

Alpha helped her carry it in from the car. They propped it up again the braai.

I sniffed it. Ralphie sniffed it. We looked at each other and shook our heads. Did not even smell that good.

Looked at mom… Well? What is it?

Mom just smiled mysteriously. It’s going to be a veggie garden Fudges – one that the blue dudes can’t dig up and destroy with their forks and spades.

The next day, after our walk, they went off.

They came home a whole lot later with loads of stuff – bags of soil and a whole batch of plants. Little teeny plants in crunchy black plastic trays.

Alpha started hammering away at the big wooden thing.

He knocked off bits of wood and then reattached them again in a different place. They used some green plastic stuff too.

I lay on the left-overs and checked that they were doing a proper job. Ralph supervised from the sidelines.

Mom got hot and took off her boots. She sat down on the grass. Not often she does that so I dashed up to her and licked all the bits I could reach.

A lot of hammering and staple-gunning was done. Doosh doosh doosh.

Gave Alpha the evil eye – do you really have to make such a lot of noise on a peaceful Saturday afternoon?

Eventually they appeared to be content with the thing that they had created. They propped it up against the wall and started filling it up with bags of soil.

Clearly they were very impressed with their own selves.

Mom started slicing up the green plastic stuff and planting the little plants. I tried to help but she informed me that she was managing quite fine thank you. Went back to my spot on the lawn and supervised some more.

Turns out they made the wooden thingy into a veggie garden – just like they said they were going to. Although mom snuck and few flowers in to make it pretty. She planted one of those white flowers that I like stuffing my nose into and sniffing (Alyssum) near the bottom – just for me.

* As told to Ginny Stone