My Garden Story:
A Garden’s Tale: A Perspective On Life!
By Gillwho
Background:
The garden was set behind a beautiful white Victorian house in a small New England, USA town. The house was surrounded by perennial flowers and had herbs growing in window boxes attached to the kitchen window. There was a lush lawn with a willow tree in the front of the house. Annual flowers and vegetables were grown in the garden, which was in the back of the house, and flower/ vegetable beds ran along the outside, with several shade trees in each corner of the garden. In the middle of the garden was the lawn and in the center of that was an elegant old oak tree, providing shady spot on a hot summer’s day.
The humans currently living in the home were two children and their parents. The family was originally from England, and had worked hard to have the landscape around their new home resemble the one they left behind in their homeland. The flowers by the house and the herbs were Mother’s responsibility, Father was in charge of mowing the lawns, both front and back, and the garden itself was cared for by the children, Sara and Garth.
EARLY SPRING:
The garden stirred slowly, it was quietly waking up after a long winter’s sleep. It could feel the snow receding and the warmth of the spring sun on its soil. The first signs of new growth were happening slowly just under the soil. Weeds and flowers were stirring, their roots pushing carefully through the still chilly underground. In a day or two, the first green tips of the stem and leaves would poke through the ground. “Ah”, thought the garden, another growing season will soon be under way. The humans that tended it would soon return. The garden missed them over the winter. It especially missed Sara; she understood the garden and its moods. Sara knew where and when to plant flowers and vegetables in the garden to get the best results. The garden wondered too, what Sara would look like this year. She had been very small the first time the garden had seen her, and she was full of delight as she smelled the flowers and tasted the vegetables. The first few years, a bigger human had helped her care for the garden. Then one spring she appeared alone and much taller. The garden heard her exclaim, “Mum, said I can start working in the garden by myself this year!” Sara had proved to be very skilled in tending the garden over the years, except the garden wished she didn’t pull up all the weeds! “How wasteful”, thought the garden.” She could be using those weeds to feed the other humans.” There was quite a variety, too, including dandelions, perslane and violets, although violets were sometimes considered wildflowers by some humans. This also made the garden think how closely related wildflowers and weeds were, like cousins, the garden thought.
Thinking of them reminded the garden of the other growing human, Garth. He was quite the opposite of Sara; he loved to tear through the garden, disturbing the peace and quite of the growing vegetation. When he was very little he would dig holes in the ground and fill them with water, then he would jump and splash around in the hole, spreading mud onto all the nearby leaves, ugh, the garden disliked having muddy leaves. Last year. Garth started hitting all the pretty flower heads with a stick! Fortunately, Sara generally chased him out of the flowerbeds. “Oh my”, thought the garden, “what will he do this year!”
“Well, that is something to deal with later”, thought the garden, as it turn its attention back to what was happening currently. It had felt the earth moving, the worms had awakened and were stretching their long thin bodies for the first time this spring. It felt good to the garden, and it relaxed, forgetting about the humans for the moment. As the worms turned the earth, the new roots from the vegetation were able to push further out and gather nutrients from the soil. Now, they were quickly able to produce steams and leaves, to grow quickly, in just a short amount of time now, the garden would be going from brown and bare to green and lush. Early spring was well under way!
SPRING:
It was a loud thunderstorm that woke the garden from its dreamy state with a start. Spring was in full bloom now, the grass green, the leaves on the trees fully open and an array of wildflowers and weeds covered the garden’s now warm soil. Frogs sung the garden to sleep at night and a chorus of birds woke it in the morning. Now though, the storm had disturbed its afternoon nap. Crashes of thunder reverberated through the ant nests scattered around the flowerbeds, and the garden could feel the ants working to secure their hills. Lightening scared the baby birds, the garden could hear them tweeting loudly for their parents. Then the rain started, it felt cool and refreshing to plants and birds. The garden insects were not so pleased with the rain; they worked to keep their small structures from collapsing from the weight of the raindrops. Many had to bail out their little sleeping holes. A few spiders lost their beautiful webs and would have to make repairs. Honey bees that had been too busy gathering pollen to notice the impending storm took cover under flowers. Soon however, the storm passed and the sun returned. The smell of warm, moist soil wafted up from the ground, a few worms wriggled up from underneath the soft soil to warm their bodies for a bit. “Not such a good idea”, thought the garden, “with all those baby birds to feed, those worms will be afternoon snacks!” And sure enough, a group of birds swept down and in an instant had plenty of food for their young.
“Hey, leave some worms in the garden, they are good for the soil”, the garden heard Sara cry as she ran towards it. The birds quickly flew away. The garden was happy to see Sara, she had already been busy, tidying up, clearing away the muck from winter and cleaning up the garden decorations. The birdbath was scrubbed clean and filled with fresh water, the small garden fence was brushed clean and the assorted gnomes and fairies statues were washed clean. Next, the garden knew, would come spring planting. That is when Sara would pull all those weeds, how the garden still wished it could tell Sara the value of some of those weeds!!!
The garden was tired and was looking forward to a quite night of sleep after an active day. Sara had been busy planting today, digging holes, and carefully putting the young flowers and vegetables snuggly into their new homes. She had made smaller holes and tenderly placed and covered seeds in them, then marking the rows with little shinny metal tags. Once done, Sara had gently watered all she had planted. Sara had help planting this year, which surprised the garden, as it was Garth! He was taller and quieter this year. Now instead of tearing through the garden, making a mess, he was helping Sara pulling up the weeds, (oh well), and taking them to the compost pile for her. At least they would do some good there. He also helped her with the digging and raking to get the flowerbeds ready for planting. “My, how he has grown up”, thought the garden, “it will be a peaceful year without Garth’s wild behavior.”
As nighttime approached, the garden was relaxed and ready to feel the new plantings pushing their roots into the soil. The garden loved to drift of to sleep with the thought of plants snuggling into their new homes! In the middle of the night though, the garden awoke to a tickling sensation. It was coming from some of the new flowers, there was someone was nibbling on them! It must be that pesky rabbit that comes around every year. It always managed to get a few good meals from the garden before it got tired of being chased away by the neighbor’s dog, Rex. Sara would not be happy when she found out it had paid a visit in the night, but the garden was powerless to make the rabbit stop munching. It could hear the gnashing of its teeth on the tender flower tops. From the location of the tickling, the garden knew the pretty yellow and orange marigold heads were the victims of tonight’s foraging. The garden could also feel digging going on in one of the flowerbeds. It was squirrels stealing the alyssum to line their nests with. It would provide a soft bed for the young ones. The squirrels made quick work of their gatherings and soon disappeared into the night. Then the garden heard a loud belching sound, apparently the rabbit had had its fill for the night, and it too, soon scampered off. “Poor Sara, she would be very displeased now,” the garden thought as it drifted of to sleep again.
The morning quite was broken by Sara’s cries, “Oh Garth, look what happened to the garden last night, it has been chewed on, rabbits and squirrels I would guess, looks like I will have to stay out here at night to keep the little animals away!!!” Garth said, “I don’t think Mother and Father will let you do that, and I don’t want to spend every night out here with you. Besides,” Garth said proudly, “I have a better solution!” Sara looked at him, “You do?” “Yes, foxes urine, we sprinkle it around the garden, and it will seem like a fox lives here. That will keep animals out of your garden, Sara.” “Yuck!” exclaimed Sara, “That sounds disgusting, and how would you get this urine from the fox anyway?!?” “Oh silly, you buy it, I’m not sure how the manufacturer gets the urine, but they turn it into crystals that you put around the garden,” replied Garth. “In that case, lets go buy some right away,” said Sara, looking relieved.
A little later, the garden felt Sara and Garth working in it. The stolen and chewed flowers were being replaced, and the garden could smell a slightly unpleasant odor around its perimeter. However, the garden felt it could get use to the odor if it stopped critters from chewing and digging around in the night! And work well it did!!! Soon all the new flowers and vegetables were growing full and strong. The garden felt comfort in the lush spring growth.
LATE SPRING/ EARLY SUMMER:
The warm spring rain was soaking gently into the garden, refreshing it. As everything was growing quickly now, the need for moisture was constant, and the flowers and vegetables perked up as their roots drank in the cool liquid. The garden was proud of how it looked. The flowers all had blooms and many had beautiful perfume emanating from them. They were also loaded with pollen, and the bees were keeping very busy gathering it to take home to make wonderful honey! While the bees were in the garden gathering the flower pollen, they were also attracted to the less powerfully scented, but abundant pollen in the blossoms on the vegetables. This had allowed for the bees to spread the pollen to create even more blossoms, which would eventually lead to more vegetables to be harvested.
Sara and Garth had been busy, too, “grooming” the garden, keeping the flowerbeds neat and tidy. They “dead headed” flower blossoms that were old, and trimmed unruly leaves. They raked and loosened the soil around the plants, and they continued to pull up weeds as they grew. At least most of the weeds sprouting up now were not of the edible variety!
One day, a large truck had pulled up just outside the garden, and Sara and Garth had carried something together out of the back of it, as they walked carefully away from the truck, the garden could see it was a “baby” tree. The garden was getting a new addition! It had been a long time since the garden had a new tree planted in its soil, and so the garden was excited at the prospect of watching the tree grow. It wondered what type it was, and if it was a pine tree, maybe a new maple, or even a fruit tree. As the children approached the garden, it could tell it was an oak tree, how exciting, the garden loved to watch oak trees grow from infancy into large shade trees. This made the garden think about the first oak that was planted in its soil many years ago. The garden was very different then. It was mostly just a lawn, with a few simple flowers planted in a flowerbed at the back of the lawn and a hedge or two. An elegant lady and gentleman owned the garden at that time; they often invited many people to the garden and set up fancy parties on its well-manicured lawns. Then one day, a new person arrived in the garden. He immediately added the first tree to it, an oak. It was still there in the middle of the lawn, providing ample shade on hot summer days.
While in the garden, Sara and Garth also checked for signs that the garden may have been nibbled on, but the fox’s urine was working well, and the garden had no invading, munching critters. In fact, the garden had observed a squirrel eyeing it with great care the other day. It had then zipped by at top speed, after which, the squirrel leaned on a tree just outside the garden and let out a sigh of great relief, the little critter thought it had evaded the fox!!!. All in all, the garden was content and happy, and it put all it’s energy now into making it’s growth as abundant as possible. The garden was looking forward to a lush summer season.
Tags: Gardening Fantasy Story Personification Chapter Stories
