------------------------Pleasures of Gardening------------------------
We had a beautiful garden in front of our home. In fact every home in the complex had a garden in front. We had tulip flowers, sun flowers and daisies. At the very front were hedges marking the boundary of the garden. Just behind the hedges was a mini tree that always hung pink flowers.
Dad and us would sometimes pull out the weeds and loosen the soil and water so that the existing plants and trees would remain in good shape.
Oneday, my younger sister and I got seeds of a pumpkin from Mom and dug up the earth of the garden to some extent and laughingly put the seeds in and the covered back the soil.
We kept weeding out and gardening when oneday all of a sudden, we noticed a tiny green seedling. At first we thought it was another weed. We tried to pull it out but it wouldn’t come off, and then we remembered that we had dug in the pumpkin seeds right at that position. We were thrilled!! So we finally had a plant out of pumpkin seeds. The better news was that it was going to grow big and cover the majority of the garden.
Inspired we put lettuce seeds and pudina leaves seeds and let them grow. We took good care of the garden indeed!!
Soon the garden was giving us pudina leaves and lettuce and we made sure they were included in our daily meals. And the pumpkin plant had grown with big leaves stretching all over the garden. It didn’t look that very neat like before, taking up majority of the space but then we noticed a tiny bud at one end. It started growing as days passed by and grew so big that now it was time to detach it and cook it and finally have it for our meals.
Mom remarked it was too big for the family. We all could never finish eating the whole thing and the refrigerator was quite small for it. So it was time to give away. Dad sliced the pumpkin into a good many four portions, a slightly bigger one for us and the other three not so small either. And Dad wrote on pieces of paper: “From our garden—Your neighbor”. We gave away the three pumpkin slices to the nearest neighbors, and they were more than happy to receive them.
As days went by, another unexpected growing bud appeared; soon it turned to an oval growing pumpkin; the other one we had earlier was completely round. This time too it was a big one, and like before, we gave away slices of it to another set of neighbors.
Life seemed so sweet. Giving away the pumpkin slices was the best part, and the flowers that burgeoned in our garden simply added beauty to our home and surroundings. The pumpkin plant started withering away and we knew it would give no more buds and so we tried to clear it up at least the leaves, if not the strong stems.