Garden Club

All the kids were chatting away in Mr. Rork’s class before school. Rrriinnngg. The bell rang. Jenny’s hand shot up. 

“Mr. Rork I’d like to make an announcement!”

Mr Rork adjusted his tie. His tie was in the shape of a fish. The more time the kids made announcements the less time he’d have to teach. He liked to teach. It could be tiring or boring so he didn’t mind teaching less. 

“Ok Jenny go ahead and make your announcement. 

Jenny got up and stood on her desk. Kids aren’t supposed to stand on desks at school. Adults aren’t either. There isn’t anywhere you’re suppose to stand on desks. Desks aren’t for standing on. Mr Rork didn’t mind though. Jenny had good balance anyway. She did gymnastics. If it was Mateo Mr Rork would tell him not to. Mateo had horrible balance. He'd probably fell and hit His head. 

“I’m starting a garden club that will meet after school. We’re going to be learning how to grow all kinds of stuff. If you're interested let me know!” 

Jenny got down and sat at her desk smiling. Everyone could tell she was very excited. 

Throughout the day kids were telling Jenny that they were interested. Jenny wrote down their names and told them when and where to meet. 

After three days the garden club met after school behind the cafeteria. 

“Welcome everybody!” Jenny beamed with delight. “I’ve got seeds for everyone. I bought a variety pack from the store so we’ll all be growing different plants! It’s going to be great! First, Ethan could you use those wood beams to make the garden beds? Here’s a diagram.” 

Ethan took the diagram and read over it. He looked at the beams. Each one weighed about 100lbs. He frowned. 

“Can I get some help? It looks like a lot.”

“No.” Jenny answered. “I need to give everyone else their seeds and instructions while you’re doing that.”

Ethan frowned again then shrugged. He went over to the pile of beams. He tried to pick one up. 

“Hhrrughgh “ he heaved. His legs were shaking like a jellyfish doing the cha-cha. He clenched his jaw. His face went red. He went cross eyed from the strain. He lifted it up and waddled over and placed it in position. Afterwards he was sweating buckets. It had nearly killed him. 

“One” he huffed. He turned his head over to the pile of beams. There were 47 to go. 

“Alright everyone. As Ethan makes the gardens. I’ll be passing out seeds and instructions.” She went around handing them out. 

“Tulips!” Alice smiled. 

“Tomatoes.” Mikey said. 

“Sunflowers! I love sunflowers” Nora hugged her seeds and twisting side to side in delight.

“Cantaloupe. That’s different. But I like cantaloupe.” Mateo said. 

“Hmmm Jenny, mine says redwood tree. That can’t be right can it?” Tom asked. “Aren’t those only in California and they grow to be like 100 ft tall?”

“Yes!” Jenny beamed. “We’ll have the best garden around with a 100 ft tall redwood tree!” 

Tom shrugged. “Ok”

Jenny kept handing out seeds and instructions. 

“A coconut tree! Ooouuu that’ll be fun.” Said Stella. 

“POISON IVY!!! WHY WOULD WE GROW THAT!” Zoey yelled. “Jenny this can’t be right. Mine says poison ivy!” 

“It’s a variety pack,” Jenny answered, wagging her finger. “ The garden club is all about learning how to grow all kinds of plants.” 

Zoey looked scared and confused. 

“Coral reef? This isn’t a seed it’s part of a coral reef. Am I supposed to plant this?” Emma scratched her head. 

“Ooouuu lucky you! You got the coral reef.” Jenny said. “Ethan!” she called.

Ethan had just about finished putting down all the wood beams. He was huffing and puffing, covered head to toe in sweat. His face was red from exhaustion. 

“Yes?” He asked in a weak voice. 

“Could you get the aquarium from the parking lot on the other side and bring it here? It’s for Emma’s coral reef. Thank you.” 

“Ok” Ethan dragged himself on the ground to the parking lot. He went to pick up the aquarium. It was full of water and weighed 100lbs. 

“Hhrrughgh “ he heaved. His legs were shaking like a bowl of jell-O on a washing machine. He clenched his jaw. His face was still red. He went cross eyed from the strain. He lifted it up and waddled around the school to the garden. He put the aquarium in the garden next to the other beds.  It had nearly killed him but he did it. 

The kids planted their seeds and coral and followed their instructions. They watered, fertilized, weeded, and cared for their plants. 

After weeks of work Alice had a garden full of beautiful, colorful tulips. 

Mikey had delicious red tomatoes. He threw them at the other kids. 

Nora would have had the best sunflowers that ever grew but someone mixed up the labels of the fertilizer and the weed killer on the last week. She ended up killing all her sunflowers instead of fertilizing them. Something always went wrong for Nora. She signed. 

Tom grew a 60 ft tall redwood tree. 

“Hot diggity Tom! How’d you get it to grow so fast?” Jenny asked.

Tom shrugged, “I don’t know.” The red wood became the mascot for the school. 

Stella grew her coconut tree. 

Emma turned her aquarium into a whole coral reef. 

“Where’d you get the fish, the octopus, and pelican?” Jenny asked. 

“I didn't,” Emma answered. “They just showed up one day.” 

Zoey was covered head to toe in poison ivy the whole time. Everyone stayed away from her and her garden. 

At the end of garden club the kids eat Mateo’s cantaloupes. They loved it.