Gardening Today by Susan

The very first thing I remembered, when Jenny and I finally showed up to the garden, was people telling us that we were late. We arrived at approximately 10:30 am. That seemed early to me. Anyways, we came earlier than we did on Tuesday, so we were off to a good start. The kids from Henry Street Settlement were already there, along with everyone else from Hester Street. For what seem like a small garden, there sure is a lot to do – especially when it comes to weeding and cleaning. I tackled that job today with the help from almost everyone.

Near one end of the garden there was this plot of flowers that was 99% filled up with weeds. Jenny, William, three kids from Henry Street and I weeded that container. At first, the job went really slow. We had a problem distinguishing plants from weeds. As a result, many flowers were pulled. To stop the massacre, we organized ourselves into smaller groups with different responsibilities. Some weeded, some discarded the piles of weed, and others replanted the flowers that were pulled by accident. (Must save the flowers!)

After we became a little more organized, we had a lot of fun. It wasn’t awkward at all. We talked, joked, laughed and worked at the same time. Later on, others joined in wanting to help too. I guess one thing successful today was that we learned to work together and get along. It wasn’t that hard.

After that big job was done, I went to help clear leaves and garbage from behind the benches. It required a lot of careful handling from everyone involved because we didn’t want to kill plants, or accidentally dig up seeds. It was kind of frustrating, since the plants were all tangled in garbage and they snap easily. However, it was all worth it because a lot of people thought that it looked cleaner.

Our teamwork was super, but something we need to improve on is cooperation between other groups. For instance, it could get really nasty if someone was picking up trash in the soil and suddenly someone waters the area they’re at. Not only would they get soaked, but also wet dirt and mud is not pleasurable to work in.

Oh yeah… At the end of our work in the garden today, we all pitched in to clean the materials. Anne made me realize that I have a problem with trying to be a perfectionist! I guess I have to learn that garden work does not require every single job to be done perfectly.