Sofia’s First Garden

Sofia pushes open the gate to Peach’s cottage garden. She carries a little yellow watering can. Her friend Peach knows all about gardening.

Peach is beside the flower bed, pulling out weeds. Her big dog, Presa, rests on the path, while Pip, her little black cat, watches from the wall.

“Hello, Sofia,” says Peach. “What have you got there?”

“My watering can,” says Sofia. “I would like to grow something.”

Presa gets up to greet her. He sniffs the watering can, then puts his nose inside.

“There’s nothing in it yet,” Sofia tells him.

Peach takes off her gardening gloves.

“Well, we had better find you something to water.”

Beside the path is a sunny patch of bare earth, between the lavender and the fence.

Peach points to it.

“How about a little garden of your own?”

“All of that?” asks Sofia.

“All of that,” says Peach.

Sofia puts down her watering can and kneels beside the patch.

“What shall I grow?”

Peach brings three seed packets from the shed. Sofia lays them out on the path.

One shows round red radishes. One shows orange flowers. The last shows tall sunflowers with big yellow heads.

“These!” Sofia says, picking up the sunflower packet.

“They can grow taller than you,” says Peach.

Sofia stands up.

“Taller than this?”

“Much taller,” says Peach.

Sofia stretches both arms above her head.

Peach laughs. “Perhaps even taller than that.”

Sofia looks at Presa.

“You won’t be able to see over my garden.”

Presa sits on her foot.

“Or perhaps you’ll just sit on it.”

First, they need to prepare the soil.

Peach loosens it with her garden fork. Sofia uses a small trowel to lift out stones and put them in a bucket.

Clink.

Clink.

Plonk.

“That’s a big one,” Sofia says.

Pip comes along the path. He looks into the bucket, then steps straight onto the patch.

His paws leave little prints in the soft earth.

“Pip, we’re working there,” says Sofia.

He sits down.

Sofia looks at Peach.

“How do we move him?”

Peach lifts him gently and sets him on the grass.

Pip sits on the grass and calmly washes his shoulder.

Sofia pushes her trowel into the soil again.

Something pink wriggles beneath it.

“Oh!”

She drops the trowel.

“What is it?” asks Peach.

“A worm!” says Sofia.

They lean closer. The worm stretches, then pulls itself into a small curl.

“Does it live here?” Sofia asks.

“Yes,” says Peach. “It helps to keep the soil loose.”

Sofia watches it disappear into a gap.

“Then we should leave its home alone.”

She picks up her trowel and works on the other side.

Soon the patch is ready.

Sofia tips the sunflower packet over her palm. A few striped seeds slide out.

“They don’t look like flowers.”

“Not yet,” says Peach.

Sofia holds one close to her face.

“How does a big sunflower fit in there?”

“There’s a tiny plant inside,” says Peach. “When it has what it needs, it starts to grow.”

Sofia turns the seed over carefully.

Peach reads the instructions on the packet. Then she shows Sofia how to make a small hole in the soil.

Sofia drops in a seed and brushes earth over it.

“One.”

She makes another hole, leaving space between them.

“Two.”

Then a third.

“Three.”

Presa leans forward to sniff.

His big nose makes a little dent beside the last hole.

Sofia giggles.

“Are you planting your nose?”

Peach puts the spare seeds away while Sofia fills her watering can at the garden tap.

She fills it to the top, but when she tries to lift it, the can barely moves.

“Oh.”

“Too heavy?” asks Peach.

“A bit.”

Peach pours some water into her own can. Sofia tries again.

This time, she can carry it with both hands.

She walks slowly to the patch.

A little water spills onto her boot.

“Nearly,” she says.

Peach helps her tip the can gently. Water falls over the soil in a shower.

Pip steps backwards.

Then backwards again.

“You’re not a sunflower, Pip,” Sofia says. “I’m not watering you.”

Sofia sits on the path and watches her garden while Peach puts away the trowel.

“Nothing’s happening.”

“It takes a few days,” says Peach.

“How many?” asks Sofia.

“We’ll have to wait and see,” says Peach.

Sofia leans closer to the earth.

“Perhaps tomorrow.”

Before she goes home, she makes a little sign on a wooden label.

SOFIA’S GARDEN.

She draws a yellow flower underneath and pushes the label into the soil.

Now everyone will know.

The next afternoon, Sofia hurries through the gate.

She puts down her watering can and crouches beside the sign.

No flowers.

Not even a leaf.

“Shall I dig one up and look?”

Peach kneels beside her.

“Let’s leave them tucked in. We might damage a little root.”

Sofia rests the trowel on the path.

Instead, they check the soil. It is still damp, so the watering can stays beside the fence.

Each afternoon, Sofia comes to look.

Sometimes the soil needs a little water. Sometimes the rain does the job for her.

But there is still nothing green.

One afternoon, Sofia stands beside Peach without taking off her coat.

“I don’t think my seeds work.”

“Come and show me,” says Peach.

They walk down the path together, with Presa following.

Sofia crouches beside her sign and stops.

“Peach.”

There is a tiny crack in the soil.

And in the crack—

Something green.

Sofia moves closer, careful where she puts her feet.

A small shoot bends above the earth. At its tip are two little leaves.

“It’s here!”

Peach kneels beside her.

“So it is.”

Sofia looks along the patch.

There is another shoot.

And another.

“One. Two. Three!”

Presa lowers his head.

“Careful,” Sofia tells him. “They’re only babies.”

She sits back on her heels, smiling at the three small plants.

Pip strolls towards the soft soil.

Sofia puts out her hand.

“Not today, Pip. There’s something growing here now.”

He sniffs her fingers, then settles on the path beside her.

Sofia picks up her watering can. The soil is dry on top today.

She gives her seedlings a gentle drink.

Then Sofia stands beside them.

“You’ve got quite a way to go,” she says.

Over the next few weeks, Sofia keeps coming back. She waters when the soil is dry and pulls out weeds. The plants reach her knees, then her waist. Soon she has to look up to see their tops.

At last, one big yellow flower opens. Two more follow.

“Peach! Come and see!” Sofia calls.

Peach joins her beside the sunflowers.

Sofia stands on tiptoe and stretches both arms above her head. She still cannot reach the tallest flower.

“All from three little seeds,” says Peach.

Presa sits beside Sofia. The sunflowers tower over him too.

Sofia strokes his head.

“I told you that you wouldn’t be able to see over my garden!”

A bee lands on a yellow petal. Sofia watches it crawl towards the middle.

“Hello,” she says. “Do you like my flowers too?”

Until our next adventure...

And remember... You are kind. You are brave. You are loved.