A Cheeky Magpie

Garden Boy currently loves nothing more than moving things, the smaller the better, from one place to another. The game is even more fun if there is a container for him to put the things he his given, or which he quietly takes, into. This makes tidy up time in the house newly efficient. Garden Girl doesn't feel like she is being singled out to do the job and I have two helpers instead of one which is an unarguable improvement. In the kitchen Garden Boy can be handed a pile of potato peelings and will be entertained for a good ten to twenty minutes putting each individual peeling in the bin for me, while I get the dinner prepared uninterrupted. Garden Girl, never wanting to be left out, will usually join in and for a short period of time we all work harmoniously humming along happily to Fun Kids radio.

In the garden however, this game is causing havoc. Garden Boy has always been quick to pick the tomatoes and strawberries before anyone can stop him. He knows now to only eat the red ones, although he will still try his luck with the green ones if there are no red ones left. Recently however, he has taken to picking them and placing them in empty plant pots so that we will come across tomatoes, days or even weeks later, ripening on the vine, somewhere in the garden. He will also pull up the white plant labels and neatly gather them all together in a plant pot. Tidy, but not very helpful for someone who can't tell a Brussels Sprout plant from a cabbage plant or even a weed.

Little piles of stones litter the garden, leaving a telling trail of Garden Boy's movements and pots are filled with leaves pulled from unsuspecting plants. I also cannot put down the bowl I am filling with vegetables when I go outside each day to harvest the vegetables. If I turn away for just one moment it has all been deposited tidily in various plant pots or in piles around the garden and I have to go vegetable hunting. Every day there is a little surprise waiting for me in the oddest place; a carrot buried amongst the lavender or a pile of stones topped with a beetroot for maximum artistic effect.

Garden Boy carries out these activities with a determined, serious walk and a look of total concentration such that it is hard to interrupt him, but when I do challenge him, his face breaks out into a cheeky grin and he giggles knowingly. His laughing eyes tell me he is going to enjoy watching me try to find all the bits and pieces and he switches his energies to chasing me around the garden as I try my hardest to retrieve his hidden treasure. Garden Girl loves a good chase and will usually join the fray so that most days we end up in a heap giggling in the garden. One of many reasons why I love my garden.