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It was our first year planting a vegetable garden in our backyard, in Western New York, along the Niagara River. I was four and loved helping to sift through the rich, black soil with my fingers. Mother and I planted tomatoes, green peppers, green beans, cucumbers, beets, carrots, radishes, lettuce, et alii.

My mother was sweet. She sectioned off a corner of the garden for me to grow vegetables of my own. So, I planted my favorites - carrots, beets, radishes, and cucumbers.

I was so enthralled with this new adventure into life and growing that I ran out to the far corner of our large yard every hour or so, for the first few days, to check on my plants, as though they would suddenly pop up like Jack's beanstalk. After a few days, I only checked on my little garden two or three times per day. Then, two.

One day, when the carrots looked especially lacy, I ventured to pull one out to see how large they had grown. It was only a baby. I was disappointed that it had not grown any faster than that, and I felt sorrow for having killed my little carrot, so I decided to at least try to be patient enough to allow them to grow to adulthood first. Mother and Father were beginning to feel sorry for me, because my disappointment was beginning to become increasingly apparent in my face and voice.

One fine day, it rained and rained, thoroughly watering my little darlings. It was too wet outside for me to run out to see if they had experienced a growth spurt. By the end of the day, I had forgotten to look.

The next afteroon, my mother mentioned that she was going to go out into the garden, just to see if my vegetables were ready, yet. I had been disappointed so many times, that I told her that we might as well wait for a few more days.

When she returned she was all excited. In her hands, she was holding whole bunches of large, lush beets, carrots, and radishes! "Look!", she proclaimed, "Your vegetables grew to be so huge!" My eyes grew wide with surprise. Oh my, had it been so long since I had looked?

I grabbed the bunches and smelled them. They were wonderful! Just wonderful!

I was, suddenly in a hurry to make a dinner treat with them. As I laid them on the counter to separate the bunches, my finger became caught on a little red rubberband.

Learn more about this author, Jane Smith.
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