A couple of days ago I emptied four bags of fresh garden soil and four bags of compost —cow manure composted— into the raised beds. And I remembered a small boy of four who loves to dig in dirt. Maybe he’d like to help me mix it all around.

We had the garden tools ready — a rake and a shovel. The rake is his size and the shovel is a little bit bigger.

He raked first, not the whole bed, but he moved a good amount of soil around in two separate beds.

Then he wanted to dig, so I got my smaller shovel for him to try out. He liked that.

He dug holes and made them deeper and wider. I wondered how deep he would make them, how far he would go down.

We saw an earthworm crawling out of the soil and moving along on the top. We bent down and watched it move slowly, inch by slow inch.

With a suggestion from his mom, he dug another hole, scooped the worm carefully with the shovel, put it in the new hole he had dug, and covered it up.

His mom asked if there were more tasks he could help with, and there were. Watering plants and putting mulch down and so we started with watering the plants in the winter sowing jugs.

photo by Sarah Smith

Using the smallest watering can, grandchild size, and the big one for me, we got them all watered.

He helped his Mom spread the mulch around the flowers. That was good too.

photo by Sarah Smith

After all that work, a boy has to have a little fun. My daughter was ready again with her camera.

photo by Sarah Smith

We’re well on the way. With more raking in the raised beds we didn’t get to, these gardens will be ready for plants.

Once the sun is a little stronger and it’s warmer, I’ll be ready for my planting helpers.