The boys notice their dill plants are tall and starting to sprout flowers. Their basil plants are full and ready to be thinned out. The mint and sage are spreading, and the chive is bursting in all directions. It’s time to harvest some herbs.

Each boy picks from his garden and brings the bounty inside. They wash each kind of herb in a colander, then lay them on a dishtowel to dry. All the while, they’re plotting: How can they make money on this? They conclude that they need to fill little baggies with their herbs and try to sell them at the end of our driveway, or at the family business, if Grandpa says it’s okay. Jude can also sell some of the geodes he’s collected from our driveway. They think they can make about twenty bucks…which they will certainly spend on Legos.

Rex called it. He noticed the white-winged butterflies fluttering through our gardens and called them the culprits of the holes munched in our cabbage plants. I wasn’t certain. How were they responsible? They were just flitting around, wandering through, and then flying out to the yard beyond.

And then Jude found a few green caterpillars on the cabbage leaves, and I finally did some research:

“Found throughout the U.S., the cabbage worm is the larva of a common white butterfly with three to four black spots on its wings. The damage done by these caterpillars is similar to that of the cabbage looper — the pests chew large, ragged holes in the leaves of cabbages, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cauliflower.” (garden.org)

Aha! I told the boys about the caterpillars, and they were all over it. They filled a yogurt container with soapy water and got to work.

Jude is an expert bug and creepy crawler finder. He started plucking the plump camouflaged caterpillars off the front and backs of cabbage leaves, inside the tightly folded center, and along the stem. Each find was raised in the air and celebrated: “Number 12!” He handed them over to Rex, who dropped them into the water. Here are the stats, all found in about 20 minutes:

18 cabbage worms

2 cabbage worm cocoons

2 slugs

When no other culprits could be found, all three boys proudly admired their collection.

Thankfully, we have not had any other pests invade our gardens…that we know of. Rabbits stay away thanks to our four ever-prowling cats: Minnie, Coco, Uno, and Cloud. The gardens are close enough to the house that deer dare not come close…and if they did, they would be enthusiastically screamed and stomped at by three little boys. Nothing messes with their gardens.

Yep, there’s no stopping them!  Look at the changes in height in the tomato plants and the corn. Some plants are not necessarily growing up, they’re flowering, filling out, or actually growing vegetables. Some of the herbs – the cilantro and dill – and the spinach are going to seed. (I had to change the chart a little.)

*Two weeks later

The bloom on an eggplant.

The boys notice so much! Once they get into the garden, it’s as if they push play and start an audio tour of their turf. They don’t even care if anyone is listening; they talk over each other and to each other, not really expecting an answer. But I love what I hear: observations of growth, one plant stealing sunlight from another, time to harvest certain herbs, a surprise wandering of pole beans’ vines, curiosity about how big the carrots are under their tops, and on and on. It all makes me smile.

It’s important to (try to) slow the boys down and observe their surroundings. I asked them to look more carefully – more closely – at one of their plants, or a part of a plant, and draw. Here’s what they came up with:

Rex LOVES his chives. I appreciate that he imagined what was going on below-ground, as well as above.

Jude loves art, and he’s full of creativity. He drew himself  watering his garden scene.

Morris’s picture captures all the green tomatoes in his garden.

J planted two corn seeds in the corner of his garden, and their growth rate has been unbelievable! So yeah, in Iowa we watch the corn grow…and we’re impressed at how quickly it reaches our heads and then into the heavens. I once heard a story about a farmer who would stand in his field and swear he heard it growing. Well, there’s no chance of hearing it in our gabby garden. There’s too much talk of Minecraft, baseball, and bizarre bugs.

We took a week off of measuring our plants, so June 19 is absent from the chart. I did this somewhat on purpose, to really see a difference in growth. There was clearly a growth spurt during those two weeks!

Tomato plants shot up and little yellow blooms – some with green bulbs underneath – are everywhere! Our pole beans filled out and their arms are reaching for something to wrap around: tomato cages, the garden fence, other plants. (I should have given them something to climb, and may need to do that later.) The herbs are full and ready to harvest: I picked and dried some of the dill and froze some of the basil in small baggies. Our garden is growing!

(*Two weeks later.)

“My potato plant sprouted. My mint is spreading. My whole garden is filled. It used to have seeds and now it is full.” -Rex

“My potato plant has grown and there’s a purplish-whitish flower on my eggplant!” -Jude

 “The leaves are kinda big (on my tomato plant).” -Morris

And so are my boys! Family and friends comment on how tall Rex looks lately. Jude’s once clown-sized shoes now fit perfectly. And, I notice Morris’s pants from this winter are now high-waters, and long-sleeve shirts creep up his forearms. They all need haircuts and are constantly stealing snacks from the pantry.

Rex, Morris, and Daddy all have lettuce growing like crazy in their gardens. Rex has Bib and red leaf lettuce; Morris is growing spinach (not quite lettuce, but lettuce-like); and Daddy is growing Bib and green leaf lettuce. One of the best things about growing lettuce is you can harvest it over and over throughout the summer, provided it doesn’t get too hot or too many pests attack. This is in contrast to the cabbage we’re growing, which takes up a lot of space, can only be harvested once, and the caterpillars apparently love it.

One evening we harvested a whole bowl full of lettuce, taking leaves from each boys’ gardens. Jude was in need of a structured activity, so I nominated him to clean it and make a big salad to his liking.

He wasn’t thrilled at first, but after washing the leaves, and finding a caterpillar attached to a leaf in a cocoon (Understand, creepy crawlies are one of the loves of his life!), he got into it.  His salad was delicious: ranch dressing, string cheese, and croutons. He might be up for salad making again…IF I can promise him he’ll find another bug.