What do boys do when they pull out the dead plants from their gardens? The boys notice that the corn stalks, egg plants, and tomato plants are shaped like a club, with a ball of roots and dirt on one end of a thin, dried stalk. Excellent! And so begins a battle with veggie clubs and whips made of dried green bean vines. They know better than to actually nail each other with these organic weapons; they are very good at acting out their attacks.

Jude attacks with the club; Morris whips with green bean stalks.

However, this made the time dedicated to tearing down our gardens this weekend much more distracted and much less sentimental than I imagined. I remembered Rex saying how sad he’d be when the gardens were over, how lonely the beds would look when all the plants were pulled out. There was none of that today. Boys yanked out plants quickly and moved on to play. I’d call them back to pull out this or that, they’d return, and then go back to battle.

That’s probably a good thing… Part of me wanted to be a little sad about the end of the growing season, but boys are creatures of action, and they know we’re going to do this all again next year. So I’m not sad either.

Matter of fact, I have plans for My Growing Boys for the fall and winter!

In the fall, we’ve got pumpkins and leaves and baking. In the winter, we’ve got some green gifts in mind, along with some frozen chili reds and jalapenos to make jelly. I’d like to start composting (still researching…), and I want the boys to start some of their own flowers and vegetable plants for their gardens next summer.

There are more adventures to come!…but 2016 posts are dwindling. The activity will pick up again in 2017 when it’s time for the growing season. My Growing Boys are excited for another year of gardening adventures!