Free Spring Sprouts by Judy Delton Page A

“My mom freezes the vegetables.”
    “Then maybe you already know how to do it,” said Mrs. Peters. “Rachel can help us.”
    Mrs. Peters passed a little packet of seeds to each Scout.
    “First you find a nice sunny spot and dig up the dirt,” Mrs. Peters explained. “Then you rake it smooth.”
    She walked over to a little place in the yard that was already dug and raked. “Mr. Peters got this ready last night,” she said.
    She bent down and put a ruler on the ground. She made a little ditch alongside it with a knife. “This is so the row will be nice and straight,” she said.
    Then she sprinkled the seeds along the ruler, into the little ditch.
    “Don’t plant them too deep,” she said. “And not too close together. Every day you must water your garden. Water and sun will make it grow.”

    Molly couldn’t wait to get home and plant her seeds. She wanted to have the very first radish. And the biggest one of all.
    “This hot sun will bring them up fast,” said Mrs. Peters. She washed her hands off under the outdoor faucet.
    Then everyone sat down at the table again.
    “Besides the garden,” she said, “we will keep vitamin scrapbooks.”
    She held up a big picture of a carrot. “This has lots of vitamin A.”
    Then she held up a picture of a lemon. “This has lots of vitamin C. You can cut pictures out of old magazines. After you make your scrapbooks and plant your gardens, we will talk about nutrition. Then you will earn your EAT RIGHT badges.
    The Pee Wees cheered, “Yeah!”
    It was fun to plant a garden. And make scrapbooks. And it was even more fun to get a new badge!
    “We’ve got a seed catalog at home,” said Lisa. “I can find lots of vegetables in that.”
    Mrs. Peters talked some more about vitamins and nutrition. About what to eat for breakfast, for instance.
    Roger raised his hand. “Can I tell a joke?” he said.
    “Yes,” said Mrs. Peters.
    “What are two things you can’t eat for breakfast?” he said.
    The Scouts thought about the question.
    “Steak,” said Molly.
    “An ice-cream soda,” said Patty.
    Roger shook his head. “Lunch and dinner!” he shouted.
    “Boo!” said all the Scouts together.
    Roger looked embarrassed.
    Then they all joined hands and sang the Pee Wee Scout song. And they said the Pee Wee Scout pledge.
    Molly loved the Scout meetings.
    But she wanted to hurry home.
    To plant her garden.
    Molly wanted to be the first one to get her little packet of seeds in the ground.

The Dandelion Deed
    A fter supper Molly’s dad showed her where she could plant a garden.
    “The sun will be there every morning,” said Mr. Duff.
    Molly raked the garden. Then she made straight lines with a ruler just as Mrs. Peters had. She put in a little fertilizer that her dad had given her.
    Mrs. Peters hadn’t talked about fertilizer. Maybe it was a secret trick. To make the seeds grow. To get the badge faster.

    Molly hoped it wasn’t cheating.
    Molly dropped the seeds along the ruler. Nice and straight. Not too deep. Not too close together.
    Then she covered the seeds with a little dirt and patted them down.
    Pat, pat, pat.
    “Grow fast,” she said to the seeds. She watered them with the hose.
    Now I have to wait, she thought. Hurry up and wait. She stared at the smooth dirt for a long time. Then she went inside.
    Every morning before school Molly ran out to look at her garden. Every morning it looked the same.
    Flat and black.
    Ants crawled over it.
    Angleworms crawled through it.
    But nothing else happened.
    After school one day Molly and Mary Beth and Lisa looked for pictures for their scrapbooks. They looked through magazines for pictures of fruits and vegetables.
    The girls were on Mary Beth’s front porch. It was another warm spring day.
    “Here’s spaghetti,” said Lisa.
    “Spaghetti isn’t a fruit or a vegetable,”said Molly. “It doesn’t even grow in a garden.”
    “So, I can still use it,” said Lisa. She started to cut it out. It looked so