My Father’s Garden.

The gardening part of my dad became unleashed right after we moved into our new house. It’s a new site where weeds grow without you having to plant them. Many times, we may not have to buy vegetable leaves. We can easily cut and use from the ones that grow around us.

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Since they all were useful, there was no need for us to cut them away. As much as they kept growing, we kept using and enjoying their usage. As a result of that, we became vegetarians and use more of veggies in our foods because we have access to them.

One night, we all went inside to sleep as usual and waking up on the next day, the majority of our plants were gone especially the short ones.

Who cut down my plants? This is my compound and no one has the right to cut down my plants without my consent, my mum who can be hot tempered shouted at the top of her lungs. Everyone on the street heard how my mum hollers at full volume and they all came out to see what was happening.

No one ever witnessed when the plants were being cut. Also, there was no one who came out to say that he or she was the one who cut down our plants. The only way to revive the plants was by watering them every now and then and within the space of a week, there were positive changes.
At least, our minds were at rest that our plants were gradually coming back to life.

Daddy, what plant is this?, I was still very little and had no idea of what such plant may be. They looked like green balls. I was taking care of the compound that morning when I discovered that plant at the backyard. Out of curiousity, I headed to my dad’s room and called him to come and check the plants.

Wow! This is a tomato plant. If it grows well, we will no longer need to buy tomatoes from pepper sellers anymore, the little me saw how her dad’s face brightened up. There will be no need to buy tomatoes outside anymore.

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We were so eager to see the result of the tomato plants and we kept watering it almost all the time. The tomato plant became the most cherished over other plants in our garden. After all that, the tomato plants began to get reddish in color. At last, it was becoming ripe.

Let’s wait for three days before we harvest the plants, this is what my dad said and we all banked on it even though we all cannot wait to start harvesting our tomatoes.

On waking up on third day, our tomatoes were gone. There was no single tomato on the plant. Our hope was gone and the excitement in me died immediately after seeing the tomato plant.

There was no need for my mum to yell anymore because there will be no one to claim that they did or cut down the plants.
At night, my dad didn’t sleep. Who’s the person disturbing our plants and hindering them from growing? My dad was so curious. He heard some sounds in the compound and when he peeped through the window, he saw some goats. The goats have been the thorns in our side ever since we discovered that our plants were being cut down by some unknown people.

They were goats and even if we send them away, they will still come back so we started thinking of the way forward.
For six good months, the goats continued to eat our plants and no matter how much we send them away, they keep coming back. After all, they were goats and they will continue to be stubborn so our efforts to send them away or stop them from eating our plants were futile.

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During that time, my dad kept saving some money for a fence so that the goats wouldn’t have an access into our compound.
It breaks our hearts everyday seeing that the goats came over at night to eat our plants. All we had to do was keep watering the plants so they do not die. And after a few weeks when they grow again, the goats come to do their usual.

At last, my dad could afford to fence the whole compound. After that was done, our plants began to flourish again and the goats stopped being a thorn in our sides. We enjoyed our plants again and that’s my dad’s gardening story began.