Green fingers

I’m starting to think that Harry is going to be a green-fingered sort when he’s older.

He’s certainly very enthusiastic about getting stuck in when it comes to digging in the garden, and he gets extremely excited at the prospect of digging up produce.

I think his enthusiasm goes back to September when Harry and I spent an afternoon digging up the last of the potatoes. Harry was fascinated and whenever he eats potatoes now, he says: “Daddy, dig, ‘tatoes, Harry.”

Now, with the weather starting to improve, we’ve been able to get in the garden again – and Harry certainly hasn’t forgotten about the potatoes.

Last weekend, we spent an afternoon clearing and tidying. While Melissa concentrated on the flower beds, Harry and I tackled the vegetable plot. Harry was like a little shadow, pushing his wheelbarrow around piled high with his shovel, spade and rake.

Out first job was getting up the remaining parsnips. Harry did end up on his bottom a few times when the vegetables refused to budge but, on the whole, it went reasonably well.

Then we had to dig over the rest of the plot, a job Harry enjoyed, particularly when we found a few potatoes still in the ground. This really fired Harry’s enthusiasm and he spent the next half hour digging frantically and excitedly handing me stones and clumps of mud, saying: “Daddy, ‘tatoes.”

What amazed me, though, was Harry’s concentration. Normally his attention wanes after about 20 minutes but in all he was out with me for an hour and a half – and he didn’t try to escape once. In fact, the only reason we had go inside was to give Harry his tea.

I’ll certainly have no excuse for an untidy garden this summer.