Lulu Bell and the Magical Garden (4 page)

It was a busy week. Everyone wanted to be part of The Magical Garden Club. Mum and Molly's mum Tien organised a lunchtime barbecue on Thursday to raise money. They sold sausage sandwiches, ice-creams and drinks. Families baked sweet treats for a cake stall on Friday. Kylie sold chocolates at the vet hospital. Millie used the money raised from the barbecue, the cake stall and the
chocolates to buy soil, compost, plants, mulch and everything else they needed.

At school, the students decorated pots with mosaics and made wooden signs for the garden. And there was even more excitement that week at school because by Friday, all the chicks in the incubator had hatched from their eggs. There were now twelve chicks to feed every day.

At last it was the working bee. On Saturday morning, everyone came to school early. The whole Bell family came to help, including Gumpa. He had been working hard all week in his garage, building benches for the garden from leftover timber.

Lulu thought it looked funny to see everyone wearing gardening clothes at school, instead of uniforms. She wore denim overalls, a colourful T-shirt, yellow gumboots and a big straw hat to shade her face from the sun.

Lulu felt a bubble of excitement rise in her tummy as she looked around the playground. It was buzzing with activity. Parents were unloading sacks of soil and bales of mulch. Teachers were moving planks of timber and bags of manure. Millie was drawing chalk marks on the ground to mark where everything should go.

Dad had loaded the wheelbarrow into the back of the car, along with rakes, shovels and trowels. Lulu helped Mum and Dad unpack the car. Gus and Rosie filled up watering cans.

‘Hi, Molly! Hi, Zac!' called Lulu to her friends. Soon Lauren, Max, Daniel and Amira arrived with their families, too. Everyone was wearing gloves and carrying gardening tools.

A group of parents set to work building four raised timber garden beds. After each square bed was built, it was carefully put in place. Lulu and her friends lined the bottom of the garden beds with a thick layer of wet newspaper.

On top of that they put a layer of compost, soil and cow manure, all mixed together.

‘Make sure you spread the soil out evenly,' said Millie.

Lulu evened the mixture out with a rake. Then Rosie and Gus helped spread straw mulch over the top.

Other families worked to dig up the side beds for the shrubbery and hedges. It was hard, hot work. Soon everyone was grubby and sweaty.

When all the garden beds were built and filled, it was time to lay down the paving stones. Millie had designed them to be laid in a hopscotch pattern. The four hopscotch paths formed a cross leading into the centre of the garden. Mum had already painted numbers on each of the pavers. Rosie and Mia
were the first kids to try out the new hopscotch path.

Rosie beamed at Mia. ‘They're much better than the old ones.'

‘We're going to plant sweet-scented thyme all around the pavers,' said Millie, ‘so that when you play, you'll be able to smell the beautiful scent of the herbs.'

‘Now that's
really
cool,' said Mia.

The timber benches that Gumpa had built throughout the week were set in place near the shrubbery. Amira and her family had painted a set of wooden bird houses, and they hung them up to dangle from the branches of the fruit trees.

Dad helped Millie arrange the trellises for the tomatoes and the beans. Some of the trellises were shaped like teepees. Each teepee was made up of ten tall bamboo poles tied together at the top, with an opening at the front.

‘These are going to be very special green cubbyhouses,' explained Millie, as she tied the tops with string. ‘Bean runners will grow up the poles to create thick, leafy walls. They will be the best spots to hide in, and you can eat the beans from the walls!'

When the worm farms were set in place, Lulu looked around. Although she had seen Millie's plan for the garden, she hadn't really been able to picture it until now. There was a round bed in the centre. Around this were four neat square timber beds, separated by pavers. These were bordered on four sides by wide, rectangular garden beds.

Lulu felt a surge of pride. ‘It looks wonderful,' she said.

Millie leant on her shovel. ‘Just you wait until the plants are in,' she said.
‘Then it will
really
be gorgeous. And I still have a little surprise for Rosie.'

‘A surprise for me?' squealed Rosie. ‘What is it?'

‘Wait and see!' said Millie, with a grin.

‘Okay,' called Millie, when lunch was finished, ‘let's get planting. We still have lots to do.'

‘Yay,' said Lulu. ‘Where do we start?'

‘Can I plant the thyme for the hopscotch path?' asked Rosie.

‘Of course,' said Millie. ‘But we might leave that for a little later. Let's start with the strawberry patch.'

All the plants had been delivered that morning. They were lined up in the shade outside the hall. There were fruit trees, vegetable seedlings, herbs, shrubs and flowers. Families had also brought in cuttings and plants from their own gardens.

Millie divided everyone into teams to plant different areas of the garden. The scented shrubbery was made up of lavender, rosemary, daisies, gardenias and geraniums. There was a narrow, winding path between the shrubs.

The air was filled with the delicate perfume of flowers. A row of fruit trees was planted at the back. There were lemons, limes, apples and mandarins.

Millie taught all the kids how to plant the seedlings for the central beds.

‘First you need to squeeze the pot gently, to loosen the roots,' said Millie. ‘Then we tease out the roots a little – and in it goes.'

Millie dug a hole in the soil and popped the root ball in. Lulu and Rosie pressed the soil down firmly around each strawberry runner.

‘Now we give each plant a lovely big drink,' said Millie.

Gus tipped the watering can around the plants to soak the soil.

‘And that's it!'

The four square beds each had a different theme. There was a strawberry patch, a section for Asian greens, the salad bed and a bed for mixed vegetables. The seedlings were planted in straight, green lines. They looked like an army of toy soldiers.

With everyone helping, it didn't take long to plant all the seedlings. Rosie helped plant dozens of pots of thyme around the hopscotch pavers. Finally, the loose soil was swept back into the garden beds.

‘Look,' said Lulu. ‘The round bed in the middle is the pizza garden. Everything growing there can be used as yummy toppings for pizzas. There's basil, oregano, capsicums, onions, tomato and garlic.'

‘Mmm,' said Gus, rubbing his tummy.

‘But not salami,' said Rosie.

Molly laughed. ‘Or ham.'

‘It looks great,' said Lulu.

Rosie nodded with satisfaction. ‘Now the garden's finished,' she said.

‘Not quite,' said Millie. She gave a mysterious smile. ‘Have you forgotten your surprise? We saved the best till last.'

Millie pointed to a circular trench that had been dug in the corner. ‘That is going to be our sunflower fort!'

‘A sunflower fort?' asked Lulu.

Mum came over pushing a wheelbarrow full of sunflowers in pots. Lulu, Rosie, Gus and Molly gathered around.

‘We have twelve sunflower plants,' said Millie. ‘We're going to plant them in a circle to make a fort of living flowers.'

Mum, Dad and Millie set the plants out in a circle. Rosie crept into the middle and stood surrounded by a wall of sunflowers. The big yellow faces nodded and danced in the soft breeze.

‘It's beautiful,' said Rosie. She beamed with delight.

Gus jumped up and down, bursting with impatience. ‘But what about the –' he began.

Gumpa winked at Gus. ‘It's a surprise, remember, Gus?'

‘More surprises?' asked Lulu. ‘What else could there possibly be?'

‘Close your eyes, girls,' said Gumpa. ‘Gus and I have something to show you.'

Lulu, Rosie and Molly obeyed. Gumpa and Mum led them by their hands. The girls stepped carefully until Gumpa stopped.

‘Now
open
!' shrieked Gus.

Lulu opened her eyes. Tucked behind the hall was a brand-new wire fence. And behind the fence was the surprise.

‘A multistorey chicken coop!' cried Lulu. Her heart swelled with excitement.

‘Gumpa and Gus made it exactly to your design,' said Mum.

‘So all of us can share the chicks,' said Molly.

‘I love chickens,' said Gus.

Lulu threw her arms around Gumpa then Gus.

‘What a magical day!' said Lulu.