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A Year in Our
New Garden
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It was a big day for Anna

and Benjamin — they were
moving into their new
house. Spring was coming het) aa

and they couldn't wait to

play in their garden. | Cy 1
“I love it here!” shouted i air cae ‘ sae \
Anna, as she leapt from :
the van.
“But the garden’s a mess,”
grumbled Benjamin.
“Think how much
fun we'll have making
it beautiful!” said their
mother, smiling.
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 A few days later, after everything was
unpacked, they started to plan their
new garden.
“Td like a little plot all of my own,’
said Benjamin.
“Me too,’ said Anna. “Somewhere to
grow vegetables!”
“Td like lots of grass and flowers,
and a patio, said their mother.
They drew it all on paper. It looked
like this:

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Anna and a nae drew their own plots too:

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Anna: runner
er beans, carrots,potatoes, | | Benjamin: lots offlowers, a littlefirttree
lettuce and radishes | | and a pond

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brick | |
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When they woke the next morning,
they couldn't wait to get started.
Anna and Benjamin began clearing
away bits of junk. They found old tins,
plastic bottles and even a mouldy sock EN
— ew!
Their mother bought some garden
tools.
Then they all set to work. Their
father dug the soil with the spade,
Anna sprinkled compost and
Benjamin pulled up weeds.

Garden tools: SAE watering

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The patio was soon laid but it

took a few weeks for the lawn
to grow. Eventually it got so
long it needed mowing.

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At last Anna and Benjamin had a

lovely green carpet to lie on when the
sun shone.
Their mother was worried about the old apple tree. “It’s beautiful but it
doesn't look very well,’ she said.
She called a gardener and he came to check the bark. The inside of the
tree trunk was damp and teeming with ladybugs.
“Time for you to fly away now!” said Anna.
The gardener applied a paste to the
trunk to protect it from the rain and help
it heal. “Don’t worry, your tree will get
better soon!” he promised.
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The next day, Anna and Benjamin went to buy some seeds so they could
grow more flowers and vegetables. But there were too many to choose from!
“For your sunny plot, Benjamin, I recommend marigolds, nasturtiums,
cosmos and poppies,’ said the store manager.
“Could I try radishes, carrots, beans and chives?” asked Anna, thinking
of her plan.
“Yes, that’s a good mix,” he replied.
The children couldn't wait to start planting. At home they tore the
packets open.
 “Look, Anna,” said
Benjamin. “Each type of
seed is a different shape!”
Anna was busy trying
to read the instructions.
“It’s too complicated!”
“Tl do it,” said Benjamin impatiently, reaching over to grab the packet
from her hand.
TWHACK!
They bumped into each other, scattering packets and seeds everywhere.
Anna shouted and hurled herself at her brother, who pulled her hair and
pushed her back.
“Hey! Stop fighting!” called a voice from high above their heads.
They looked up. A boy was waving from the balcony next door.
“Come on up, I'll give you some gardening tips,’ he called.

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“Hi, I’m Louis,’ said their neighbour as soon as he opened his

apartment door.
“I’m Anna and this is Benjamin,” said Anna.
“You have so many plants on your balcony!” said Benjamin.
“Gardening is my favourite thing. That’s why
Cress sandwich: grow some
| I wanted to help you. Now, who wants a cress
cress on damp cotton wool }
|
| sandwich?” asked Louis, smiling.
| (cotton) until it is 3.cm | Anna and Benjamin had never had cress
| (J inch) high. Cut, wash and
_ sprinkle on top of buttered before.
_ bread. Voila!
“It tastes like spring!” said Anna, and
Benjamin patted his tummy in agreement.
They munched away while Louis showed
them how to sow their seeds.
Aunt Lisa arrived later that day to find
Benjamin and Anna quietly raking and
watering their gardens.
“Look at you both hard at work!” she said.
Then they heard a shout from above. “Ding
dong! Special delivery!”
Louis was lowering a little basket on a rope.
Inside they found some tulips, cress seeds and
a book called How Does My Garden Grow?
“Wow!” shouted the children. “Thank you
very much, Louis!”
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Summer came, and one beautiful After lunch, Anna found Louis
morning the whole family were out on his balcony playing with his
gardening together. binoculars.
“My radishes are ready!” Anna “Yum! That looks delicious!” he
sang. ‘And they're big ones!” said as she handed him the radish
“We could eat these dandelion and dandelion salad. “Here, take
weeds as well,’ said their mother. a look at your apple tree through
“We'll put them in a salad.” these...”
“Let's make enough for Louis too,”
said Anna. “I'll take it up afterwards.”
 “There are baby birds in the branches!” cried Anna.
The little birds hopped from twig to twig like acrobats,
cheeping and chirping.
“Arent they cute?” said Louis. “They're practising flying
while they wait for their parents to bring them food.”
“We could feed them! I'll bake some bread,’ said Anna.
“Actually, they prefer eating insects — which is good for
A your garden, laughed Louis.
“At night, do they sleep in their nest?” asked Anna.
“No, once they're old enough to leave the nest, they
sleep outside and snuggle up together to keep warm.”
In Benjamins garden, the cosmos and poppies were already in bloom.
Bees buzzed and yellow butterflies floated around their colourful petals
all day long.
But there was always something more to do in the garden! Benjamin
planted new flowers from Louis, Anna tied her runner beans to their canes,
and their mother pulled out weeds.
That afternoon, Anna, Benjamin and Louis watched garden birds
together. A couple of blackbirds were enjoying a picnic of worms,
and pigeons were cooing on the grass nearby. Sparrows fluttered in
the sand. There was also a greenfinch collecting some food.
“Hell get plump then fly south for the winter in a few weeks,” said
Louis. “They don’t like the cold.’
On the hottest day ofthe
year, Benjamin and Anna
invited friends over for a
picnic. Louis was away on
holiday with his family.
Anna made each ofher
guests a crown from leaves
and flowers, and they ate
a feast of cherries and
homemade lemonade.
Benjamin buried a cherry
stone in the soil beside him.
“Let's see if this grows into
a cherry tree so we can eat
our own cherries one day,”
he said.

How to make Anna's crown:

find some big leaves and
flowers and place them in a
line. Pin with matchsticks.
How to make Benjamin's
lemonade: squeeze lemons,
| add fizzy
Ae =f ___ water and
iY cubes offruit,
LEST then sweeten
| 4) )\ with a sprinkle
het LK ofsugar.
mee e
People get hot and thirsty in the summer, and so does the garden. The
children had to water it every day. Luckily, there were plenty of fun ways to
do the job — and cool down at the same time. No one could escape Louis’
rainstorms!
One warm evening, while moths were fluttering around the candle,
Benjamin and Anna’ father said he had something to show them.
He placed a heavy object in each child’s hand. “Look what I found
underneath the old apple tree...”
 “It's treasure!” cried Benjamin.
“Maybe, said their father. “These coins are more than
a hundred years old!”

Before he went to bed, Benjamin held his coin tightly in his hand
and looked out at the old tree.
“Imagine all the things it has seen,’ he murmured to himself.

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That night, Benjamin dreamt that he woke up beneath the old apple tree,
and it began speaking to him.
"A lot has changed over the last hundred and twenty years,” said the tree.
“When I was planted, the town was much smaller and quieter. Back then
people travelled by horse and cart. Children hung lanterns in my branches
and played around me.”
The branches swayed in the breeze and Benjamin thought he saw little
lanterns twinkling like stars.
 “Then, for a long time, I was
alone,’ said the tree. “Nobody
climbed my branches or picked
my apples. I was ill, and thought I
wouldn't make it through another
winter. Until your family came!
Now you ve brought laughter back
into the garden, and helped me get
better too!”
In the morning, Benjamin woke
up in his bed, as usual, smiling.
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Later that summer, the whole

family went on holiday to the
seaside. They asked Louis to
watch over the garden from his
balcony and, while they were
away, he wrote them letters:
Soon, Anna and Benjamin were
back at home. They had collected a
sea urchin, a starfish and some
seaweed for Louis, to say thank you
for his letters.
It had been so hot that Anna’s vegetables had shrivelled, Benjamin's
flowers had wilted and the fir tree had died.
“Don't worry,’ said their father. “Summer plants dying is a natural part
of the changing seasons.”
“Look at this!” called Anna. “My potatoes are fine!”
Sure enough, the potatoes had survived deep underground where it had
stayed cooler.
Autumn arrived, and Benjamin and Anna invited some friends round to
build a campfire.
“Remember,” said their father, “you must always have a bucket of water
near the fire, just in case.” :
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and beans.
apple tart — filled with apples from
their very own tree!
Then they used autumn nuts to
make necklaces, little boats and hea ee 4
A spider made from a ie
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A few days later, their father was busy building a box in the corner of the
garden.
“What's that for?” asked Benjamin.
“Were going to fill it with dead leaves and flowers, and they will slowly
turn into compost that will help new plants grow,” he said.
“We're making plant food!” said Benjamin, and he began sweeping up all
the dead leaves in the garden.
Their father had also made a bird table so Anna and Benjamin could feed
nuts and seeds to the birds through winter.
“Dinner’s ready, little birds!” Anna called.

For Louis’ ninth birthday, Benjamin

and Anna sent a basket up to him.
Inside was a sunflower head and a
drawing.
“Thank you!” called Louis. “Now
the birds can feast on sunflower
seeds up here too!”
There was still so much to do before winter:
Benjamin pulled up all the dead flowers in his
garden, and then buried hyacinth, tulip and
daffodil bulbs deep underground, where it is
warmer in winter.
“These flowers will send up shoots to let us
know when spring has arrived!”
Their mother hung all her everlastings upside
down to make dried flower bouquets. Benjamin
added some heather and lavender, closed his eyes
and breathed deeply.
“Do you know why I love autumn?” he asked.
“Because it smells so good!”
One windy day, Aunt Lisa took Benjamin and Anna for a walk in the
countryside. They made bows and arrows from fallen branches and hid
among the trees.
“We're trapping bears!” shouted Benjamin.
“And hunting boars!” cried Anna.
“Come on, children!” called Aunt Lisa. “It looks like it’s going to rain.”
 When the rain started, it didn’t
stop for days.
Mushrooms sprung up in the
soggy lawn. The wind howled and
damp leaves littered the garden.
Anna spotted something else...
a little greenfinch had died among
the flowers.
“It must've been injured,’ said her
father when she brought it to him.
“Tt didn’t fly away with the others.”
“We should bury it at the end of
the garden,’ said Anna.
While their father dug a hole for
the bird, Benjamin read a poem he
had written specially:

This wet and windy avtumn da 4

A little bird has passed AWAY,
When leaves take on a golten hve,
Oh little bird, we'll think of you.
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Two weeks before

Christmas, Benjamin woke
up early to an exciting
surprise.
“Anna, look outside!”
The garden was covered
in a beautiful blanket of
bright white snow. It was
untouched — apart from
hundreds of tiny footprints!
“I think those smaller
ones belong to the
blackbirds,” said Anna.
“And the big ones must be
pigeons, said Benjamin.

That afternoon their friends

came to play. They threw
snowballs and even built a
snow-bear!
Benjamin and Anna knew —..
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they would have awonderful *=*" sty

winter in their garden.
When the winter snow melted, Benjamin’s tulip, hyacinth and daffodil bulbs
poked through the earth just as he had planned.

tulip hyacinth daffodil

Anna and Benjamin raced into the garden to see them.

“What shall we grow this year?” asked Benjamin.
At that moment, Aunt Lisa arrived with a basketful of flower seedlings
ready for planting.
“Perfect timing, Aunt Lisa,” said Anna. “Let’s get started!”
 |

Pollen

When flowers open, insects fly into them to drink their nectar. Pollen sticks
to their hairy bodies and legs.
That pollen rubs off onto other flowers the insect visits. This fertilises the
flowers, which turn into fruit containing seeds.
When fruit is ripe, it springs open or rots to free the seeds. The wind,
animals and birds scatter the seeds on the soil, like gardeners do!
If the soil is fertile, the seeds will grow into new plants. Soil is fertile when
it is full of the minerals and nutrients plants need to grow well.

Sowing seeds

EERE aD For grass, scatter seeds evenly.

. For carrots, dig straight furrows and scatter the

« seeds in lines.
2 «: <: Forrunner beans, place seeds in little holes at
nip can oe nae aie regular intervals.

Cover the seeds with earth and water well.

Roots
A plant must have strong roots to
hold it firmly in place and take in
nutrients. But roots aren't all the
same: tulip roots come from a
round bulb in the ground but ivy
roots cling to walls.
Louis’ balcony
Spring flowers

Daffodils, tulips,
honeysuckle,
forget-me-nots,
hyacinths,
pansies, cress
and primroses.

Everlastings,
honeysuckle,
sweet peas,
sunflowers,
me nasturtiums,
fringed pinks,
geraniums,
petunias,
marigolds.

Chives
 For Marianne and Héléene

First published in 1988 in German as

Ein Garten fiir Kinder in der Stadt
First published in English by Floris Books in 2016
© 1988, 2016 Gerda Muller
Gerda Muller has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988 to be recognised as the Author and Illustrator of this Work
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form
without the prior permission of Floris Books, Edinburgh
www.florisbooks.co.uk
British Library CIP Data available
ISBN 978-178250-259-3
Printed in Poland
}VVEMIUILAVIT
Anna and Benjamin’s family has just moved into their new
house and even though it’s in the middle of a busy town, it has
a beautiful big garden for them all to enjoy.

Join Anna and Benjamin as, with a little help from their
neighbour, they spend a year learning about all the wonderful
things you can do in a garden: planting, harvesting, playing,
enjoying picnics and spotting wildlife.

This beautifully detailed, seasonal story is a perfect companion

to Gerda Muller’s popular stories A Year Around the Great Oak
and How Does My Garden Grow?

oe anita ' ae
~The Town Musicians ‘How Dées My Garden Srew? |
|
& i ie eet
Gerda Muller
of Bremen
=

Where Do They Go |
When It Rains? 1
|
Gerda Mutle

7, “4

ISBN 978-178250-259-3

£10.99 US$17.98.| oiey ae sen aes 3

florisbooks.co.uk