Community Gardening

“Thank you so much for coming over to help out— I thought I’d be able to handle this all on my own, but I guess I assumed wrong!”

Winston laughed a little as he picked up one of the many watering cans strewn about the greenhouse, walking over to the hose to fill it up. Despite all the work laid out in front of him, his cheerful demeanor didn’t falter at all - his bright smile ever-present on his face.

Bluebird smiled in turn, as she mirrored his movements - grabbing another watering can and waiting patiently for her turn to fill it up. “Of course! I didn’t have anything else going on today. It’s the least I could do, I love all the berries you grow!”

Her wings fluttered slightly as she remembered all of the berries she’d bought from Winston in the past - she’d tried growing her own before, but they never tasted as good. It always made her wonder just how he took care of his plants - if she was lucky, maybe he’d teach her someday!

Now that Winston’s watering can was full, he hefted it up, moving over to a plot of soil in the greenhouse, ready to gently water it - this plot had a simple marker set into the dirt that noted this was a meteor berry plot. “Thank you! It’s always nice hearing that…”

He laughed a little, as he carefully watered the plot, making sure not to overwater, while also ensuring that no spot was neglected. “It gets a little hard to remember that sometimes. Even though I love doing it, it’s a bit difficult to remember the reward when you’re still just at the starting stages, you know? It feels for a while that I’m just doing all this work for nothing, until— wow! I get to see a first sprout, or a bud, or even the start of a berry growth! Does that make sense?”

“Oh, absolutely,” Bluebird said, with a half-sigh, half-snort. “I tried growing some moonberries in my apartment a few weeks ago, but nothing ever sprouted… I got so disheartened I just gave up.”

Winston frowned slightly, tilting his head to the side. “In your apartment? Did your building have a community garden or something similar?”

“Uh… no,” Bluebird admitted. “I just got a pot from the store and filled it with dirt. Is that bad…?”

Winston’s frown turned back to a smile, his eyes brightening up - the opposite of what Bluebird assumed his reaction would be. “Oh, that’s your problem,then! Moonberries need a lot of room for their roots to grow properly. If you’d like to try growing some again, I’d be happy to provide you with a plot here in my garden!”

“R—really?” Bluebird’s eyes widened. This wasn’t the reprimanding for being bad at gardening she thought she’d get. “I’d love that, but you don’t have to do that…!”

“Oh, it’d be no problem! It’s the least I could do in exchange for your help here.” Winston gestured - during the discussion, Bluebird had just begun to water the other plants that needed it, on autopilot. “It’d be nice to have a buddy here to garden, too!”

“Well… I’ll just have to accept, then!” Bluebird’s tail flicked happily behind her. “Thank you so much!”

The two got back to it without much conversation, but all the while, Bluebird couldn’t help but glance around the greenhouse, excited to discover which of the plots here would be hers.