Green Thumbs
I complained the ____ day.
My parents were making me ____ on the neighborhood project, but I had far better things to do.
I didn't understand why we were ____ on this place.
It was just the ugly, old, empty lot across ____ Johnny's Shop.
It was full of wild plants, fast food wraps, old newspapers, ____ glass, and every other kind of dirty trash you can imagine.
As I looked at it that first morning, I thought, "I bet there are snakes in ____, too."
There were twenty of us—all ages and ____ to work that day.
I didn't think that we could clean up this awful ____ and turn it into a garden.
We were ____ wondering where to begin.
Then Mr. Hernandez said, "The ____ way to do it is just to start."
Then, he divided the lot into four parts with string and ____ five people to each part.
By lunchtime
By lunchtime, I was hot, sweaty, and glad my ____ had made me wear gloves.
We filled ____ trash bags with waste and were ready to pull wild plants.
As we ____ and pulled, dust filled the air and made us sneeze.
At the end of the day, I had to ____ the lot looked much better.
That ____ day was the toughest.
On the weekends that followed, we ____ rows, planted flower and vegetable seeds, and watered them.
After about ____ weeks, I stopped complaining when I found the plants had started popping up!
First, the ____ and then the beans and the tomatoes.
They grew so ____. I couldn't believe it!
The bean plants grew an inch, and the tomatoes doubled in size in just a few ____.
Now, two months later
Now, two months ____, I like to go there every day to see what new flowers are ready to pop up.
Lots of people in the neighborhood meet there to ____ the sights and to talk together.
____, it suddenly hit me—what a good thing we did!
I'm ____ I have been a part of it.
I'm in charge of picking ____ for the nursing home on Fourth Street.
The vegetables ____ go to every kitchen in our town.
But even better, an ugly and ____ lot that people didn't like has become a pretty garden for everyone.