英语博客：A growing garden.

　　One thing that I do in the morning, is to drive my children to school. It doesn't take very long, perhaps five minutes. Parents can pull up into a parking area that is near the school playing field to drop their kids off. Something caught my eye, the first day of school, which I hadn't seen before. A school garden has appeared, and is full to the brim¹ with all kinds of plants. I had completely forgotten that it existed. Because I was out of town for most of the Summer, I hadn't seen the progress that this new garden had made. It was designed and planted this year, so it is new. After the funds had been raised for this project, some volunteers got together and sectioned off a piece of the school property that is right next to the road. A fence was built, and the grass was removed. Then, good quality soil was added, paths were made, and tiny plants were planted. It seemed like nothing at first. Mostly what you could see was the bark that was put on top of the soil which keeps the weeds away. By the time school finished in June, there were quite a few perennial² flowers and some vegetables. But that was all that I got to see. My goodness, what a difference now! I had a good look at the garden the other day, and was very impressed at what I saw. There are several, large pumpkins³ which will be huge by the time it is Halloween. Tomato plants, vines, and a mix of vegetable friendly flowers are also there, you know the kind, like Marigolds which keep certain insects away, and encourage others. It's a jumble⁴ of healthy plants, which is what I like to see, - not too neat and tidy. I'm sure the teachers have some lessons planned that will include the garden and its produce. It's a great example of 'hands-on' learning.
Grammar notes.
Common expressions: full to the brim, to section off, hands-on, -friendly.
1. The bucket was full to the brim of blackberries by the time we had finished picking.
2. The workmen sectionned off the ground for excavation⁵.
3. This museum is very hands-on; you can actually touch the exhibits.
4. That shop is very customer-friendly; they are so helpful. I bought a computer there which is very user-  friendly, not difficult to use at all.

1 brim   

n.帽檐，（容器的）边，边缘；vi.注满，充溢

参考例句：

• The glass was full to the brim.玻璃杯中的液体已满到要溢出来了。
• She was filled to the brim with happiness.她充满了幸福。

2 perennial   

adj.终年的；长久的

参考例句：

• I wonder at her perennial youthfulness.我对她青春常驻感到惊讶。
• There's a perennial shortage of teachers with science qualifications.有理科教学资格的老师一直都很短缺。

3 pumpkins   

n.南瓜( pumpkin的名词复数 )；南瓜的果肉，南瓜囊

参考例句：

• I like white gourds, but not pumpkins. 我喜欢吃冬瓜，但不喜欢吃南瓜。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Then they cut faces in the pumpkins and put lights inside. 然后在南瓜上刻出一张脸，并把瓜挖空。 来自英语晨读30分（高三）

4 jumble   

vt.使混乱，混杂；n.混乱；杂乱的一堆

参考例句：

• Even the furniture remained the same jumble that it had always been.甚至家具还是象过去一样杂乱无章。
• The things in the drawer were all in a jumble.抽屉里的东西很杂乱。

5 excavation   

n.挖掘，发掘；被挖掘之地

参考例句：

• The bad weather has hung up the work of excavation.天气不好耽误了挖掘工作。
• The excavation exposed some ancient ruins.这次挖掘暴露出一些古遗迹。