Lessons in growing

"Late April and you are three; today
We dug your garden in the yard. 
To curb the damage of your play, 
Strange dogs at night and the moles tunneling, 
Four slender sticks of lath stand guard
Uplifting their thin string. 

"So you were the first to tramp it down. 
And after the earth was sifted close
You brought your watering can to drown
All earth and us.  But these mixed seeds are pressed
With light loam in their steadfast rows. 
Child, we've done our best."

--  W. D. Snodgrass, "Heart's Needle''