"where there's a will. . ."

v "the best laid plans. . ."

so the other day I invested in a trowel and fork (not with bent handles as above, but I do like those watering cans!) and left them out, rather subtely, on the kitchen counter. . .
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. . .it was a hint to The Teen that the time has come for him to put his plans into action and make some progress on the roof terrace. . .
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he's off to Borneo in 18 months time, to help and work with under-priviledged children, all arranged thru a self-development scheme at his school (which is a little like The Duke of Edinburgh Awards scheme, but slightly different); the participants each have to raise a huge sum of money thru sponsorship to pay for the whole thing
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he was initally very excited and we chatted about how to raise the money and I ended up making those helpful suggestions that mothers make (have a yard sale, a second hand book sale, I'll make cookies and cakes and you can sell them on Boat Race Day, for example - wouldn't raise much but it would be a start); the one he liked best was my idea that if he wanted he could turn the plant containers on the roof terrace (currently full of dead bamboo, dead grasses and dead lavender because noone watered anything when I was in hopsital last summer) into vegetable plots, then I'd sponsor him for his time in exchange for the vegetables - and if he planned his planting carefully and produced more than we need, he could maybe sell the excess to the neighbours. . .
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so, for xmas as part of his present, I bought him a guidebook to basic vegetable gardening and a whole bunch of seeds. . . now comes the difficult part - he has to find the time to actually start the work (or I'm going to do it, as I quite like the idea of a vegetable garden on the roof!). . . of course, a teen brain is very different from a mother's brain. . .

where I see windows of opportunity (it's light now for a couple of hours when he gets back from school - he could start with an hour an afternoon) he doesn't (he's tired when he comes home from school and wants a break before he starts his homeworks)

he's with his father at the weekend or out with his mates, so weekday afternoons are really his only chance. . .

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so, my dilemma is - how long do I leave it before I tell him his time is up and I am going to do it myself instead. . .
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we discussed planting the seeds indoors back in the new year and he decided that he'd rather just plant things straight out as it was easier (no "hardening off"). . .

and now it's March already and I just know that a whole bunch of those little seeds need to be in the ground pretty soon. . .
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then again, perhaps, if I made a start he'd then decide to help and would get going himself. . .

I guess I do know that if one of us doesn't do anything, nothing will get done. . .
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and none of those lovely vegetables will be growing on the roof later in the summer. . .
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and I do so like fresh vegetables. . .