On the edge of the Winthrop Grade School, on a piece of land that gets full sun, is the Inch-By-Inch Garden, a little patch started four years ago by Karen Toothaker, Margy Burns Knight, and Tom Sturtevant. As I ride my bike, I pass the garden nearly every day, and I have watched the garden expand over the years.

“The first year, the seventh graders planted radishes and lettuce,” Margy told me. “And this year we have beans, tomatoes, basil, garlic, and sunflowers. We told the children that we’ll get beans if there is no frost.”

A very good lesson on the vagaries of Mother Nature.

Margy gives garden talks to some of the grade school classes, and “the whole garden revolves around literature” as she finds books about various aspects of gardening for the children to read. Margy hopes to add flowering bulbs and blueberry bushes, the latter, of course, being a perfect match with Robert McCloskey’s Blueberries for Sal. Kuplink, Kuplank, Kuplunk.

Steve, Margy’s husband, has a worm farm in their basement, and he gave a show-and-tell worm farm talk to some very enthusiastic second graders, who were apparently thrilled by the worms.

Various members of the community have tended the garden in the summer, when school is not in session. Weeks were allotted, weeding and watering were done, and the garden has thrived.

“Next year, we’ll put in 5 more rows,” Margy said. “Inch-By-Inch. The name of our garden comes from a Dave Mallet song.”

I’ve come to love this little garden, modest but getting bigger each season. May it continue to grow and flourish.