Her handful held together in a wet clod. “Not ready,” he said. “Too much moisture. Too little turning. Try again in two weeks.”

Light moves. What says “full sun” on a seed packet is a lie if your fence casts a 3 p.m. shadow. The exercise gave her a solar calendar for her own unique patch of earth. Exercise Nine: The Tomato Bury (Deep Planting) July. Tomato time. Elena had leggy seedlings, their stems too long. Mr. Haddad pointed to a trench. “Exercise: dig a horizontal trench six inches deep. Lay the tomato seedling on its side. Gently bend the top up. Bury the entire stem except the top four leaves.”

She turned the pile every three days, added dry leaves, and waited. On the second try, she squeezed, opened her hand, and the compost fell apart like chocolate cake crumbs.

Two weeks later, every dot was a tuft of feathery green. No thinning needed. No waste.