MURRIETA -- Jabbing a shovel into the dirt surrounding a potted plant, Carlos Gonzales showed seven boys how to dig the right-sized hole, blend fertilizer with soil, drop the plant in the ground and pat the surface to smooth uneven dirt.

"This is why you wear work shoes," Gonzales said as he stepped on a shovel.

After Gonzales finished planting the first Fortnight Lily, the boys sprung to action. Donning gardener gloves on only one hand in honor of the late Michael Jackson, the boys snatched shovels and began digging holes for the 17 other lilies that would surround a concrete monument at the entrance of Thompson Middle School.

The seven Scouts from Boy Scout Troop 318 collected more than $500 worth of plants and monetary donations before embarking on the project, which would net them community service hours.

On Thursday morning, Gonzales, a maintenance and operations field supervisor with the Murrieta Valley Unified School District, gave the boys a basic lesson on fertilization, irrigation and gardening safety.

With that knowledge, the Scouts put plant after plant in the ground. They also planned to plant 38 Lilies of the Nile along the dirt that encircles the monument.

As the boys worked at a quick pace, they argued over the names of gardening tools and peppered each other with verbal jabs.

"Ah," lamented Michael Schmidt, 14. "My shirt's going to get dirty."

"Take it like a man," retorted 14-year-old Spencer Hamilton.

They pointed out that they and their classmates were the reason that new plants were needed.

The monument stands at the entrance of the middle school and is largely used by students and parents as a pickup location, Gonzales said. Students walking through the dirt, rather than staying on the walkway, trampled on the plants that were there before.

"But these plants can't (be) killed," Gonzales said. "(Students) can trample them all they want; in the summer, they'll grow back."

Many of the Boy Scouts said they had already learned the basics of planting. Some had helped plant flowers in beds at home, others work at a family vineyard.

Hamilton, whose family plans to put out its first bottles of wine in the coming years, said that although gardening is laborious, working in the dirt is rewarding, and something he'd like to pursue into adulthood.

"It's making the environment a better place," he said.

Call staff writer Nelsy Rodriguez at 951-676-4315, ext. 2626.