Tend a Vegetable Garden
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What you will learn
- 1Grow, weed and harvest a small food garden
- 2Prepare soil and sow seeds at the right depth
- 3Weed and protect a garden so pests do not steal the crop
- 4Regrow vegetables from kitchen scraps and save seeds
Mini Lesson
A store can run out of food, but a garden keeps making more. If you can grow your own vegetables, you can always have some fresh food of your own. It is not magic - it is a set of simple jobs done in order: ready the soil, plant the seed, give it water and sun, keep the weeds and pests away, and pick the crop when it is ripe. Start with fast, easy crops like radish, lettuce, beans, and green onion, and you will be eating in weeks.
🏠 The Life Skills Way (step by step)
- READY THE SOIL: dig and loosen the soil so it is soft and crumbly. Roots push through soft soil easily, and water soaks in instead of running off.
- SOW THE SEED: plant each seed at the right depth - a small seed just under the surface, a big seed a little deeper. Too deep and it never reaches the light.
- WATER AND SUN: water in the cool of the morning so the water soaks down instead of drying away, and give the plants a spot with plenty of sunlight.
- WEED IT: pull out the weeds. Weeds are just plants in the wrong place, and they steal the food, water, and light your crop needs.
- PROTECT IT: keep pests off with netting or by planting strong-smelling plants beside your crop (companion planting) to confuse the bugs.
- HARVEST: pick each vegetable when it is ripe. Pick too early and it is tiny, too late and it goes tough or rotten.
Not every plant in a garden is food. Some are toxic - tomato and potato LEAVES are poisonous even though the fruit and tuber are safe to eat. Only ever eat the crop you planted and know, and never taste an unknown plant or berry. And always wash all your vegetables well before you eat them, because soil carries germs. A grown-up is in charge of sharp garden tools and any plant food or sprays, and tells you which plants are safe to eat.
Words to know
sow
To plant a seed in the soil at the right depth so it can grow.
soil
The loose earth a plant grows in - it holds water, food, and the roots.
weed
A plant growing where you do not want it, stealing food and water from your crop.
harvest
To pick the crop when it is ripe and ready to eat.
companion planting
Planting strong-smelling plants beside your crop to keep pests away.
seed
The tiny part a plant grows from - you can save and dry seeds for the next crop.
💡 Handy Tip: you can grow food from your kitchen scraps. Stand the cut base of a green onion or a lettuce in a little water on the windowsill and it regrows in days. And save and dry a few seeds from this crop, and you have next season’s garden for free.
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