Grow Food from Seed to Harvest

In Grade 4 you learned the basic garden jobs: ready the soil, sow, weed and pick. Now you plan a whole growing season, from a seed tray in spring to a basket of food and a packet of saved seeds at the end. A season takes months, so it needs a plan and a garden log. Every place has its own weather and seasons. Your grown-up helps you choose what grows well where you live, and when to plant it.

🏠 The Life Skills Way (step by step)

• PLAN THE SEASON: with your grown-up, choose a few easy crops that suit your place and season, like beans, lettuce, zucchini or tomatoes. Read each seed packet for the days to harvest.
• START SEEDS: start some seeds indoors in small pots or trays on a sunny windowsill. Sow tough seeds, like beans, straight into the garden.
• HARDEN OFF: before seedlings move outside, set them out for a few hours a day for about a week, a little longer each day. This toughens them up.
• TRANSPLANT: dig a hole, lift each seedling gently by its leaves or soil, not the stem, and firm the soil around it. Water it in well.
• WATER DEEPLY, LESS OFTEN: give a long, slow soak a few times a week instead of a little splash every day. Deep water grows deep roots.
• MULCH: spread a layer of straw, dry leaves or wood chips around the plants. Mulch keeps the soil damp and stops many weeds.

🌱 Through the Season

• WEED: pull small weeds once a week, before they grow big and steal water and light.
• SUPPORT: tie tall plants like tomatoes to a stake, and give climbing beans a pole or a net.
• CHECK FOR PESTS: look under the leaves. Pick slugs, snails and caterpillars off by hand, wearing gloves.
• HARVEST ON TIME: pick beans and zucchini while they are young and tender, and tomatoes when they are fully colored.
• SAVE A FEW SEEDS: let a few bean pods dry on the plant, then keep the seeds in a labeled paper envelope for next year.
• KEEP A GARDEN LOG: write the dates you sow, transplant and harvest, and what worked, to plan a better season next year.