Living Root Garden School • Plants & How They Grow • Name: ______________________
🔍 The Case
The case of the first garden — a patch of dirt, five moves, and real food at the end. What makes a first garden work?
Move one: pick a sunny spot — the sunniest spot you have, where the sun shines for most of the day. Almost everything you want to grow wants sun. The sun is the garden's engine.
Move two: feed the soil first. Loosen the soil and mix in compost or worm castings before you plant a single seed — you have given your plants a pantry, not just a parking spot. Good soil is the whole secret.
Move three: water deep, not often. Water in the morning, soak it in deep, and let the soil dry a little between waterings. A daily sprinkle keeps only the top wet and teaches roots to stay shallow; a deep soak teaches roots to grow down where the water lasts.
Move four and five: plant something fast first — radishes pop up in days and are ready in about a month, beans sprout fast and climb like they mean it — and expect trouble. Something will eat your plants, something will wilt, something will not sprout at all. That is not failure, that is gardening: check the good-bugs guide before you panic, and replant without shame.
Ask: If you plant a fast crop like radishes and a slow one like cherry tomatoes, which one will you eat first — and what will you do when something eats your plants? Write your guess before you plant.
Try: Plant one fast crop in a sunny spot or a pot — radishes pop up in days — feed the soil with compost or castings first, and log it weekly: water, growth, surprises.
Stretch (Teens & Growers ready for more): Budget the patch: what it cost, what the harvest would cost at the store — and did it pay for itself?
Tell: Fill in the log below — date, what you planted, what grew, what went wrong — then finish this sentence in words or a labeled drawing: “My garden grew ___ because ___.”
Date
What I saw
What surprised me
Date: ____/____/____
Date: ____/____/____
Date: ____/____/____
Date: ____/____/____
🛠️ Build It
Draw your patch as it looks today, and draw a thought bubble of what you hope it looks like at harvest.
🗣️ Be the Teacher
Tell someone the five moves for starting a garden — in your own words.
🏅 I can…
☐ I can start a garden from scratch.
Portfolio check
☐ Guide read
☐ Case solved
☐ Ask, Try, Tell done
☐ Build It filed: Garden log + photos/sketches
☐ Taught someone
☐ Badge earned: I can start a garden from scratch.
Living Root Garden School • livingrootgarden.com/homeschool/ • Free — print as many copies as you like. File this sheet with your portfolio log. Sprouts do the Read, the Case, and Build It; Growers try the Ask, Try, Tell stretch when ready; Teens do the whole packet — including teaching it back.