My Garden by Cory Dan

This summer I decided to plant a small vegetable garden. I wanted to grow delicious fresh vegetables that are sometimes hard to find in the grocery store. This is my first time ever growing vegetables.

I began by buying seeds for the crops I wanted to grow. Then I soaked most of the seeds overnight to get them ready for planting. Next, I planted the seeds in a small starter tray with a cover to keep my cat from eating my seedlings and to hold in moisture.

Then I waited and watered the plantlets, watched the weather, and read about the climate my crops might grow best in. I tried to plant the small fragile sprouts at the right time and some survived. Others were too soft from the mild indoor climate and couldn't survive without shelter from the wind and sun. I replanted the varieties that didn't do so well and I bought some larger plants to round out my garden. I talked with neighbors and found that some of the weeds in my garden were really good salad ingredients.

Then I learned that if I let a small number of my plants flower and make seeds, then I might never have to buy those seeds again! The seeds from my first plants will make seeds for next year. I can make the vegetables I want grow every year.

I have a wonderful harvest. I still work hard, watering and weeding to make sure the plants don't all go to seed (or they might stop making vegetables), but the work is more like fun when the payback is so delicous!