Start Your Own Vegetables

This year we are going to learn about growing things in the garden. The King has many things to teach us from His plants, so let us keep our eyes and ears open!

We will begin by starting some vegetables inside. For most of us, it is too cold to grow things outside at this time. Plants need four important ingredients to grow: warmth, water, soil, and light. Remember this when we start our plants.

There are many vegetables you can start inside, but we will begin with tomatoes and lettuce. To start them we will need some containers. Margarine tubs or paper cups work well if you punch a few holes in the bottom. Now mix the soil with a little warm water in a bowl to make it moist. Potting soil from the store is best for starting seeds. That is because it doesn’t have any weed seeds or disease that will grow in it. Fill your containers a little over half way with soil.

In each tomato or lettuce container, you can plant up to six or eight seeds. Plant the same amount of seeds as the plants you want. Press them carefully around so they are not touching each other. Cover the seeds with a little bit of soil. If you bury them too deep, they will not be able to find the light, but if you don’t cover them, they will get dry. Cover your containers with plastic wrap so that the soil will stay damp, and put them in a warm place.

Check your seeds every day to see if they are growing. As soon as you see a little stem pushing out of the soil, take off the plastic and move your containers into the light. If seedlings don’t get light, they will start looking for it, because light is what helps them grow. In the Bible, Jesus is called our Light. If we don’t come close to Him each day, we won’t grow in our hearts like we should.

Remember to water your plants. Just set them in a tray of water, and their little roots will reach down and suck it up. They will wilt and die without water. That is the same thing that happens to us if we don’t pray and read our Bible. If we don’t ask our Heavenly Father for love and strength each day, we will get into trouble.

When each seedling has four leaves, it is time to transplant them to their own containers. Count the seedlings, and fill that many containers with soil. Tall paper cups or half gallon milk cartons are best, because they have room for long roots. With a pencil, poke a hole into the soil. Carefully dig up a seedling and set it into the hole. Bury it so the leaves are right on top of the soil. Keep all your seedlings on a tray so you can water them easily. Watch them as they grow, and, by springtime, they will be ready for the garden!

(P.S. The answer to last issue’s “What Am I?” is a hedgehog.)