Philip’s Seed Surprise

Philip and Dennis plant pea seeds in a school garden pot. Their teacher shows them how to cover the seeds lightly. Then they give the soil a little water.

The boys place the pot on a bright ledge beside the garden door. Philip checks it the next morning, but there are no green shoots above the soil yet.

“Perhaps our seeds have not worked,” Philip says. He looks at the bare pot. Dennis reminds him what the teacher said. Seeds need time to grow. Nothing has appeared yet.

For the next few days, they check the pot and keep the soil slightly damp. Then Dennis spots a tiny green loop pushing up through the brown soil.

Philip bends closer without touching the fragile new plant. By the next day, the loop has lifted into a little stem. It has two small leaves.

Their teacher helps them compare it with an older pea plant. The little leaves look similar. Their new plant is much smaller.

The boys draw the seedling in their garden notebook. They add the day beside it. They decide to watch for more changes. They will not pull it out to look at its roots.

Philip smiles when another small shoot appears in the pot. “Our surprise was growing where we could not see it,” he says. He is ready to keep caring for it.