Book: I Can Grow Basil!

Oviedo, FL Zone 9B: This is a pictorial plant documentary on how to grow Thai basil from cuttings in Zone 9b Florida written in first-person narrative as a children book. Cuttings from any basil variety would work too. Step-by-step visual demonstration performed by four-years-old Ethan. This plant documentary is written with a K-1 reading level for the little readers and gardeners. As a mama who likes photography, edible gardening, and has a passion to teach little kids how to read and write, of course I have to integrate my hobby, passion, and skill in everything I create. (This pictorial documentary is still work in progress.)

Book Title: I Can Grow Basil!

K-1 Sight Words Recognition: a, an, I, can, help, the, off, for, to, two, with, into, down, three, use, has, will, how, from, we, also, or, are, many, there, is, it, and, one, from, when, get, has, have, let, need, big, take, more

Introduction: Basil is an herb. We can eat the raw leaves. We can cook with the leaves. We can use the leaves for tea too. There are many different types of basil and each type or variety has a special name. We can grow basil from seeds. We can also grow basil from cuttings. Today, I will show you how to grow Thai basil from stem cuttings.

Step 1: I can help mom pick the Thai basil leaves off the stem for cooking.

Step 2: I can save the stem cuttings to plant.

Step 3: I can pour two scoops of fine pine mulch in a small pot.

Step 4. I can fill the small pot with potting mix.

Step 5. I can stick the basil stems into the pot of soil.

Step 6. I can water the potted Thai basil three times a week.

Step 7. I can put the potted Thai basil in a shady spot.

insert picture

Step 8. I can watch the Thai basil grow. The stems will grow roots, grow taller, and grow more leaves.

Insert image of potted Thai basil one month from date of planting and an image of uprooted Thai basil to show all parts of the plants and label it.

Step 10: All plants need space to grow. When the Thai basils get too big and crowded, I can plant each Thai basil in a bigger pot.

insert picture

Step 11: Basils have flowers. Thai basils have purple flowers. When I see flowers, I can cut the flowers off so more leaves can grow. I can let the flowers grow and dry. When the basil flowers dry, I can collect the seeds. Remember, we can grow basil from seeds too.

insert close up of flower picture and seed picture

Notes for Parents

Follow-up Activities: Turn it into a bilingual book for your little readers! Print the PDF version formatted into book pages out. Take pictures in landscape view of your little one for each step and glue it onto the page. Laminate and bind the pages together to form a bilingual book for your English-Vietnamese reader. (Yes, I will have the text translated into Vietnamese.)

Materials needed: