On the first day of school, the Bloomers are given an assignment by their headmaster, Professor Sage. They have to learn how to grow their own food. This is a task that they are not enthusiastic about because it sounds like a lot of work and not terribly fun. But, Professor Sage is a wise teacher who knows how to sneak in a lesson.

The next day they are transported into a magical Garden Party with twinkling lights, honey cakes, streamers and ribbons, and best of all, many games and prizes. What the Bloomers don’t realize, is that they are learning everything they need to know to garden, with every game that Professor Sage has planned. What games do you think the Bloomers did that would teach them how to garden?

Pete Moss wants to be an athlete. He wants to be stronger than everyone. When Professor Sage announces the vegetable contest, Pete goes to the library and leafs through all the books to see if any of the vegetables appeal to him. None do. Actually, he doesn’t like vegetables at all. He likes bread more.

Then something jumps out at him. In fine print under a vegetable called spinach, it says that one serving has a lot of iron. Iron is a very important nutrient that helps make you strong. Wow! That would definitely make him the strongest bloomer in the classroom. He might be even stronger than Big Red who is a tree!!! He looks up in wonder, “I think I’ve discovered the secret to being a great athlete,” he says to himself. But, if Pete Moss grows spinach, will it really make him stronger?

To Rosey, the best vegetable means only one thing… a pink vegetable. She looks through Professor Sage’s books and sees that radishes are pink. Also, since Rosey is “unenthusiastic” about any kind of work, she thinks that a radish will be easier because they grow quickly, they don’t have many garden foes, and you can eat them raw which means… no cooking. The best part is, she can plant it in a pink pot and grow it on her bedroom windowsill and doesn’t have to walk all the way down to the garden every day, which looks very far away. That settles it. She decides on radishes.

But as her radish is growing, Rosey looks out her window at all the other Bloomers! who seem to be having great fun designing and planting and taking care of their vegetables. She feels left out. But what can she do?

Big Red is big. And that means he eats a lot. And his food his really important to him. When Professor Sage announces the veggie challenge, Big Red knows right away what he wants to plant. He wants to plant tomatoes because they are in all his favorite foods: spaghetti, pizza and ketchup!

But after planting and taking really good care of his tomatoes, he notices a giant, plump, gross green worm that is eating his tomatoes. “Who are you?!” Big Red asked.

What do you think will happen? Will Big Red find a way to get rid of Hornworm? Or will Hornworm eat all of his tomatoes?

“Hello everyone. My name is Violet, and I am a Violet, and my favorite color is violet, so I think I will grow an eggplant because it is violet. And I will paint pictures of it while it is growing because I am a great artist.” She looks at Professor Sage and says, “I’m going to need some more violet paint.” Then she sits down. She stands up again to ask Professor Sage a question, “If an eggplant is violet and it is kind of long and shaped like a cylinder, why do you think they call it an eggplant? It doesn’t look like an egg at all!”