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Make your first plan
Use the short walkthrough and free printable or fillable sheets. You don’t need to own the book or join an email list.
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Grow something that lasts.
Plan your first
food garden.
New to growing food? Learn to choose crops, understand your soil, and make a plan that fits your space and season.
Free to download. No email required. Start with the Plan Sheet.
Choose your next step
A place to begin.
A way to keep growing.
For your community
Learn with your group
Request a beginner workshop for your library, church, neighborhood group, or organization. We’ll discuss the details before booking.
Request a group workshop →For future learning
Hear about the next class
Public workshops are $35. The next date is not announced yet; join the updates list for future class information.
Get future class updates →Featured workshopBeginner-friendly • Live online
Plan Your First Food Garden — Intro Workshop
Stop guessing.
Start growing.
Learn what plants need and how crop choice, season, growing space, soil, water, and care work together. We’ll use a guided garden example to help you make informed decisions and build a starting plan for your own garden. Includes Plan Your First Food Garden, the beginner’s guide, a garden plan sheet, live questions, and 30-day replay access.
- Next date
- Coming soon
- Registration
- Currently closed
- Length
- Announced with the next date
- Investment
- $35
- Replay
- 30 days
- Format
- Live online
The next public class will be announced here and by email. Sign up for future class announcements and gardening information. Signing up does not reserve a class seat.
Explore what you’ll learn
- Learn what plants need: light, water, air, nutrients, and room for roots
- Choose crops that fit your growing space, season, and goals
- Use local Extension resources to check planting windows
- Compare containers, raised beds, and in-ground growing
- Compare conventional, organic, regenerative soil-building, and no-till practices—and choose compatible practices for your garden
- Make sense of soil, growing mixes, drainage, pH, and soil-test recommendations
- Read seed packets and transplant directions for planting and spacing
- Check watering needs and respond to common plant problems
- Understand basic pest-management and harvesting decisions
- Use Observe → Understand → Decide → Apply → Reassess to build a realistic starting plan, without buying a bunch of unnecessary stuff
Keep learning with the guide
Plan Your First Food Garden
A beginner’s guide to growing food by Yashica Washington. Follow Kijani’s first garden, use the five-step decision process, and make a plan for your own space.
Explore the book →
For organizations and community groups
Help your community
start growing.
Host a beginner gardening workshop for your library, church, community garden, neighborhood group, or organization.
Host a Workshop →Our educational identity
Read the garden.
Not just the instructions.
Grow Generational Roots helps people connect gardening information to the conditions in their own growing spaces so they can make increasingly informed decisions instead of relying only on one-size-fits-all instructions.
Who we serve
Beginner home and community food growers working in containers, raised beds, backyard plots, community gardens, and other small growing spaces.
What we teach
How soil, plants, water, drainage, sunlight, nutrients, pests, seasons, and growing practices work together to influence practical food production.
How we teach
Clear, practical, research-informed education that explains what a recommendation assumes, why it may work, and when it may need to change.
Grow Generational Roots Decision Process™
Observe. Understand.
Decide. Apply. Reassess.
Gardens are living systems, and growing conditions vary. The Grow Generational Roots Decision Process™ helps growers reason through what is happening, choose an action that fits, and learn from what happens next.
- 01
Observe
Begin with what is actually happening. Notice the plant, soil, weather, light, growing stage, recent changes, pests, and management practices.
- 02
Understand
Consider how those conditions may interact, identify reasonable possibilities, and determine what additional information may be needed.
- 03
Decide
Use credible information together with the conditions in your garden to select an appropriate course of action.
- 04
Apply
Put the decision into practice in a way that fits the crop, environment, season, and growing system.
- 05
Reassess
Observe the response, decide whether the expected change occurred, and adjust when necessary.
Our educational standard
We aim to be accurate, transparent, research-informed, practical, and appropriately cautious. We distinguish credible guidance from personal observation, explain meaningful conditions and uncertainty, and revise our materials when stronger information becomes available.
The format may change. The reasoning process should not.A garden feeds more than a table. It builds confidence, connects generations, and teaches us how to care for what comes next.
Workshop questions
Know before
you grow.
Here is what to expect from Plan Your First Food Garden — Intro Workshop.
Who is this workshop for?
This workshop is for beginner home and community food growers planning a garden in containers, raised beds, backyard plots, community gardens, or another small growing space.
Do I need gardening experience?
No. The workshop is designed to help a first-time grower make a realistic plan based on their goals, available space, sunlight, soil, and growing season.
What supplies should I bring?
No specialized supplies are required. Bring something to write with and any useful notes, measurements, or photos of the space where you hope to grow. Plan Your First Food Garden, the beginner’s guide, and a garden plan sheet are included.
When and how will the workshop meet?
The next live online workshop date has not been announced. Sign up for updates to receive future class information. Joining the updates list does not reserve a seat.
Will a replay be available?
Yes. Registered participants receive replay access for 30 calendar days after it is delivered.
When does registration close?
Registration is currently closed. Registration dates will be announced with the next workshop.
What will I leave with?
You will build a starting garden plan shaped around what you want to grow and the conditions you actually have, with any decisions that need local verification identified.
What is the cancellation and refund policy?
To request a refund to the original payment method or a one-time transfer of your registration to a future session, contact Grow Generational Roots at least 48 hours before the scheduled start. Requests made fewer than 48 hours before class and no-shows are nonrefundable because replay access is included.
What if Grow Generational Roots cancels or reschedules?
If Grow Generational Roots cancels or reschedules the workshop, registered participants may choose a refund, a one-time transfer of their registration to a future session, or attendance at the rescheduled session.
Meet the founder
Built in the garden.
Shared with community.
I’m Yashica Washington, founder of Grow Generational Roots, an Army veteran, home food grower, and soil-health educator.
My work began in my own garden. Learning to grow food led me to look more closely at soil, roots, water, nutrients, and the reasons behind gardening recommendations.
I teach beginners to observe their own growing spaces, ask useful questions, and make informed decisions. My lessons combine hands-on growing, research-informed guidance, and practical examples.
I continue to study soil health and recognize when a question needs a laboratory test, local Extension guidance, or specialized expertise. You don’t have to know everything to begin. You deserve a useful place to start.
Your garden can start here
Let's grow something
together.
Choose a few crops, take a closer look at your growing space, and write down your next steps. Your free Plan Sheet gives you a place to begin.
Get your free garden sheets