--- title: The vegetable patch: peas, potatoes, tomatoes and slugs — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «The vegetable patch: peas, potatoes, tomatoes and slugs», a lesson of the biology course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: A vegetable patch is a place where you eat different parts of plants: the seeds of a pea, the swollen underground --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/338-the-vegetable-patch-peas-potatoes-tomatoes-and-slugs/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/) / The vegetable patch: peas, potatoes, t… # The vegetable patch: peas, potatoes, tomatoes and slugs Lesson 338 of the biology course of Mova's primary school: 17 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/338-the-vegetable-patch-peas-potatoes-tomatoes-and-slugs/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/338-the-vegetable-patch-peas-potatoes-tomatoes-and-slugs/0/) — A vegetable patch is a place where you eat different parts of plants: the seeds of a pea, the swollen underground stem of a potato, the fruit of a tomato and the root of a radish. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/338-the-vegetable-patch-peas-potatoes-tomatoes-and-slugs/1/) — Watch a pea plant for a day: its thin curly tendrils feel for a stick and wrap round it within hours, hauling the plant up towards the light like a climber on a rope. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/338-the-vegetable-patch-peas-potatoes-tomatoes-and-slugs/2/) — At night the slugs come out, gliding on their slime and nibbling holes in the lettuce, while a bumblebee hums loudly on a tomato flower in the day, shaking the pollen out like salt from a salt cellar. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/338-the-vegetable-patch-peas-potatoes-tomatoes-and-slugs/3/) — In cartoons potatoes grow on trees and carrots wink from bushes. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/338-the-vegetable-patch-peas-potatoes-tomatoes-and-slugs/4/) — Real plants hide their stores underground, and some close relatives, like potatoes and tomatoes, are good to eat in one part and poisonous in another. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/338-the-vegetable-patch-peas-potatoes-tomatoes-and-slugs/5/) — Pea tendrils feel touch and curl around whatever they meet, sometimes within hours, so peas can climb towards the light without growing a thick stem. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/338-the-vegetable-patch-peas-potatoes-tomatoes-and-slugs/7/) — A monk called Gregor Mendel grew thousands of pea plants to learn how features pass from parents to their young, and his work started the science of genetics. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/338-the-vegetable-patch-peas-potatoes-tomatoes-and-slugs/8/) — Potatoes are swollen underground stems that store food, and the eyes on a potato are buds that can grow into new plants. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/338-the-vegetable-patch-peas-potatoes-tomatoes-and-slugs/9/) — Potatoes that turn green in the light have a bitter poison, and the green part must not be eaten, so potatoes are kept in the dark. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/338-the-vegetable-patch-peas-potatoes-tomatoes-and-slugs/10/) — Potato plants grow small green berries that look like little tomatoes but are poisonous; potatoes and tomatoes are close relatives, and only the potato underground is eaten. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/338-the-vegetable-patch-peas-potatoes-tomatoes-and-slugs/11/) — Scientists call a tomato a fruit because it holds seeds, it turns red as it ripens by making a red colour called lycopene, and tomatoes first came from South America. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/338-the-vegetable-patch-peas-potatoes-tomatoes-and-slugs/12/) — Bumblebees shake tomato flowers to release their pollen, which is called buzz pollination, and greenhouse growers keep boxes of bumblebees to pollinate tomatoes. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/338-the-vegetable-patch-peas-potatoes-tomatoes-and-slugs/13/) — Slugs feed at night when it is damp, and hedgehogs, thrushes, frogs and beetles eat them. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/338-the-vegetable-patch-peas-potatoes-tomatoes-and-slugs/14/) — Slug pellets can harm hedgehogs and birds, and the most harmful kind was banned in Britain. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/338-the-vegetable-patch-peas-potatoes-tomatoes-and-slugs/15/) — A slug has four tentacles: the top two carry eyes and the bottom two feel and smell; it can pull them in if touched, and its slime trail helps it slide and find its way home. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/338-the-vegetable-patch-peas-potatoes-tomatoes-and-slugs/16/) — Worms, fungi and bacteria break kitchen scraps down into rich compost, the middle of the heap can get warm, and the compost feeds the patch next year. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/338-the-vegetable-patch-peas-potatoes-tomatoes-and-slugs/17/) — Radishes can be ready in about four weeks, so they suit a first garden, and the part we eat is a swollen root. - ← previous: [The park pond through the year: ducks, coots, swans, dragonflies and ice](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/337-the-park-pond-through-the-year-ducks-coots-swans-dragonflies-and-ice/) - next →: [Park trees: telling oaks, maples, chestnuts, birches, limes and willows apart](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/339-park-trees-telling-oaks-maples-chestnuts-birches-limes-and-willows-apart/) - ↑ back to [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/)