Vegetable Patch Word Search

About this puzzle

This list follows a vegetable garden through the year: quick crops like radishes and lettuce in spring; tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers at the height of summer; pumpkins in autumn; and garlic planted to sit through the winter. It includes leaves (spinach, kale, lettuce), roots (carrot, beet, radish), bulbs (onion, garlic), a stalk (celery) and several fruits that cooks treat as vegetables (tomato, cucumber, pepper, pumpkin, zucchini).

The default layout is Medium on a 13×13 grid. Easy, Medium and Hard each use their own checked layout of the same words, and every one can be printed in standard or large print on US Letter or A4.

Word notes

Tomato

Botanically a fruit, because it develops from the flower and holds seeds, but used in the kitchen as a vegetable.

Zucchini

A summer squash, harvested young while the skin is tender.

Radish

One of the fastest crops to grow; some varieties are ready in about a month.

Pumpkin

A kind of winter squash; large varieties are grown for carving and smaller, sweeter ones for pies.

Kale

A hardy leafy green whose flavor often turns sweeter after a light frost.

Beet

Both the root and the leafy tops are edible; the deep red color comes from pigments called betalains.

Garlic

Usually planted in fall and harvested the next summer.

Try this after the puzzle

Ask solvers to sort the vegetables by the part of the plant we eat: leaf, root, bulb, stalk or fruit. It is a quick science link, and the tomato and cucumber usually start a lively discussion. For younger children, bring in two or three real vegetables from the list to touch and name before the puzzle.

All 14 words

Tomato · Carrot · Zucchini · Lettuce · Radish · Spinach · Cucumber · Pepper · Onion · Pumpkin · Kale · Beet · Garlic · Celery