Gardening Merit Badge

The nine requirements with the two long clocks drawn as the first things to settle, the germination test marked as belonging before the sowing it informs, and the pest and pollination requirements linked to the routes and seasons they depend on.

10 steps (15 parts inside them). 8 parts depend on questions you have not answered yet. · Version 1, published 13 August 2026 · About Gardening Merit Badge

No questions answered

This is the whole plan: everything that could apply to anybody. Answering the 2 questions at the address above takes out the parts that are not for you.

Which of this applies to you

You have not answered anything yet, so this is the whole plan: everything that could apply to anybody. Answering 2 short questions will take out the parts that are not for you.

Answer the questions

The steps

Stage 1 of 10

1 step

1. Hazards, and the health problems gardening causes Requirement

Two parts. The second is a longer first-aid list than most people expect from a badge about plants, and it includes anaphylactic shock and reactions to pesticides and fertilizers.
2 parts
- 1(a). The most likely hazards, and what to do about them
- 1(b). Preventing and treating cuts, bites, heat, anaphylaxis and chemical reactions Often forgotten

Stage 2 of 10

1 step

2. Twelve plants grown to harvest and to flowering Often forgotten Requirement

The season. Six vegetables and six flowers, half of each from seed and half from seedlings, and both taken all the way: vegetables through HARVEST, flowers through FLOWERING. Observations discussed with your counselor throughout, not just at the end.

THIS IS A GROWING SEASON PRINTED AS TWO LINES. Twelve plants: six vegetables through HARVEST and six flowers through FLOWERING, half of each from seed. It is requirement 2 of nine and it is the thing that decides when you finish. Start it at the start. A reader who arrives here in September in a cold climate is waiting for spring however much of the rest is done, and the badge gives no hint of that anywhere.
2 parts
- 2(a). Six vegetables (three from seed, three from seedlings) through harvest Often forgotten
- 2(b). Six flowers (three from seed, three from seedlings) through flowering Often forgotten

Stage 3 of 10

1 step

3. Nutritional values: three roots, three above-ground, three fruits Requirement

Nine crops in three groups. It is research rather than growing, and it can be done in an evening at any point in the year.
3 parts

Stage 4 of 10

1 step

4. Test 100 seeds for germination, and explain the failures Often forgotten Requirement

Count them out, germinate them, work out the percentage, and explain why you think some did not. It takes days rather than months, and it tells you what proportion of your seed is viable, which is what you want to know BEFORE sowing requirement 2.

DO THIS BEFORE REQUIREMENT 2, NOT AFTER IT. Testing 100 seeds tells you what proportion of your seed is viable and why the rest failed, which is exactly what a gardener wants to know before sowing the six-from-seed at requirement 2(a) and 2(b). It takes days rather than months. The badge numbers it fourth, and the plan cannot draw an arrow backwards from 4 to 2 without closing a loop, so this notice is the arrow.

Stage 5 of 10

1 step

5. Visit an extension office, university, nursery, farm, garden or arboretum Requirement

One visit from a wide list, and a report on what you learned. Made early it is also where you get local advice on varieties, sowing dates and the pests in requirement 7.

Stage 6 of 10

1 step

6. Honeybees, pollination, and what would happen without pollinators Requirement

How and why honeybees are used in pollinating food crops, the problems facing the bee population, and what the loss of pollinators would mean for people. It is the requirement behind the honey super route at 8(e).

Stage 7 of 10

1 step

7. Five garden pests, two solutions each, one of them organic Often forgotten Requirement

Insects and diseased plants. Ten solutions in total and at least five of them organic. Pests appear in a growing garden rather than in a book, so this is a requirement to work on while requirement 2 is running.

Five pests, two solutions each, at least one organic. That is ten solutions and five of them organic. Insects and diseased plants turn up in a growing garden and not in a book, so work on this while requirement 2 is running and photograph what you find when you find it. A pest identified in February is a picture from the internet; one identified in July is yours.

Stage 8 of 10

1 step

8. One 90-day project of six, and none of them is quick Often forgotten Requirement

Weekly observations recorded throughout and the results discussed with your counselor. Five routes state ninety days; the sixth needs a beekeeper and a filled honey super, which is longer.

THERE IS NO SHORT ROUTE THROUGH THIS REQUIREMENT. Five of the six state ninety days in their own words. The sixth, the honey super at 8(e), states no period at all, and it is the longest, because a super has to be FILLED before it can be removed, which is the bees' timetable and a beekeeper's permission rather than yours. Choosing here decides what you build, not how long it takes. Weekly observations are recorded whichever route you take.
6 parts
- 8(a). Build a compost bin and maintain it for 90 days Optional May not apply
- 8(b). Build a vermipost bin and maintain it for 90 days Optional May not apply
- 8(c). Build a hydroponic garden and run it for 90 days Optional May not apply
- 8(d). Build a water garden and maintain it for 90 days Optional May not apply Often forgotten
- 8(e). Prepare a honey super, remove a filled one, and prepare the honey for sale Optional May not apply Often forgotten THIS ROUTE IS NOT AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AND IT IS NOT THE QUICK ONE. It needs a working hive or colony, a super that has actually been filled, and a beekeeper prepared to let a Scout prepare it, remove it and process the honey for sale. All three are somebody else's, and the filling is a season. If you want this route, find the beekeeper first, and read requirement 1(b) on anaphylactic shock before you stand next to the hive.
- 8(f). Grow a garden of your own: 90 days or to harvest, whichever is earlier Optional May not apply Often forgotten ASK YOUR COUNSELOR ABOUT THIS ONE BEFORE YOU PLANT ANYTHING. 8(f) grows a garden of at least three types of plant to harvest or for 90 days; requirement 2 grows twelve plants to harvest and flowering. They are the same activity on the same calendar, and whether one garden can satisfy both is your counselor's decision. There is no way to settle it retrospectively, if the answer is no, you need two plots or two seasons, and you want to know that in March rather than in August.

Stage 9 of 10

1 step

9. A career, or a hobby or healthy lifestyle. Do ONE Requirement

The badge states the choice itself. Both routes are research and a discussion with your counselor.
2 parts
- 9(a). Three careers in gardening, and one researched properly Optional May not apply
- 9(b). A personal hobby or healthy lifestyle using gardening Optional May not apply

Stage 10 of 10

1 step

Counselor signs it off Milestone

The completion date is the date you met the requirements, not the date of the signature.

Usually comes after 9. A career, or a hobby or healthy lifestyle. Do ONE.

Merit badge requirements are republished annually. A Scout beginning work uses the requirements as they stand then; a Scout already working may finish under the ones they started with. Guide to Advancement 7.0.4.3 governs which applies. This page records the date its copy was read. Check it against the official page before relying on it.

This plan is a planning aid: the current Boy Scouts of America publication is always the authority, and the sources used here are listed in full. Each step names its own.