Question 21 - Reading Practice Test for the PRAXIS Test

Passage 1

The experts at Bonnie Plants offer some fall gardening tips to make the most of the time you have left before winter. Location, location, location: Plan your fall garden with enough sunlight (six to eight hours per day) to grow and thrive, while allowing for some afternoon shade. Spend time noting the sunniest spots and plant accordingly. Prep the perfect soil. Just like humans, plants need their own brand of nutrition to thrive. Working in some compost can be beneficial, as well as removing spent plants, and weeds. Freshen garden soil by removing any mulch, then replace it. Straw makes an excellent cover; it’s easily scattered and is also a favorite home for spiders that control pests naturally.

Passage 2

This summer I retrieved a small shrub from a communal garden where I live. … The foliage had gone completely and all that remained was a few brown, brittle stems and a dried up root system. Any reasonable gardener would have pronounced the death sentence, but I couldn’t. … I snipped the stems back, untangled the root system and placed it in a bucket of water on my balcony. After a few days I prepared a fine compost mix in a terracotta pot. I bedded the plant in its new home and gave it a good watering then finding a sunny position, I left it to rest and heal. Days came and days went but all I saw, whenever I looked at this “plant,” was a few short, brown stems. … Then one evening, whilst in the process of tending to some cuttings, I noticed a very small, green shoot on my “patient plant.” … Soon more shoots started to appear and just before the movement into autumn my “dead” plant was in full, micro foliage ready to flourish next season.