A teacher took two bowls, one bowl with very little dirt in it and another bowl almost full of dirt.
She put tomato plant seeds in both.
The plant in the shallow bowl sprouted very quickly, and grew very tall in just a few days.
It then started to yellow and died.
All before any sprout at all was seen in the deep bowl.
All this time the plant in the deep bowl was growing roots all unseen under the dirt.
It grew into a full strong plant and gave fruit.