Last Updated on December 30, 2020 by HodgePodgeDays
Gardening is such a great activity to do with kids: it is perfect for learning all about nature and getting out into the fresh air. There are all kinds of things that you could grow from simple cress pots to more interesting things like peas, tomatoes and courgettes.
Planting seeds together is a lovely way to pass an afternoon and what could be more rewarding than growing vegetables? Not only can you talk about nature and gardening and learn all about caring for plants, but you can also take the learning back into the kitchen and cook up your home grown vegetables together.
Cress
Cress is one of the best things to grow with young children. It is simple to plant, fast to germinate and you only need a yogurt pot to plant them in. You can also make cress heads by decorating a yogurt pot with a face and them letting the cress grow up as the hair style. Once the cress has grown enough, you can use scissors to trim the cress into all sort of funky hairstyles.
Carrots
You can plant carrots directly into the soil by drawing a long line in the soil and then patting the soil back over the seeds. Water them in carefully and then make sure that you give them plenty of water over the following weeks. The only problem with carrots is that you won’t know how well they have done until you have dug them up. The best way to counter this is to set it up as a surprise (and maybe plant a couple of supermarket carrots just before you dig them up just in case!).
Courgettes
To progress your learning a little further, courgettes are a nice plant to grow. For many children – especially fussy eaters – growing their own veg is a good way to introduce new foods.
For the best results you really should grow courgettes in the greenhouse. If you don’t have one yet, you might like to look at https://www.greenhousestores.co.uk/ for some different shapes and sizes in order to find the right one for your garden.
All you need to do is plant the courgette seeds in individual pots and water them regularly. Don’t worry if you don’t get any courgettes on your first go, though, the flowers can also be eaten and are delicious deep fried.
Peas
If you are looking for something a little more interesting to grow, peas are an excellent place to start. Start by sowing the seeds into smaller pots to let them germinate. You can either keep them inside or pop them in the greenhouse while they start growing.
Once they are a bit bigger you can plant them outside and add in supportive poles for them to start climbing. Use string and nets to encourage the peas to grow up the sticks. Once they are ready, you can set the kids to shelling the harvested peas from their pods. They will hardly be able to wait to eat them!