easy seeds for children to grow?

Last year my kids each had their own garden, wondering if you all can name some interesting, yet easy to grow things, that I could start looking for them this year?

last year: sunflowers, radish, carrots, squash, beans, and a few little flowers.

Thanks for any suggestions!!
Laurrie

cannas, you have to nick and soak them first, but they are big and they come up fast!

When Mom let me have a little patch of ground for me to garden we grew Nasturtiums, Violas and Snapdragons, there were others but they were the seeds I remember growing most in the first year.

Vegetables easily transplanted include broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts, lettuce and tomato. Those with a little slower root development include cauliflower, celery, eggplant, onion and pepper. They may be successfully transplanted, however. Plants that do not transplant well and therefore are seeded in individual pots include cucumber, muskmelon, squash and watermelon.

Most flowers normally grown indoors transplant well, but a few that are difficult to transplant include poppy, larkspur, lupine, sweet pea and cornflower. These are generally seeded outdoors, but to start them indoors, place them directly into individual pots.

How about four o'clocks. The seeds are big and easy to plant, and they are kinda different because the blooms open in the late afternoon. The seeds are easy to harvest too.

Laurrie, have you thought about potatoes? They would be fun to dig up.

those are all some wonderful ideas, thanks!!!

We grew potatoes last year, and Dakota took one of my rows for his garden, heheh, he even supplied the chair to watch it grow. too funny.

Container gardening can be fun for kids. Broadcast mesclun mix greens to a wide shallow pot, cover lightly, keep watered, and soon they'll have baby greens for supper salads. The same holds true for stir fry oriental greens. Celery will grow in a pot, as would a few carrots, some onions, radishes... any of them, as long as the pot is deep enough for tap roots. You can even grow potatoes in a five gallon bucket with drainage holes. The kids can add dirt as the stems pop up.

I've grown garden peas in those long wallpaper trays you get at the hardware. I put in drain holes, fill with soil, soak the peas, then plant them. If I put the tray against a building, I can put up some webbing for a trellis. I think the sugar pod types would be best, because the kids can eat them pod and all while they are outdoors.

Violas, nasturtium and calendula are all edible flowers, as well as beautiful. The nasturtium flowers and leaves are a spicy addition to salads. There is a tomato plant called Tiny Tim that can be grown in a 4" pot. It sets fruit early, but the tomatoes are about the size of a marble. Kids love it, and it can be grown on the porch, or even indoors.

For fun, you can save some of your egg shell halves from breakfast. Have the kids put faces on them with the point facing down. Add clean potting soil, then grass seed. In a short time, they'll have little 'Don King' people with wild green crew cuts! Snap dragons are fun to grow, because you can pick a bloom and squeeze its sides to make it 'talk'... used to do that, as a kid!

OH Weezingreens, some of those ideas are precious!! ove the eggheads LOL
Oh I am glad I asked this question, I am going to have a blast with them this year doing alot of this fun stuff!!!

Also wanted to say I have just started updating my trade page, If anyone wants to trade for some of my things let me know, in return all I would want are some kid friendly things for them to grow.
Thanks all!!
Laurrie

It must be fun to garden with your kids.

Balsam, touch-me-nots. The seed pods are great fun. Make tepees out of poles and grow beans or morning glories on them. I had a grapevine cave when I was little but the bees liked it too.

We made the people out of nylon sockings and hung them.

Those are great ideas, frogrus! I used to love to build house and teepees when I was a kid. Vines are a great option! How about a vine teepee!

We had a "tomato house" one year but DD got creeped out by the hornworms clicking. I build the tomato cages every year from firring with holes drilled and zip ties. Makes it easy to put up and disassemble. PVC would work too. Big tinkertoys.

Lol, you could build one and run strings for climbers and have pear tomatoes and flowers and whatever vine or clmber came to mind. A striped house!!

Wow! I'd have loved that as a kid... heck, I wouldn't mind one today! Of course, it would take a lot more PVC! LOL!

My table and stools in my grape "house" were made with baseball bat legs. Lol, we didn't even know about recycling. It was called "making do" I believe.

Frogsrus, that would make a great children's story, complete with illustrations!

I don't know how old the kids are here but if you are growing edibles, it might be worth including some inedibles to teach that not all plants can be eaten.

At the age of 6 we had a Laburnum bush in the back garden, I knew it was poisonous and I mustn't eat it. Having followed grandad and other family members/friends around the garden I was fairly clued up not to eat anything unless Mother or Grownup with some sense said it was OK. Anyway, the Laburnum flowers look a lot like a mini bunch of bananas, my my friend and I were playing at grocers and pretending to eat them (no intention of actually eating). My Mother saw us and had a fit and a half. I couldn't explain to her that I knew not to eat them as she wouldn't let me get a word in edgeways and anyway it was best to eat humble pie quietly when she shouts LOL

I understand now why she panicked and yelled loud enough for all of Low Hill to hear for a good half hour but it's worth keeping in mind that little people think very differently *G*

I've never grown a Laburnum since but I always remember the little 'bunches of bananas' when I see them in flower.

Don't forget pumpkins! They can grow it, harvest it, carve it, and keep some of the seeds for next year, and eat the rest! MMMMM!

LimeyLisa Kay

Baa, I have a friend with a wicked sense of humor. She has what she calls her 'Children's Garden'. In it she grows deadly night shade, digitalis, baneberry, etc... of course, she has no children, but it certainly raises an eyebrow now and again.

OMG that "Childrens garden" is just too comical, I bet she does get some looks. *snort* *giggle*

I really am enjoying this thread! I am getting some great ideas for them this year, what an adventure this will be.

I have gardened with my kids since they were 5 months old! They would get to lay on a blanket next to the garden while mommie planted stuff and by the time we were harvesting - they were walking so got to run thru the rows and carry out the stuff I had picked and laid in the rows. Memories, those were good ones.

My kids are 8 & 9 now, and yes I have gardened with them all their lives, they know which are poisonous, especially since I started growing Datura since they were just tiny. Even to this day when I am starting something from seed, they always - without failing - ask me, "Is this one poison?", They keep an eye on the animals here too, if the goat tries to get into something and they know it is a datura plant, they head the goat off and put him back in the pasture.

I have never had to worry about them personally eating leaves, flowers, buds, seeds, etc. BUT my son, ooooooh, last year I had some nice large buds on my peonies, now I watched and watched, because being the freak I am, I waited and waited to get a nice picture of it, so the day I am thinking it should be popping - I grab the camera and out back I go, only to my dispair, what do I find, oh my lovely peony bush, it is sitting there staring at me with NOT ONE BUD, they had been clipped off as slick as you please!!!! Yes my son, he snipped them right off and used them to "bomb" his sister with, they told me much later, but I KNEW, it wasn't from a bird or an animal. Now they know if I find that this year their little bottoms will have a hard time sitting down!!!!

Thanks everyone for the wonderful ideas, I am getting antsy for spring to arrive. I will make sure I take lots of pictures of them with the things they "create" in the garden!! And share them here with you all.
Laurrie

I can't remember where I saw the thread, but somewhere on here someone posted a pic of a Sunflower with Morning Glory climbing up it - it was quite striking, and I am planning on trying that out myself this year.

Karrie, yes that is pretty, just remember to plant the sunflowers early enough, did it one time and planted seeds at same time, LOL, wasn't long till the morning glories were everywhere and choking out the poor sunflower!

Laurrie

When my boy was young we 've always watched the evening primroses (Oenothera) to open...it's bedtime..and yes it looks like little lights goes on in the garden.

Maybe you can also get some inspiration from this website

http://www.flowerclock.com/eng/introductie/introductie.html

It tells about flowering times from different flowers and by watching them you'll know what time it is.