Growing fruit and vegetables with your children has many benefits, not least because you save a bit of money at the supermarket. It’s also a great learning experience about where seeds are from and how plants grow, as well as an exercise in patience and possibly trying out some new flavours!
It doesn’t matter whether you have a small or big garden, or even just a patio or windowsill. There are lots of options which can be grown easily everywhere.
1. Cress
This retro salad favourite is pretty fool-proof to grow, which makes it perfect for small containers or tubs on an inside windowsill. You can grow the seeds either in a small amount of soil or even on wet cotton wool, and you can have fun creating pots with photos or faces on to grow their ‘hair’.
2. Lettuce
Like cress, lettuces are very easy to grow, and there are plenty of varieties to grow all year round. They are also quick to sprout, taking on average a fortnight to start showing plus they are ready to eat straight away.
3. Radish
Although the taste is somewhat unique, the texture and colour of radishes are appealing to children, especially if you grow a couple of varieties together to compare size and shape. Radishes are great for growing in container pots and should be ready about a month after sowing.
4. Carrots
These are another winner in containers and don’t take a lot of maintenance, although they do take a bit longer to mature than other plants. Look for when the top of the carrot is popping up from the ground, and they should be a decent size. Be careful when you start to pull them out to not snap the leaves off. Otherwise, you’ll have to dig them out!
5. Spinach
Again, this may not be an immediate favourite with children to eat, but it grows easily and provides an interesting comparison to lettuce leaves. The leaves can be eaten raw or cooked and it’s brilliant for freezing. Once picked, you will see new growth with the leaves.
6. Tomato
The smaller dwarf varieties of tomatoes are brilliant for growing on sunny windowsills or even in hanging baskets, with larger types being an excellent option for greenhouses. They do require more attention than other fruits, but the results are worth it!
20 comments
Ive tried big gardens – i am bad at it. I kill everything. Every spring i nearly talk myself into a simple container garden. Nearly….
Big gardens are such a lot of work Kellie. I find raised beds and containers much more manageable, although it does mean you have to remember to water – even here in the UK 🙂
We grow potatoes every year in container bags – they’re brilliant as they’re so low maintenance and my son loves emptying them out and finding how many we have! We also grew beetroot a few years ago and that was another great one – really easy and we were eating beetroot all summer long!
Growing potatoes in bags is a great idea – I’ve always found I miss a few when I’ve grown them in beds and end up with them growing where I don’t want them!
We love growing fruit and vegetables with our little one – it’s a great way to get them involved and they learn so much from it. Plus food always tastes better when you’ve grown it yourself!
It really does taste better doesn’t it Alex. I find my kids will always eat things we’ve grown (or picked) even when they wont eat it from the supermarket!
I have been meaning to start a vege patch for a couple of years now. We even got some beds ready but never got anything planted. Hoping to try again this spring though. Thanks for the ideas.
Oh I hope we’ve inspired you to give it a go Jenny – let us know if you do 🙂
Oo this is really helpful to know because despite not being a great gardener I’m keen to grow some different foods with my daughters 🙂
I’m so pleased you found it helpful – kids really do enjoy growing veg and mine are much keener to try things that we have grown 🙂
We LOVE gardening with the kids – it’s such a good learning experience for them 🙂 We haven’t tried spinach before – will have to give that one a go! x
I agree it’s a great activity for kids. Spinach is great – it’s super easy to grow 🙂
We’ve grown tomatoes in our garden before and the kids enjoyed seeing them grow
I love home grown tomatoes Stephanie, they taste way better than the ones in the shops!
We used to grow lettuce when we had a rabbit. So easy to do. Great post as we’re literally going shopping for plants and veg today with the kids
So pleased you found our post helpful – Shopping for plants is great fun 🙂
We grow lettuce and tomatoes with the kids every year, though this year we’ve not been having much luck. The seedlings keep dying as soon as I transplant them in to bigger pots.
Isn’t it funny how some years things grow well and another they don’t – it can be very frustrating!
What a great list of things to grow. Cress is a winner at the moment and currently sprouting on our kitchen windowsill – hooraa! Thanks for the inspiration… *runs off to work out how to grow carrots. 🙂
We love growing cress too – good luck with the carrots!