Encouraging children :o)

[Gryfon]

I've just got my 3 to plant beans in jars, bit early but it gets them interested.

Just wondering what other people do to encourage their children. I'm thinking of giving them the raised bed I'm making next to the lawn to grow their own stuff. They can do the tomatoes which they love and cucumbers which they love as well. Oh and the carrots which they like to pick wash and eat

[ailsasyl]

once HB tasted home grown she was hooked, last year our first year growing the neighbours kids were invited in to pick a strawberry, some lettuce and to plant some seeds, they popped in often to check what was growing and to pinch a strawberry or a lettuce leaf.
HB's friends are planning a growing comp, a big bendy bucket filled with salad leaves carots etc to see who's grows best.
Also planning, if I get all the garden finished for HB's mates to come over for a BBQ or pizza, HBs pal keeps telling them all how good they are so they all want to come!!

[carlseawolf]

I've got 5 kids that's why i got the allotment for peace and quite away from them !

[cupcake]

I remember growing broad beans at school in a jam jar with the bean sandwiched between a piece of blotting paper and the jar so you could see the roots and the stem. I can't remember if there was any soil involved. We used to grow carrot tops too. It never led me to want to grow veg, that took another 50 years Radishes grow very quickly and you could sow them to spell your children's names. Salad leaves will be fast too. And of course you must grow peas! Podding peas is a wonderful chore! And that may get them interested in cooking too!

[SarzWix]

My 3 have a big bed between them on the allotment, they get 1m� each. Last year #1 son grew pumpkins and ended up with a better, more healthy plant than mine! #2 son tried growing giant onions - although they didn't get very giant they were bigger than mine, plus white cabages to make his own coleslaw. DD had 3 strawberry plants in hers, plus half a dozen Minipop sweetcorn plants, and some sunflowers.
They were all 3 very happy with their results, especially as theirs outperformed mine (could have been because I was tending to them too, on the quiet, I didn't want them to be put off by failures in the first season ) and ate all their produce with relish


Oh, and just to add;
Potatoes and carrots both make fabulous crops for children - they love the idea of buried treasure But as they both take a while, I put the date of planting on a calender, and then work out the number of weeks to harvest, and mark that on the calender too. Then you can do it as a countdown, and stops them getting too bored
Other things like watching pea plants (another great crop for kids) grow keeps them busy in the meantime.

[Gryfon]

Thanks

I have some Charlotte potatoes now to put in bin sacks tomorrow. Great idea about working out the harvesting date, always nice to see the date get closer.

[Serendipity]

My children planted broad beans and runner beans in jars yesterday with crumpled up wet paper towels. We're also going to plant some dwarf beans and peas in big pots on the kitchen windowsill as per PigletWillie's suggestion. My eight year old is really getting in to the whole idea this year and has asked for her own raised bed which I'm over the moon about. My three year old enjoys "helping" and has his own set of toy gardening tools which he loves playing with.

[gorgeousgrower]

My 6 year old likes writing the labels for seedlings. We got them both some tools for christmas too. DS (6) has rake, spade and hand tools and DD (3) has little bag with handtools, which she calls her fork and spoon (trowel!). They both love watering in the summer too, and anything to do with wildlife. Ooo - and we sunk an old sink at the lottie to try and encourage some slug eating frogs. This can also be done with an old washing up bowl, a few large stones and a couple of oxegenating plants if you want to get fancy.

[crichmond]

I've got 5 kids that's why i got the allotment for peace and quite away from them !

Ive got 8 kids so you can imagine how much I like going to the allotment.

[Sanjo]

2 grandchildren came today and were interested in the potatoes chitting in the conservatory. Took my grandaughter down the garden and showed her my new cloche with the potted up (and growing well) potatoes. She seemed quite interested and so I took her into the greenhouse. She has potted up one large chitted lump of potato just to see what happens.
She saw the parsnips sitting in their loo rolls and tells me she LOVE parsnips so we plan to sow some outside when it gets a bit warmer. It will help stagger my crop too
She also asked to try the radishes that I have been growing when I told her that I eat the lot, leaves, roots and all. She decied that she LOVES radishes like that so we had to bring some more into the house and wash it so she could have a feast.
She is 8 years old and absolutely adores her veg.
Her brother at nearly 13 is academically interested in the growing of veg!! but not enough to leave the computer and come outside and do anything. He will, if pushed, eat a bit of cooked broccoli but dislikes pretty well all veg. He is the only one of their family to come unscathed through their recent outbreak of a pretty nasty virus which has poleaxed the rest of them!!
So much for healthy eating. Ha Ha!!

[RedThorn]

Last year the potatoes were the biggest hit with my 4yr old daughter. This year I've had to build her a raised bed "just for Kimberley" as she says Been building rasied beds at the mo until they're almost coming outa my ears! Missus wants some for flowers, me for veg and DD now too! Each new bed build, she wants to lay claim to as well....little so and so! Growing the beans in a jar and then planting them out and getting them to help sow seeds. Another thing, she had to be just like daddy and walk around watering the veg with her own watering can! Basically let them get well and truely dirty and covered from head to foot in dirt and mud and they couldn't be happier!

[carlseawolf]

crichmond i'm surprised you go home! or have you got wireless in your shed + kettle and sleeping bag

[crichmond]

Dont have wireless in the shed but I am within range of the schools wireless system where I work. Do have a kettle but no sleeping bag.

[sharonr]

Mine helps me so he can pick peas and eat them straight out of the pod.
It works every year.
I also find it helps to grow thing they like to eat. Kyle also likes to pick the strawberries, raspberries and blackberries.
He like to smell the herbs as well.

[MrsC]

Let them dig in the dirt with a stick!