Children's Vegetable Patch

[TeresaD]

Hi,

I'd love to make a small vegetable patch for my 2 yr old boy, so he can learn about where food comes from. BUT I'm absolutely clueless about where to start!

Our back garden is all paved, so would it be possible to use some kind of pots instead of an actual garden? What are the best and easiest vegies to grow? What kind of soil do I grow them in?

Any help for a non-greenfingered person would be much appreciated!

Thanks

 

[2scoops0406]

Well now is unfortunately a bad time of year to start. But take heart, kids love this sort of stuff, next spring, around about mid april is a great time to plant salad greens, all of which will do find in containers.

 

[alexp.1]

Buy a couple of buckets; perfect for growing carrots/spuds in, and they're easy to move around (or move indoors if there's a frost).

Metals ones will look good (better than bright orange plastic buckets!). Make holes in the bottom for drainage and line the bottom with stones/bits of broken clay pot so the roots don't get waterlogged.

 

[nstreet]

If you wish to make something larger, you could get some old sleepers and form them into a rectangle, about 2 high. Put in some damp proof membrance, but put a few holes in for drainage. Then cover with a weed supressant membrance to stop all of the soiling washing away and fill with a soil and compost mix.

Grow things that are tactile, fairly quick growing and something where they can see progress. No good growing sprouts, as these take ages and the kids wlll soon become bored.

Things like peas, runner beans, cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce are ideal. The kids can also pick away at these sorts of veg (not the tomato of course, but thats another debate) and eat them raw, which is a good way to get them into eating veg. You can also give them a runner bean plant and have competitions to see who's grows the tallest etc.

 

[Diyisfun]

You could grow cress indoors

 

[Thermo]

if you use sleepers dont use old ones treated with creosote, not good for kids or for vegetables.

fast growers like raddish are good as they can see results quickly. also chuck in a few sunflower seeds.

 

[countygardens]

if you use sleepers dont use old ones treated with creosote, not good for kids or for vegetables.

There are regulations preventing you from using these for such purposes

see http://www.sportingsurfacesupplies.com/sleepers.htm for a bit of info on these (bottom of page)

 

[Thermo]

trouble is countrygardens, that lots of people are not aware of regulations and lots of suppliers sell them and landscapers still use them where they should not

 

[Thermo]

just to depart slightly, Country gardens, do you use that supplier, if so any opinions as they sent me some of their literature recently?

 

[countygardens]

just to depart slightly, Country gardens, do you use that supplier, if so any opinions as they sent me some of their literature recently?

As a matter of fact I dont. Just found it on Google!

 

[keyplayer]

Tomatoes in grow bags - cheap and nearly foolproof. (Though not strictly vegetables!).

 

[sidecar_jon]

another sugestion that i do with out 5 year old... sprouted seeds. Alfalfa, chick peas, and best of all green lentils. Takes about three days and do it on the windowsil........ soak over night, put in something with holes in botom (sieve or tea strainers) rinse every day and they soon sprout.

 

[dg123]

If you grow carrots in a container raise it so the soil level is above 21 inches (e.g. put the container on top of another upturned container) - apparently carrot fly can not fly any higher than this so will keep your crop safe from them.

 

[breezer]

apparently carrot fly can not fly any higher than this so will keep your crop safe from them.

sorry, but if that was true, how does the carrot fly get there? walk?

 

[dg123]

apparently carrot fly can not fly any higher than this so will keep your crop safe from them.

sorry, but if that was true, how does the carrot fly get there? walk?

The point is that it doesn't get there.