Gardening with Children

Gardening with children has so many benefits. By encouraging your child to have a hand in growing plants provides them with a front row seat to the life cycle. Also, they will be able to see what the plants need to grow. We have selected a number of easy seeds for children to grow that need different environments to thrive:

Cress Seeds

These little seeds are so easy to grow in a variety of different containers and they don’t even need to be sown into soil. Our favourite container for cress seeds is using egg shells for children to decorate and see as their eggs slowly grow green hair!

What you need:

• Cress seeds
• Eggs
• Egg box
• Cotton pads

What you need to do:

1. Remove the top of the egg and empty
2. Wash and dry the shell before letting your child decorate
3. Put a damp cotton pad inside the egg and sprinkle in the seeds
4. Put your eggs in a sunny spot and watch as the cress grows with a week

Pea shoots

Growing pea shoots are perfect for little ones as they grow really fast (2-3 weeks) so they can see the process before their eyes, and they don’t take up too much space. Unlike cress, pea shoots prefer shady spots.

What you need:

• Pea shoot seeds (or dried peas for cooking can be used if they are soaked)
• A tray with holes in the bottom for drainage (about 5-10cm deep)
• Compost

What you need to do:

1. Fill your tray with compost (a couple of centimetres from the top)
2. Water the compost
3. Sow the seeds into the compost (they can be quite close together)
4. Cover the seeds with compost and water
5. Keep compost moist and harvest in 2-3 weeks

Growing pumpkins

Pumpkins take a longer time to grow, about 6 months in total. However, the large vegetable is a great learning experience for children and they are relatively easy to grow. The main concern is ensuring they are always warm. So, you can grow them inside and move them outside in the warmer weather in the summer or plant them outside and cover with a jar to stop any frost.

What you need:

• Pumpkin seeds
• Pot (if planting inside)
• Compost

What you need to do:

1. Plant seeds in a pot (approx. 8cm) in late April and keep in a sunny spot, watering regularly OR dig a 3cm hole outside in a sunny spot and sow a few seeds in early June and cover with a jar for two weeks. Then thin the shoots to just the strongest.
2. If growing inside acclimatise and move your pumpkin outside in the summer months
3. Keep plant moist and use potato fertilizer every 10-15 days
4. Once pumpkin starts growing put a tile/carpet under it to keep off the soil
5. Harvest in September/October