Planting flowers/herbs/food with kids - where to start?!

[Snowstorming]

Hi Mumsnetters,

You guys are great at giving advice so I was hoping you could help out here. I want to get my DC (all under 6 years old) involved in planting some things - ideally in February/March.

Where on Earth do we start? I’ve never planted anything as we’ve never had the space. We now have a small garden that I want to put to use and get the kids involved in something that doesn’t involve a screen!

Which flowers, herbs, fruit or veg do you recommend planting?
Is there anywhere specific to buy seeds or are they all just the same?
What kind of pots/soil/fertiliser/food do the plants need?

I will ideally spend some time googling all this as well but I wanted some ‘tried and tested’ advice from the wise Mumsnetters.

I’d love some fresh herbs, colourful flowers for the kids, maybe a tomato plant or something realistic?

Looking forward to your tips!!

Thank you

Sunflowers, sweetpeas (both of which can be in pots with supports) , tomatoes, strawberries, lettuce, potatoes. What do they enjoy eating?

One is a fussy eater but enjoys fruit (particularly strawberries, grapes) and peas!

I’ve seen seeds in Asda and Wilko, I’m assuming regardless of where I buy the seeds they’re all the same?

Beans! They are nice big seeds, and come up quite fast. I'd do runner beans, peas (you can get these fantastic ones from a variety called 'shiraz,' which are dark purple in the pods and dye the water you boil them in a really brilliant teal, so they're fun for eating as well).

You could also do sweet peas, because you actively need to keep picking the flowers - my DD loves being allowed to pick 'her' flowers whenever she likes.

Nasturtium are also quite a good-sized seed to plant and have pretty flowers.

We've also done courgettes and she enjoyed that, and again, the seeds are pretty reliable and easy for small children to handle.

Personally, I don't bother with herbs from seed - the seeds are always tiny and they're often easier/cheaper to buy as a potful of seedlings from the garden centre.

For all of those you just need bog standard potting compost and any kinds of small pots/planters (you can use empty egg boxes, though ideally not for peas/sweet peas).

If you have enough windowsill space, you could start peas/beans now, indoors, and plant out after the frost risk has gone.

Great list by LIZS.
I'd also suggest growing some cress (inside) due to the fast turn around. Nasturtiums are pretty forgiving too.

Cross post. No, seeds won't be all the same. Especially if they've been lying around too long. See if you can ask on a local forum where other people rate. Eg my local homebase (before it went bust) was brilliant for a good range of fresh seeds, but my mum's was awful because they'd sat on the shelves for ages.

Seeds are cheap, though; I'd probably just take a punt if I'm honest.

Potatoes and tomatoes you can do in pots. Wild flowers are good, we just scatter them in one area and see what happens. Runner beans are good.

Last year we bought a cheap greenhouse from aldi and collected egg boxes to grow seeds in.

Btw, with strawberries you need to watch what you buy - from seed they take years, and plants in the garden centre are sometimes too young to fruit the year you buy them.

Gardeners question time on radio 4 had this question yesterday. One of the panellists explained how to grow a pineapple tree at home. There was a bit of a discussion as to how easy this was but he insisted it was simple. On Sounds app if interested.

I'd definitely do tomatoes. Even I managed to successfully grow them last year and I'm a hopeless gardener!

I am planning beans this year as well.

What about a herb garden kit? You can buy them in assorted sizes in garden centres or online.

Supermarket seeds are fine or for strawberries and tomatoes you can order plug plants for delivery after Easter or at a garden centre. Geraniums are good in pots/baskets too.

Where in the country do you live? If you live in northern England / Scotland hold off planting most things outside until late April or it will be too cold. Many a year I've been overeager and ended up with nothing. Things like runner beans, courgettes, peas etc are good to plant seeds in pots in late April and plant outside late May/early June.

If you are in southern climes ignore me!

I’m around the West Yorkshire area

Come and join us on the gardening board, @Snowstorming

I would stick to the simplest seeds this year to avoid disappointment - things that can be sown directly into the ground and that have a high success rate. Nasturtiums (pretty and edible), peas, tomatoes, peppers, chillies, salad leaves, spinach, beans. Maybe potatoes, if you have the space. I would buy direct from a seed company. You will get a lot of peas in a packet so sow some for peas but also sow some in a pot for pea shoots to eat as salad. You can get "everlasting" salad/spinach that you crop by cutting leaves rather than digging them up. You could easily grow tomatoes, peppers, chillies etc from seeds from food but it is pot luck what type you will get. It could be fun for the DC though.

Another thing to consider is sowing more than one type of each vegetable that crop at different times. I would also choose blight resistant tomatoes. You can also look up companion plants to plant together eg the nasturtiums will protect your veg from blackfly if you sacrifice them by letting them eat them instead.

I would then consider buying some young plants. This place is great, they offer selection boxes of vegetables and herbs, it's also a social enterprise:

propagationplace.co.uk/?gclid=CjwKCAiAg8OBBhA8EiwAlKw3kppNQz7cwsVGUyu_mipNNnjMiqn5W-gCB35JMJ9BoTa2YisIsT05CBoCwPgQAvD_BwE

The easiest and cheapest way to grow herbs is to buy supermarket herbs and split them (just google). Some are quite tricky to grow from seed. Always grow mint and anything from the same family in a pot. It's a thug and will take over your garden if you don't. If you want something more unusual, I recommend Norfolk Herbs for good quality, good value herbs.

Seeds aren’t all the same - fet them from an online specialikensurrons or marshalls (or a garden centre).

Our biggest problem was snails eating everything before we got a chance- sad child staring at ruined strawberries. So protect with netting or surround with snail pellets!

Strawberries, potatos, spinach were easy to grow. For me I had no luck with onions carrots garlic leeks lettuces etc.

With my DD’s I use plastic strawberry punnets (the deep ones with lids) as little mini glasshouses to start our seeds in.
I also find you get a better strike rate from seeds if you put them in the fridge for a few days/week before you plant them.

Start with seedlings for things like broccolini and flowers.
Beetroot and carrots take a long time to grow. Beans are easy to plant and grow quickly from seed, Fancy frilly lettuces that you pull leaves off one at a time are long lasting.

If your growing root veggies directly in the ground it’s worth getting heavy metal contamination soil testing before you plant anything that you eat.

My local uni does it for free.

With kids grow what they will eat.
Suggest:
Peas - you can get purple ones too to add interest,
Runner/ French Beans maybe but will they eat them?
Mange tout/sugar snaps - pea pods!
Lettuce cut and come again is a good starting point
Radishes - but get the tubular ones rather than the round ones they are less peppery and nicer one kids pallette.
Carrots - but grow these in big deep pots of 2/3rds sand 1/3rd soil. Compost is too rich for them. Pots keep them off the floor to help with carrot fly
Tomatoes - different colours - stick to small varieties - beef tomatoes will never ripen outside in Yorkshire!
Ccumbers, cucamelons
Bell peppers - but start them early else they will not ripen - try some mini varieties
Potatoes - use 'first earlies' if you can they don't take as long to produce.
Kale is a good one to try too - but will need netting to prevent butterflies destroying it. Crisp it in the oven with oil and salt/chilli flakes. My kids love it!!
We have raspberries, gooseberries and blackberries in the garden too they take a bit more time but keep my 2 in fruit for months!ż

Morrison's and Sainsbury's sell these oval metal tubs... often called ice buckets.
You can grow carrots in them very easily. Try to put a couple of holes in the base.
Runner beans are spectacular and are easy to grow. Garden centres sell bundles of tall canes for a couple of pounds and a packet of ( reliable Scarlett Emperor) beans will also cost about two quid.
Sunflowers are brilliant but beware of slugs.
A window box or a ten inch pot, sprinkled with salad leaves gives quick results. Choose a variety called 'cut and come again' as you can just pick what you need and the plants keep growing.

Be warned growing stuff is addictive 😊
All good suggestions, I think you can get bush cherry tom type but can't of its name. It can be grown in a pot.
Beans are easy and good.
We grew a pumpkin but it did take up space.
Cut and come again lettuce is great and you can have fresh when you want.
Wilko's own brand seed are really good and half the price of branded
Sunflowers are great -although a big squirrel draw- especially when they get bigger than the little ones. We plantbone for each member of the family and have a competition.
I will be honest it didn't make my little one actually eat veg anymore than normal - she's a really pickie eater - but hopefully you'll have more luck.
Have fun!

I would start with something really simple that you can grow indoors, like alfalfa sprouts

You can do pea shoots indoors as well, they're lovely.

Check out Lidl's aisle of mystery deals in the next few weeks as they usually have tools, seeds and young fruit bushes (blackberry and gooseberry will probably give fruit same year, so will raspberry if you pick an autumn fruiting one)

Place marking as I’ll return later to reply properly!

Nasturtiums big seeds, grow easily & you can eat the flowers

Sunflowers, plant loads, because the small plants get eaten

Firstly, congratulations on getting a garden- it can become a dangerous addiction and lifelong passion if you’re not careful

I’d advise keeping it simple and starting small in your first year, else it can get overwhelming and off putting quite quickly.

For spring next year plant bulbs this October and November: daffodils, iris, crocus and tulips- easy and you just leave them underground.

For easy colour and things the children will love this year plant sunflowers and cornflowers - both doable straight in the ground from seed. Though you sow these later in the year when the soil has warmed up.

Gladiolus corms are also great (plant deep) for a beautiful spike of colourful flowers.

In the spring I’d buy geraniums from a garden centre and plant in pots or a border for instant colour. Whether you do other “bedding” plants like begonias or pansies is up to you.

I’d get a cheap copy of an RHS introduction to gardening book online- they’re simple and tell you what to plant when. Your local library will also have loads of gardening books.

In pots you can sow parsley, radishes, lettuces- just space lettuce seeds out of you don’t want to have to repot them later in bigger pots.

Do cress on the window ledge in the kitchen.

Tomatoes need sowing in soil compost in small pots and putting on a warm window ledge. Then when they’re a few inches high you need to move them in to bigger pots, then you put them outside only when the last frost has gone. To stop them being shocked put them in their pots on the back step every day for a week, bringing them back in at night. As it’s your first year I’d advise buying tomato plants from garden centres in spring.

Sweet peas (flowers, not edible) look lovely in pots- sew now for starting indoors or outside in large pots in spring- you’ll need bamboo stakes for them to climb up.

Cosmos are another lovely flower to direct sew in the border in a few months.

Dwarf (edible) pea varieties are great in flower pots too- stake as above. Your children will love picking and eating them straight from the pods.

Buy strawberry plants in spring to plant in pots. They send out “runners” in autumn which you can use to make new plants from.

Be wary of snails and slugs. Pellets are banned now and a danger to pets and children, so just go out of an evening and dispose of as you see fit- otherwise you’ll get upset if they eat everything.

Lastly- good luck and enjoy it! Don’t despair if you have setbacks- that’s normal with gardening. It’s all trial and error, and you’ll get there.

Be wary also of cats sitting on flower pots

Good luck OP!

Yes to runner beans as well! Just make sure you’ve got poles or something they can climb up.

there was a question on R4s gardeners question time last week about getting young children in growing - must be on iPlayer. I wasn't that interested, so can't remember the responses, but might be worth seeking out.

Chard and tomatoes are good and you see speedy results.