What to grow?

[mrsvern]

My 2 and half year old got given a "my first greenhouse" for christmas as he loves gardening. But now he is desperate to plant some seeds. It's too windy to put it outside so I am stuck for ideas of what he can grow in a greenhouse (in reality a plastic box!)in the house.

We have a patio door that lets a lot of cold in so would putting it by that work so it doesnt over heat?and still get enough light. Gardening outside I can do but inside I am stuck

Can anyone help?

Cress?

Thanks I did think of that but can you grow it in soil as opposed to cotton wool etc? He wants to use the mini spade etc that came with it like mummys outside awkward child

You can grow it in soil

Perfect. Thankyou!

broad beans are fun to grow either in jam jars or soil as they have long roots and stems that develop quickly.
soak beans overnight in cold water. Then either plant in pots or around the edge of a jar full of damp cotton wool and place on windowsil.
In a few weeks, they will have sprouted quite well - if in the jars you can see the roots.
Grow on til Aprilish then they can be planted out. They will need supporting with canes.

thankyou.
He is a happy boy tonight because we did some cress planting. Once that is finished I think we'll give the beans a go.

I love the way he is so keen but I need to brush up my knowledge to keep up!

what about parsley or coriander?

great. Please keep the ideas coming I hadn't even thought of herbs.

This could keep us going all winter until we can get back out in the garden

Stuff that grows like a weed is great for kids who need instant results - rocket is good, coriander is a great idea but parsley can be a b*** to germinate. Later on (April-ish) a Courgette plant might be a good idea - you can practically see them growing and when it outgrows the greenhouse it can go in the garden and grow courgettes which also grow like topsy. If you leave a courgette on the plant it becomes a marrow in about 20 minutes (well, a few days). if you carve your name on the courgette your name grows with the marrow. All very gratifying for tinies.

and of course sunflowers. But not yet.

We did sunflowers last year and he loved them - they germinated so fast.

I have the seeds ready to do again. So far the cress watching is keeping him very busy