Gardening & Growing with the kids....

[MrsMotherHen]

Following on from a thread heres a thread for updates on our plants fruit and veggies or garden projects with the kids...be good place to get ideas for starting out. Just to add am a crap gardener so hopefully I can pick some good tips and ideas along the way 🌱

We have just moved our tomato plants from the window sill to the shelf under the boiler they have now started to sprout which suprised me.

Oh, good thread idea! We put pea seeds into hanging baskets this year and they are sprouting in the last week. I read somewhere that they will hang down well as I'm too lazy to bother with canes and nets . I've heard the same about tomatoes but I was too late with them this year. I love garden tomatoes so jealous of yours. I also have some potatoes coming through (in big pots) and some carrots seem to be peeping up. I bought raspberry plants and some strawberry runners... Fingers crossed we end up with something edible!

🤗 I'm not very good either.
One thing I do definetly need to know is how to keep the flys away and insects away with no pesticides

I've just last week planted tomatoes an into late

ooo peas in a hanging basket i might go for that one too @GrainneWail

Apparently planting garlic in with, eggs tomatoes, is a good way to keep aphids away as they don't like the smell. I am using pots as a way to try to minimise mini beast invasions but I'd love non chemical ideas too. I've also thrown a few wild flower seeds around to hopefully bring some bees and butterflies to pollinate what I have.

Eg tomatoes, not eggs. Even I know eggs don't respond well to planting

I did read eggs and wonder 😂🤗 I have heard if you crush egg shells up and put them on the compost slugs don't like to move over them as they are sharp

We have 2 raised beds & this is our second year of planting.

Last year we had great success with sugar snaps - which are great fun to pick & eat straight away - carrots and beets.
Tomatoes and spuds not so much.

This year I'm also trying onions and asparagus... I should have read up on it beforehand, I didn't realise asparagus is a long term commitment

My boys are 2 and 4 and love seeing things starting to sprout, but mainly love the valid excuse to dig in mud.

I’m very excited by this thornless raspberry in a pot on our patio...
www.crocus.co.uk/plants/_/raspberry-ruby-beauty-nr7-pbr/classid.2000024735/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIi5PKpu7T2gIV6pPtCh0gCgZPEAAYASAAEgIlNPD_BwE

It might need a year or two to establish but if it doesn’t produce anything I’ll be gutted. Of course if it does give us raspberries my greedy children will eat them all off the bush before I get a look in, so it’s lose lose really...

top tip with tomatoes is to grow bush varieties, then you can forget about the side shoots [armpits], and just leave them be.

We ve just planted a herb garden. My dh has an old pallet lying around so got the kids involved in cleaning and painting it, setting it up and we ve just planted loads of herbs (oregano, basil, parsley, coriander, thyme)
Ds1 was also inspired to grow some chillis so he’s got a pot for that.
The herb ‘garden’ looks a bit like this (but without all the fancy labels)

Hello! The DC and I have started growing things for the first time. We planted seeds on the windowsill 1st march and planted them out this weekend just gone after a week in a cloche outside.
DH built me some raised beds and the boys have also made a tiny wildlife pond.
I have put bamboo forks in the beds to try and deter cats as they are a huge problem here. Will go and take photos.
I must admit i have been ridiculously excited by any successes.
Oh and for what its worth I have 4 dc 8,6,1, 6m and PND. As daft as it sounds watching the seeds grow has really helped me. Most of my gardening supplies including seeds have come from Aldi.

Sweet peas on the trellis, peas on the swirly thing, broad beans on a cane.
There's a row of carrots and row of cauliflower already growing and I've planted seeds for a row of carrots, some broccoli, runner beans I think.
The boys wildlife pond was a sand pit but any time it was left uncovered the cats used it as a toilet. They are hoping to attract frogs but I think we missed out on frogspawn this year.

May I recommend a couple of plants to grow with kids.

Lemon verbena. The smell of this is simply phenomenal.

Egyptian walking onions. The plant grows bulbils at the top and when they fall over they take root and walk across the garden. See how far they grow as your child grows alongside them.

Thanks TERFragette, I love the sound of the onions!

Oddsocks I get a lot of pleasure seeing our seeds sprout & grow - I think it satisfies a need to nurture something now my tiny babies are bigger

This is my little plot - I need some decorations!

Oooh @TERFragetteCity I just had a Google and that lemon verbena sounds lovely.

I'm so looking forward to sweet pea flowers, my mum always had them in our garden when I was young.

@LastOneDancing that's a lovely plot.

Has anyone grown cucumbers outdoors in the uk? I honestly have no idea what I'm doing but am enjoying it.

wow loving this thread already! we've had quite a haul at local garden centre and poundland. We have
a rhubarb plant
sweet peas
runner beans
a chilli plant
mint
coriander
chives
a lady bird house
a bird house
bird cookie
6 long bamboo sticks

We are making two wigwams one for runner beans and one for sweet peas.
Can't wait to start our herbs off we have s good rosemary already there. I know mint can grow out of control so it's going in a pot dug into the bed I think and put the chillis in there too and maybe the Wigwam of runner beans. Here's a picture of our haul.

@LastOneDancing thats a lovely set up cant wait to see the results

@TERFragetteCity them onions sound so much fun!

@Oddsocksforeveryone I love sweet peas too weve just got some today the mini pond looks good too!!

@LiveLifeWithPassion thats a good idea wirh the pallets good for anyone lacking outdoor space too.

We have tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, sunflowers and cress growing at the moment. Oh and a fairy garden in which ds is adamant he's growing a witch.

Plus mint and sage which I've had for years and seem well nigh indestructible.

I've got some extra pea seedlings so I'm going to try the tip for hanging baskets. That sounds like an excellent idea!

On the issue of cats we've tried a number of things over the years without any real luck, but DH invested in a battery operated thing last month which flashes and emits a high-pitched noise when its sensor is set off. I was sceptical but its been brilliant! Not one poo since we got it, which is a miracle as it is the front garden (cat thoroughfare) and a big brown patch of freshly raked soil (sown with chamomile seeds 1.5wks ago). £10 from Lidl.

This is the first year in a few that we've been able to grow much due to babies and building work but I'm really looking forward to growing again. A few bits survived the 4 year neglect but we'll mostly be starting again. Our DCs are 4 and 2 in June so I expect a lot of effort will go into stopping DC2 from picking things she shouldn't. DC1 is very excited about it all. She has her own little planter with pansies and is giving us regular updates on the tadpoles.
We have gone with a mix of ease/what we'll use/what the DCs like, and are growing:

Sage
Rosemary
Thyme
Chives
Bay
Raspberries
Gooseberries
Blackcurrants
Strawbs (wild and normal)
Rhubarb
Chillies
Potatoes
Tomatoes
Courgettes
Cucumbers
Chard
Radishes
Sweetcorn
Peas
French beans
Carrots
Beetroot

I'm interested in inventive ways to squeeze more in as we can't give any more garden over to food production at the moment.

@Dinosauratemydaffodils ooo i forgot about cress! i love the stuff!

@Anxiouschild Thats alot of stuff would love to see some pics whens its all ready

flower beds all ready and supports up for runner beans and sweet peas!

my DS3 has chicken pox at the moment so it's a good way of keeping us busy.

@MrsMotherHen I'd forgotten it too and then we went to a garden centre which does the children's meal deals in a seed box with a packet of seeds too which I think is a lovely idea. Ds picked cress.

Got some gourds which we're going to plant this afternoon and some pumpkins too.

I'm having a baby in a few weeks and planting things is a great way to distract ds without having to crawl around on the floor.

The first 2 years we were in the house we had a great haul from the garden, I love it. This year I’m working full time and have 19 month old DS who still doesn’t sleep. I feel like I’m permanently chasing my tail and I don’t have any seeds in soil yet. I bought them a month ago and they are still in their packets I’m hoping I haven’t totally missed the boat as I’m in northern Scotland so we tend to be behind here anyway - last year I planted things end March, put them out mid April and they got snowed on and killed the following week. I’ll try to get the tomato etc seeds planted this weekend in between all the other jobs. The greenhouse gets put up the following week.

Guys please don't plant sweet peas alongside veg in a garden intended for children to help in. Sweet peas are toxic and are grown for the flowers. THEY ARE NOT VEG! Children won't necessarily know the difference. Please plant them in a completely different area of the garden.

There are some fabulous ideas on this thread! I'm starting out too. Grabbing some bits over the weekend to make a start! I'm quite excited! We have a lovely area down the side of our house which is going to be perfect as it gets a good amount of sun but is quite sheltered from the wind plus we have the fence running down it so plan to put some lights up along it and decorate it

Not had chance to read full thread which may answer question but I'm going near a garden centre and wondering whether I'm too late to buy seeds for peas and courgettes? Do I need to buy plants instead? I'm in the north so warmer weather is later (non existent) than it is in the south