Planting for kids what are you doing?

[Jared77]

I put in 2lbs of blue/purple potatoes, some handful of purple sweet peppers, a handful of zebra striped tomatoes, jack-o-lanterns, a few giant pumpkins, and some warty/bumpy pumpkins too. Anything else fun that you've got in your garden for your kids? Im always looking for new ideas. I've found that something different fun or odd colored things like that can catch their eye or give you a chance to talk about things, really anything out of the ordinary can really help reel them in.

I plan on leaving an opening in the pole beans to hide inside the beans there while we work on the garden this year too.

We also have a few containers that they get to pick flower seeds from the nursery to grow in their pot. They get to decorate the pot in the early spring then we start their seeds. I give them a number of choices within the easy species/varieties but its their flowers they picked out and they get to enjoy. If they have a choice Ive found it helps hold their interest. Ill also attach the packet to a popsicle stick and put that in the pot as a reminder for them and they love showing company whats growing in the pot. We regularly have to show all our guests how their plants are doing.

Ive already got 2 EE hens one who lays a blue egg and one who lays a green egg again specifically for the kids to find fun colored eggs in the box, and I swore up and down Id never have one I might......JUST MIGHT (not saying I'm going to but its something I just thought of literally as I was typing up this post) have to get a silkie hen to have a broody on the property too. Nothing against folks who like them, I just don't get the attraction to them but if they she ends up being 1/2 broody as I keep reading about them I may have to get one with the intent of letting her sit on a clutch and raise some chicks so they can all see how Mother Nature does it. Would be fun to have a mother running around with a little chain of chicks behind her even if she's a silkie

Just trying to help nuture their love of growing things and the world around them.

So with that said are do you plant or have anything specifically for the kids in your life?

 

[SweetMissDaisy]

I don't have kids, but "mister" has a 7-year old personality that shines through now and then ...

He wanted me to plant patty pan squash -- thinks they look like UFOs! They're mild, easy to incorporate into recipes, and take on other flavors nicely.

Admittedly, my favorite use for them is my Patty Pan Squash Whole Wheat and Pecan Bread .

 

[SweetMissDaisy]

Oooooh, and when I was a kid, I remember being completely enamored with yellow pear tomatoes.

 

[mandieg4]

I'm planting the flower bed in front of my house with herbs and other fun plants for my kids. Beside my garden I'm planting a giant sunflower patch with the middle left open and pole beans in front that will grow up the sunflowers. Each one of my kids have a raised bed of their own that they can plant whatever they want to also.

 

[sparkles2307]

My 7yo asked for his own garden this year so I let him choose 5 things to plant.
He wants:
Corn
Carrots
Potatoes
Tomatoes
Onions

He had a longer list, but there were a few more work-intensive items on his list that I ixnayed because I want this to be all his work.

Sounds easy enough to me! He gets to stake a corner out in one of my gardens.

I'm so excited to pass my love of gardening on. My younger one talks to my 2" tall tomatoes and tells me they are getting ready to have tomatoes.

 

[AmyRey]

We're doing yellow, green and black tomatoes, yellow raspberries, purple potatoes, Jack-o-Lantern pumpkins and Indian corn.

 

[Holachicka]

OHH!! I like this thread, hope we can keep it going!

For my kids, they each get their own plant to take care of, for my son (4) he has his own watermelon, and for my daughter (2) she has her own tomato plant because she is tomato crazy, I have to hide them from her in the house...

Last year we did "pickle" plants that I pickled for them. Another good one is "french fry's" in the potato plot, I notice that when I give a name of something they love they are a lot more interested!

I've done the bean tee-pee's, you can put a couple of kiddie chairs in there for them too so they have their own spot.

I'm also growing green and yellow wax beans, wish I would have included purple...

 

[Smiles Jr.]

This is great. I'm so glad that some are nurturing their young'uns to love gardening. One of my favorite times is when the grands are here working with me in the gardens. we always have jack-o-lanterns, sunflowers, potatoes, and pickles in the kids garden. I find that they also love to participate in prepping seeds every autumn. We label the seed envelopes with their names so that they get to plant "their" seeds each spring.

 

[Mattemma]

My dd likes cherry tomato and raspberries. Ds won't eat anything,but he likes to smell stuff so I plant things with scents like chocolate mint and lemon balm. He does like to pick the vegetables for me though especially the zucchini.

I like to plant tall stuff(like 15 foot corn) to create hideaways.

 

[Jared77]

Just started looking for plans on bat houses which I know they will love putting together and will benefit the local population too. That was a suggestion by my uncle.