Growing herbs, fruits, veggies and flowers with kids is a great way to introduce them to a world of new textures, tastes and scents while encouraging conversations around growth, foods and gardening.
Easy, accessible and fun to grow in whatever space you have to work with, start off by sowing seeds into cardboard egg boxes or biodegradable pots and place them on a warm windowsill while they germinate. Once you plant them outside, assign watering and spritzing duties and give your kids their own responsibility over the summer months as the plants flourish.
Here are our top 10 easy to grow planting activities with kids this summer.
Fragrant, edible and really easy to grow; garden herbs are a great choice to get kids interested in gardening. Choose sage, rosemary, mint, basil, parsley or dill and learn about the different flavours and scents as they grow.
Tomatoes
Easy to grow, tomatoes are great fun to watch ripening. Choose from a wealth of seeds for sweet red plums, striped, orange and even green varieties. Secure with canes or a cage or grow in a tomato planter and show your kids how to pinch side shoots so they are in charge of unruly growth.
Lettuce
Sprinkle seeds and watch your lettuce seeds sprout in little over a week, for low maintenance greens that can be harvested daily throughout the summer. Choose mixed seeds or varieties that all the family will eat, such as lamb’s lettuce, spinach and romaine.
Potatoes
A kitchen staple that’s easy and satisfying to grow, with endless varieties and flavours. Grow your favourite spuds in growing bags with ready-made harvest windows or watch your kids dig for buried treasure when harvest is ready.
Radishes
Fast to germinate, radishes are crunchy veggies ready to sample in as little as 20 days. Choose interesting varieties for new colours and flavours to introduce to little plates.
Strawberries
Juicy and delicious, they’re difficult not to eat as you garden! Best grown in containers, pots or beds, just watch out for munching bugs and pests.
Sunflowers
A favourite of bees, sunflowers are large and beautiful annuals that your kids will love watching grow through their full life cycle. Sprinkle wild seeds around the bed to create a wildlife flower haven in your garden.
Peas
Fun to watch growing as the tendrils wrap themselves to the closest supports. Choose a well-drained sunny spot and enjoy the sweet, crunchy and delicious pods straight from the plant.
Carrots
They may have a longer growth cycle, but they are great fun to harvest and have a multitude of tasty uses in the kitchen. Grow classic, baby, purple and yellow carrots in vegetable beds, bags or pots. Pumpkins
Pumpkins
Save seeds from your favourite pumpkin variety, and enjoy a long, invested and exciting growth cycle of up to 120 days. Choose a generous sized bed and plant mid-summer, ready for spooky Halloween carving.
