Easy Crops for Children

Gardening for children can be an exciting and amazing experience, teaching kids how the food grows is gratifying, also it is rewarding to watch their interest and skills grow as their gardening efforts yielded good results. But not all the crops are easy to grow, specially for kids, so, what crops are the best options for them? these can be good ideas:

1. Pumpkin:

 

Getting ready for Halloween? Pumpkins are worthy if you have the space to grow them. You can start seeds indoors or directly in the soil if temperature is warm (> 65°F). Seeds will sprout in about 1 week. Once there are three pumpkins on the vine, pick off any new blossoms. Time to harvest: 80 – 120 days. It’s ready when it feels hard on the outside and sounds hollow when tapped. And not only works for a Halloween spooky pumpkin, the seeds can be dried to eat, or save for future planting.

2. Sunflower:

This one is a must for gardener kids, plant just few of these ones, they take a lot of Space. Sunflowers will germinate in 1 week, becoming a small seedling in two weeks, and it is about 2ft tall in a month. In about 8 to 9 weeks, the buds will flower and kids can see how sunflowers produce hundreds of seeds. You can create a beautiful design in your garden, like a "sunflower fort". They will dry naturally in the late summer sun; the seeds, rich in protein and iron, can be roasted for snacks. Save a few for next summers’ planting.

3. Potatoes:

Easy and reliable crop, potatoes never disappoint! you can plant red or white potato varieties successfully (reds are faster). You can plant a potato or cut it and planting chunks that has at least 2 "eyes" per chunk. Plant about 12-15″ apart, with eyes pointing upward. Mound soil up around plant as it grows and harvest when plant collapses.

4. Lettuce:

These vegetables are quick and reliable to give the child fast results, and also a good way to interest kids in eating veggies. Lettuce likes part shade, keep soil moist, seeds will germinate in 7-10 days. Time to harvest is 40-50 days. You can grow lettuce head or leafs varieties. The leaf varieties will mature sooner (30-35 days).

5. Carrots:

This crop can be started earlier than others, you can plant seeds directly into soil in cooler temperatures (50 - 70 degrees). They are slow germinating, so be patient. Time to harvest: around 60 days.The soil should be free of rocks and easy for the carrot to grow down. Keep moist the soil and thin to every 3″ , if leaves grow too much you can have beautiful leaves but no root, it means, no good carrots. Use small varieties for children.

6. Snow peas:

Easy and quick crop, fun for kids to eat right off the vine. Germination is fast (about 10 days) and mature in about 60 days. Peas prefer cooler environments and partially shaded locations. They can be sown closely, about 1″ apart. Snow peas are popular because they are easy to grow, fast-growing and delicious!

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Last updated November 30, 2023