[Solved] Grow your own veg with your kids

I have recently moved to a property with a very over-grown veggie patch.....as soon as i saw it i thought it may be a great thing to get my little one involved in (when/if i get to see him).
i thought it'd be really lovely for him to help plant sone veggies and see them grow, harvest a few and see what they taste like for lunch and dinners.
plus i'm almost certain the ex wouldn't let him do anything like that....and it'll be something that just me and him do together from time to time.

go for it he will love it my youngest used to come to the nursery with us before she started pre-school and spent all day picking and eating mainly Peas, strawberries and Tomatoes

this is a great bonding thing to do with your kids
i have for many years tried to grow vegtables with my children and not only is it fun but it helps them understand why foods such as these are important
also it brings smiles to both parent and child knowing that as a proud parent watching and helping your kids grow veg's it also makes children proud to have accomplished goals such as nurchering and tending and looking after there veg that when they pick them they feel proud of there achivement

plus the fresh air does them good

last year our veggie patch was a wash out but my son did not care as he just wanted to dig dig dig lol

My kids love helping with the gardening too - especially my daughter who is just turning 3. She has her own little patch next to her mum's. I agree it's a really great way to get children involved in the running of the home and also start understanding where food comes from and how to be more self-sufficient. Our patch is looking at lot healthier this year than last at the moment. Maybe it's all the rain!

We grow veg and he loves it .... good idea and good links 😉

We've grown spuds and strawberry's this year, our tomato's didn't grow at all though.

We will try again next year.

GTTS

I just want to say what a disappointing harvest I’ve just had…….having said that with the hottest summer in years and the distinct lack water the plants have had its been lucky I got anything out of the ground at all.

I have to say here first that I’ve never tried to grow veg before this year, and this years attempt was a late decision and for my little boy to see how things grow….seeing as I’ve hardly seen him from end of May to the end of August its been wasted.

So in 4 ft rows here is what I planted:

1 row of sunflowers

2 rows of Beetroot
2 rows of Onions
2 rows of Radish
2 rows of Iceberg Lettuce
2 rows of Carrots
1 row of Potatoes
1 row of Spring onions
1 row of Aubergine
1 row of Tomatoes
1 row of Leafy salad mix
6 areas of different herbs - chives, thyme, Parsley etc…

Sounds a lot but in 4ft rows it doesn’t cover that big an area, the whole veggie beds are about 8ft x 10ft

So out of that what did I manage to grow…………..Well the sunflowers did quite well, the Beetroot did fairly well, I’ve had around a dozen small potatoes and I managed to get 3 carrots grow.
Yep that’s it!
I’m bitterly disappointed and quite gutted to be honest but I have to say I will be having another good go at it next year and plant less variety but more of them to see if I get a better result. Also I need to evict the ants I’ve found this year as I’m sure they made a big contribution as well as the heat to killing off any plants.

The Chilli plants in the window in the house have gone mental though 🙂

Lessons leant……..ermm non really apart from I don’t seem to have green fingers….may have to enlist the help of the little ones granddad in next years attempt lol

I grew chilli plants last year (Tabasco and Jalapeno) but I did spend a lot of effort combating tiny black fly that seem to go with them.

I’ve got that same problem with the tiny black flies…..they’ve been proper p*ssing me off last few weeks. Was looking for some options to get rid of them but struggling to find anything that doesn’t involve fly spray daily 

did you find a way?

Yeah, there is black fly spray - I think it's mostly a starch based spray that suffocates the flies - not any nasty chemicals. I did have to spray daily at first as they live in the soil, but once I'd got rid of the infestation, I just sprayed for a couple of days at a time if I noticed even a single fly. If you have a number of plants, they'll fly between them so if you spot a fly on one plant, assume they all might have the flies.

The thing that p*ssed me off is that the sprays cost me about £5, plus pots, compost (the growing kit was a gift), and when I'd grown them, I went into Tesco and they had fully grown plants complete with ripened peppers for less than £4 per plant, though don't think they were tabasco.

this sounds like a perfect idea. i don't know nothing about growing my own fruit and veg so through the winter i think im going to read up and study because i know my little ones would love doing that and watching them grow. 😀