Easiest food to grow with kids

[Anonymous]

City girl trying to take a stab at growing veggies in the backyard. I'd prefer to do something easy in a container. Any suggestions on foods that will grow quickly and/or survive my lack of a green thumb? I also want to teach my children something I never learned.

[Anonymous]

It's a little early to plant most veggies right now but some of the early season seeds like peas and lettuce can be planted now and will grow quickly and will be ready for harvest before the hot weather arrives - which is when it can be hard to keep veggies watered well in a container.

[Anonymous]

radishes are the quickest from when you plant the seeds to when you can eat them, but I wouldn't think they are most kids' favorites to eat. Try a few different vegetables. Make sure your containers are in a sunny spot and water whenever the soil is dry, which will probably be at least once a day in the summer unless its raining. Buy granulated fertilizer to mix into the potting soil. Look up when you're supposed to plant seeds and plants for different types of veggies. The University of Maryland Extension Service has a helpful website for home gardeners.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the suggestions! Lettuce would be fantastic! I will research other options.

[Anonymous]

Pumpkins!

[Anonymous]

Cherry tomatoes are easy and hardy although they won't be ready to harvest for a long time.

Green beans are pretty easy although you'll have to plant quite a few to get a meal-size crop.

[Anonymous]

Corn is a lot of fun. It grows really quickly.

[Anonymous]

I was going to say cherry tomatoes as well. Super fun, although they take a while to grow/ripen. But there is a lot to see, from the seedling to the taller plant, the flowers slowly turning into small buds, getting bigger, turning yellow, then red. There is usually a profusion of tomatoes, my kids just walk by and pop them like candy. Plus, they are easily grown in containers - we have a good sized yard, but still have these in containers on the patio. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Corn and cherry tomatoes? Yum, this might not be so bad afterall. Thanks everyone!

[Anonymous]

I planted some blueberry bushes, birds get most, but dd loved picking and eating them.

[Anonymous]

I would choose a few different things. One of your attempts will probably die.

BTW I think carrots are pretty reliable and also are planted in the early spring.

I love tomatoes, but they take a long time and they need a lot of water. My tomato plants don't do well when we are gone for vacation.

[Anonymous]

Beans grow nice & fast, though I don't know if they'd work in a container. If you do beans (or anything else, really), you might want to do the experiments in the book How a Seed Grows ( http://www.amazon.com/Seed-Grows-Lets-Read---Find-Out-Science/dp/0064451070/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1302146761&sr=1-1 ). My husband is actually planning to start this with our 4 y.o. this weekend.