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• saf

  I planted a whole bunch of stuff this year. My 2 yr old helped, and enjoyed making little holes for me to put seeds in. our garden already has a plum tree, cherry tree, strawberrys, raspberrys, spinich, mint, corriander, parsely, spring onions. So this year I planted lettuce, more strawberrys(my 2 babies love them), more spinich, tomatoes, coliflower, chillies. All I did was reuse the plastic containers we had, by filling them with compost and planting the seeds. Then just watered them, covered with clingfilm(to keep moisture in for seeds to sprout) and just checked them every few days to see how they were going. I kept separating them and spreading them out. But that's because I didn't leave much space between the seeds(point for next time). Once they were around 10-15cm tall, I dug up a vegetable patch, added loads of compost, and some plant feed and then just planted the yound plants. Hubby and i made sure they were watered and didn't dry out too much. And we weeded them occasionally. Other than that nothing else. Our tomatoes now growing, still green, but boy we have loads. The lettuce is finally looking like a proper lettuce plant, the chillies are getting there. The only thing I'm wondering is what my coliflower plant should look like. Because at the moment it looks nothing like I thought it would. Anyway..this is getting long, sorry. But all I wanted to say is its quite simple, just let nature take its course. :-)

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• Lynley O.

  I love the sound of your edible garden! You make it sound so easy. Does the 2 year old enjoy growing their own food? My 5 year old plants a seed then is desperately disappointed it hasn't turned into a whole plant by the next day. He keeps insisting that he just needs to water it! I have yet to get him to understand that plants don't grow up over night no matter how much you water them :)

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• saf

  Yeh, its lovely. My son really wants to plums to ripen so he can eat them, and hell check the strawberrys about 3 times a day to see if any are "ready". It is very easy. Most of the hard work is the being patient part. Like I said, plant, water, and let be. Haha! Yeh, they are quite impatient. I kept taking him outside each morning, to check what's happened. Nothing did for about 5 days then just as he started to get bored we saw a seedling. So we carried on looking at the pots and then when they were big enough I let him help me pull weeds out and dig holes for the plants with his own spade. (Altho he made more mess than holes!) I'm hoping hell enjoy gardening when he's older, it seems most kids are too busy on play stations and nintendo's and xbox's.

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• saf

  U should let him plant cress. It grows so quickly and he can eat it too.

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• LynleyOram

  ha ha yes the cress. amazing how fascinating it seems to them, that it has to be watched and looked at about 20 times a day! He doesn't make mess so much digging in the garden at the moment, so much as he spends all his time examining the creepy crawlies. He loves picking them up and seems to think he is being particularly helpful bringing them over to let mummy hold too ...

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• saf

  Hah! My little one is slightly afraid of insects (think its because my sisters an I are all afraid of them), altho today he did come in from the garden, saying "mama, adybird, Ithy touch" (mamma, ladybird, Isa touch) so we went out to have a look at it. Hopefully he won't be too worried about them when he's a little older and exploring more.

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• Lynley O.

  that's really sweet! If my five year old is any guide, he will definitely have got over any aversion to insects, or mini beasts (as they seem to call them at aschool). Which is good because I didn't want to pass on my phobias, but bad because they do desperately want to share every new experience with you! I think he has picked up a little bit as I really really really hate flies, and he runs out the room when he sees a fly!

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