Planting a garden with your kiddos can be such a fun experience! There are some vegetables/fruits that are easier and more fun to plant than others with your kids.
Sugar Snap Peas: This variety of peas is a favorite among all gardeners, young and old. They are crunchy, sweet, and best of all- easy to grow! To start, you can purchase a seed packet from most nurseries, or anywhere that sells seeds. I suggest soaking the peas in water the night before you plan to plant them. This is a great exercise for your little to help you with and get them excited! When you plant, create a small, long trench and allow your kiddo to drop the seeds in the trench. (You can go behind them and properly space as needed.) Then the fun part of watching your kiddo’s eyes twinkle as their peas shoot out of the ground and start to climb their support. They take ~60 days to reach maturity and make the perfect snack for your little to grab and go!
Cherry Tomatoes: Cherry tomatoes make the perfect snack for you and your kiddo! I suggest buying cherry tomato plants as seedlings, versus planting them as seed. The local nursery should have plenty of seedlings to choose from. I always find it fun to bring your kiddo to the nursery with you, let them explore, and pick out the cherry tomato plant. Once you plant, ensure it receives plenty of water as it grows. Watering is another fun exercise for your little. I usually pick a couple of veggies that my toddler is in charge of and they are responsible for watering it daily. Once the cherry tomatoes start to fruit, practice colors by identifying which ones are green, yellow, orange or red!
Green Beans: Greens beans are another fun veggie to grow with kiddos. These can also be planted by seed. You can choose bush beans or pole beans. Bush beans don’t need support, but pole beans will need a support or trellis to climb on. I prefer pole beans with littles, as it’s a little more fun to watch the plant climb. I plant the seeds by making a small pocket hole in the dirt and put 2-3 seeds in the hole. This is a great exercise to practice counting with your little one. Once planted, enjoy watching them pop out of the ground and climb your trellis!
Happy planting!