The EASIEST thing to grow from seeds?

[Gardener123]

I want to try and teach my kids that it can be fun to grow stuff from seeds ( lol, even though I haven't had great success ). I don't care if it is a fruit, veggie, herb, or flower.... as longs as it grows.

What would you recommend?

My guess is you might say some type of bean.

[applestar]

Are you doing this inside in containers, or outside in containers or directly in the ground?

Ah ha! The answer depends on the growing environment, you see.

At the moment, I think absolute easiest indoor growing from seeds is sprouts. did you see the thread I have going in Organic Gardening?

[gixxerific]

Radish

[Gardener123]

No I did not see it.

I think I need something other than sprouts because they won't even know what a sprout is. I think it needs to be something that they can appreciate.

I will be starting them indoors and under lights, with heating mats, and light reflection. If it is something that eventually gets moved outside, that's fine... if it stays indoors it won't get a ton of natural light, though I can keep some things growing in one spot of my house.

[applestar]

How old are they? My one daughter likes to eat the sprouts (but the other one doesn't.

With my kids, they appreciate it more when it's veg's they like. So I always plant cucumbers, carrots, and potatoes in my older daughter's part of the garden and my other daughter gets peas, tomatoes and beans in hers. Radish IS great because they sprout right away and mature in 30 days, but they don't like to eat them.

So. What do they like to eat?

If its warm enough, you could try one bush bean in a cut off 2L soda bottle. Soda bottle containers are great because they can see the roots. One winter, we grew a pole bean plant in a sunny bedroom window and harvested a handful of pods. Younger daughter was 6 or 7 at the time and she happily harvested each pod and asked me to cook it. I have grown a "volunteered in a overwintering container tomato" every winter and she would eat the little tomatoes as they ripened. Finally decided to get serious about it this winter.

This time of the year, you could start spinach, chard, cauliflower, cabbage, kohlrabi, lettuce, etc. and plant them out a couple of weeks after the ground thaws. You could plant peas directly in the ground around 2nd week of March or when the ground thaws.

I know you said from seeds, but for growing from plants, if they like strawberries the kids really appreciate growing them. When I buy bareroot crowns on line, they ship them for planting around first or 2nd week of March for my area. Probably similar schedule for Philly area.

[Gardener123]

Twin daughters, age 11.

They eat most salad veggies, except tomatoes. They will eat beans. They like fresh green beans.

Temps here have not really broken 50 degrees for a while. We have been anywhere from 20 - 45 degrees the last month with most days in the low 30's. But looking ahead at the 10 day forecast, if you believe the weather people, we have low to mid 50's coming on days 9 and 10.

[IndyGerdener]

Well you can never go wrong with beans. We sprouted beans in elementary school with only a bag, paper towel, and water. I think they are easy. I had some sprouting in 3 days, and they are about 18" tall and producing flowers now. I started them on the 30th of January.

[applestar]

My sprout eating daughter is 11 also. I think you should try, especialy if they like salads. Made properly, sprouts are very nutritious and they are ready to at in just one week! Can't beat that for fast growing. You really CAN see them grow day by day.

Start with something mild like alfalfa. Perfect substitute for lettuce.
I made adzuki bean sprouts per recommendation here and I liked it raw as well as cooked. I like mung beans too. I still have to get some lentils to try and I didn't realize I'm out of chickpeas. I want to try that as well.

I just finished growing a salad mix and she HATED one of the gourmet additions to the point she had to spit out the mouthful Now I have to figure out if it was the dill, leeks, cilantro, daikon, or arugula. (I hope it was dill because I didn't like that either and won't be adding to the salad mix anymore....)

[IndyGerdener]

I would say arugula. It is bitter and yucky...

[Susan W]

Marigolds! I have been using one type that has been hardy. Start inside now, up pot as needed, move out in containers or garden when your weather is right.
Last summer g-son & I started some in peat pellets, then went to 4" then put 2 plants in 10" container with MG potting mix. Those things kept blooming and blooming. The pot came in for the last 3 months, goes out on pretty days/nights. When I do fish or weak MG on seedlings give it some. It's still blooming!

We started more a few wks ago, older seeds, germination sorry. We did get 2 to up pot to 4". I got a fresh supply of seeds and we did the peat pellets. So far they are popping up. This is for us, and a test run as I hope to do this at his pre-school (3-5 yr olds).

The box has seeds and lots of fill, meant for scatter sowing. I just pick out the seeds.

Variety? This is the box of Marigolds, labeled dwarf French Double, mixed colors, Tagetes patula. Found at Walgreens, Dollar Store and other outlets for $1 -$2.

[gixxerific]

I would say arugula. It is bitter and yucky...

(internet Slap!) Arugula is the best thing to add in my opinion. Funny how peoples taste are so differant. It's never bitter for me.

[Gardener123]

Well, I went and bought some heirloom radish seeds.... They don't like radish at all, and neither do I, but my wife loves it, and if I can grow it, my neighbor also loves it.

[imafan26]

I like sunflowers. A very kid friendly plant. But it might be too early for you to plant it.

Large seeds are kid friendly for planting. Beans, peas, squash, cucumbers all have large seeds and germinate within 2 weeks. Soak the seed first and they germinate faster.

[Gardener123]

Funny you say sunflowers.... the company where I bought my seeds sent a "free" gift of sunflower seeds. I have never grown them before, and not sure where I would put them, but I hope to find a place for them.

[sepeters]

What a great lesson to teach your children! They will love gardening even more after watching their plants sprout from seeds, grow to maturity and fruit! When I was a child I would get up every morning excited and impatient to see which seeds sprouted ("Let's see what peepers are popping up!").

Try a variety of seeds! If you have the space melons or pumpkins are always a hit with kids. They grow fast and large and what kid doesn't love watermelon or jack-o-lanterns! Avocados are fun to start, but take lots a while to mature. This year my mother's elementary school class is growing a pizza garden. We put in tomatoes, bell peppers, onion, garlic, basil, oregano, etc. The kids are more excited about their theme garden this year than any other year she has had a class garden. Lots of themes are possible and will keep the kids engaged.

[Gardener123]

Well, I planted the radish seeds 2 days ago... and yesterday there was nothing growing.... today I have 6 that have sprouted, and they are about 3/4" high already, so that is pretty darn cool.

[ElizabethB]

As a child I remember my science teacher letting us start plain old bean seeds in clear containers filled with cotton. The seeds were placed between the cotton and the container wall so we could watch the entire process. I like the idea of sunflowers because that can be planted in the garden, the children will love the huge flowers and you can let them harvest and toast the seeds.