Garden Help

Start string beans and lettuce in window they grow almost overnight. start now its fun to watch and i am an adult my kids 15 yrs could care less

Us too, my son kept saying he wanted to grow a garden so we all went to Orchard and got some soil and a bunch of 4" vegetables. We got tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, basil, cilantro, strawberries and zuchinnis. We used pots we already had had the house. He helped me plant them and we watch them every day and he helps me water them. It is so fun and cute. I can't wait for the veges to get here. They keep eating the strawberries as soon as there is the slightest bit of red. =)

Hi K.!
You can start seed outside by making mini green houses out of pop bottles. Just cut the bottoms off then put them into the dirt around each planting. When you need to water them just unscrew the lids! Once the frost has passed you can take them off. I have done this for many years w/good success. Pumpkins are so much fun to grow. My kids favorite every year! They do get big and take up some space, but are so worth it! We usually plant about 3-4 hills each year. That leaves us w/3-4 plants. We get plenty of pumpkins that way. Usually about 5-6. If you do the Jack be littles variety you could end up w/ as many as 25! ( They are about the size of a small tomato.) Beans are also easy. Most of the others we get already started from the nursery. It's still lots of fun, but our growing season is to short to start everything from seeds. Strawberries (get an everbearing plant) are another one my kids love! It gets berries all summer long so they are always looking for the new ones and love eating them! Good luck, and have fun w/it!

Hi K., Not too late at all to start seeds inside. I see you are from New England as well, so we have to be a little more careful of frost. Tomatoes are great, but you should start them from seed indoors. That way they are ready to go in the ground come late may, depending on the weather. It is still way to early to plant outside. I know I have had the itch as well with all this warmth we have been getting. I f you want to sow your seeds right in the garden you can use beans, carrots, melons, cucumbers ect. Never to early to start prepping you area and planning what you are going to plant. But keep the seeds out of the ground for now, It would be sad to loose all your seedlings to an unexpected frost.

Your not too late for tomatoes , you can even buy a kit in Home Depot which has step by step instructions , I have also heard that cuccumbers and lettuces are easy to grow , so may be worth looking into as a beginner. Sorry I also do not know much about gardening , I have just bought 2 strawberry plants and potted those (so far so good in that they have gotten a little taller and bushier).

I started my first garden from seed outdoors and I believe it was mid-May. I planted cucumbers, yellow squash, cherry tomatoes, herbs. The next year I did cucumber, butternut squash, lettuce, herbs, peppers and tomatoes, didn't have much luck with tomatoes and peppers. Just do it and enjoy what works. It can never hurt to try.

We just got a Vegetable Garden Kit from Toys R Us for our son's birthday. It comes with tomatoes, peppers, and beans and everything you need to get started for only $15. Here's the link iyou're interested: http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3973021 . Have fun!! :)

K.,
In honor of Earth Day (40 years!!!) this is a great idea. There's a delightful book called "A seed Grows" and companion gardening set "Garden Works" with child-size tools and sprinkling can that has a wealth of info on how to do what you're trying to do. You can find it at www.toysofdiscovery.com . Good luck!!

The Easter Bunny brought my daughter (4 yrs old) a Root Viewer kit. We started those that weekend, so not too long ago. However, we live in an apartment, so can't really plant them outside later anyways..haha

This kit is really neat because it lets you see the seeds & roots as they start growing. My daughter loves to check on it several times a day & gets soooo excited about it! It has seeds for carrots, onions, and radishes. The radishes started growing REALLY quick.

We found it in the toy store in our mall, but here's what I'm talking about:

http://www.hometrainingtools.com/product.asp?pn=BE-RVGARD...

Everything depends on your growing season. We started our seeds 2 weeks ago, but there's still time. You'll want to start your seeds this week-end. My husband decided to start seeds outside as well as inside. The problem with that is you have to cover your plants every night so the frost doesn't get to them. Inside, we create mini greenhouses out of TV dinner trays, toothpick, and plastic wrap. As the plants get bigger, you can change the toothpicks over to straws to keep the plastic wrap off them. If you can find the old fashioned cardboard egg cartens, they are the best things to start seeds in and can just be plugged right into the ground when read, which will add nutrients to the soil. My hubby prepares our garden by purchasing topsoil, garden soil, and cheap potting soil; mixes it all together and turns it into the garden. We also crush up dried egg shells with a morar and pestal to add more nutrients. Any veggie or fruit peelings, used tea leaves, coffie grounds, and meat/fish bones gets added to the garden as well. (Remember that you can put the leaves you rake up into your garden during the fall instead of burning them) Once the plants are up in the garden, we put layers of grass cliping around them to keep the weeds down and add nitrogen to the soil.

You have "cold weather" plants and "warm weather" plants. Cold weather can be planted outside now, but the warm weather can't be planted outside until the last frost.
Cold weather examples: parsley, peas, onions, garlic
Warm weather examples: tomatos, brussel sprouts

No its not too late to plant seeds.

The easy good ones for kids are:
radishes
tomatoes
cucumbers
beans
sunflowers

You can just plant them in the ground. Make sure you prep the ground, till it, buy bags of soil if you have to, fertilizer. Water everyday and keep it moist.

Ask the garden store for questions you have.

I've been gardening since I was a kid. I love gardening.... I just planted some lettuce, zucchini, and I have radishes, basil, broccoli, beans, peas, cucumbers, carnations, parsley right now. And flowers.

good luck,
Susan