Choosing Vegetables
Working with very young children
Young children do not like to wait for results and so it is advisable to choose crops that grow quickly. Some varieties of vegetables can be harvested whilst small and these are also ideal for growing with young children. Small fingers will have difficulty handling small seeds and so you may wish to choose vegetables that have larger seeds or you may wish to buy young plants. Alternatively and a better solution is for an adult to sow seeds that the children can plant out as small plants. This way the children can see the whole process from seed to plate.
It may be easier to use large tubs or planters when working with young children.
| Easiest and fastest growing: | Also easy | Can be a little more challenging: |
| Loose leaf lettuce Radish Salad leaves | Beetroot Broad bean Broccoli Cabbage Carrots Cherry tomato Courgette Mangetout pea Onion from sets Pea Potato Spring Onion (in theory but sowing either grow well or fail!) Squash/Pumpkin Swede Turnip | Cauliflower Cucumber French bean Leek Parsnip Runner bean Sprouts |
Vegetables that will germinate at lower temperatures
| Vegetables that will not tolerate lower temperatures | Vegetables will tolerate dappled shade |
| Broad bean Broccoli Cabbage Cauliflower Onion (sets will shoot) Pea Carrot Lettuce – loose headed or salad leaf types Sprout | Courgette Cucumber French bean Pepper Runner bean Sweetcorn Tomato | Beetroot Broccoli Cabbage Cauliflower Lettuce Sprout |
Vegetables that will germinate at lower temperatures can be sown earlier outdoors.
Vegetables that will not tolerate lower temperatures must be planted after chance of frost has passed. Frost will kill them. Generally these vegetables are sown indoors and planted out when weather conditions improve. You can plant out a little earlier if you cover with cloches or fleece to give some protection during cold spells.This group of ‘vegetables’ tends to include those that produce ‘fruits’.
Although most vegetable will grow far better in sunshine some vegetables will tolerate dappled shade. These tend to be leafy vegetables.
Additional Information:
There are many varieties of vegetables, those selected below are only suggestions and have been chosen for various reasons e.g:
they are early/late cropping in an attempt to avoid August cropping,
they are said to be easy or reliable to grow,
they provide interest or seem to be particularly suited to growing with children.
NB: Suggestions are based on catalogue descriptions rather than personal experience. The links will take you to reputable companies who offer the products but these are not exclusive. Many seeds and plants can be purchased from local garden centres. The links will hopefully cut down on the time that you need to spend finding information on or searching for sources of products that interest you. Where products are available from more than one of the online catalogues used, I have linked to the lowest costing packet. This may not contain as many seeds but should be ample for normal requirements
Sowing and harvesting time can vary considerably depending on the location, prevailing weather conditions and variety of vegetable being grown so the following is only intended to offer some guidance to help with planning. Always refer to the instructions on the seed packets.
| Key to approximate sowing and harvesting times: | | sow indoors | sow outdoors | sow outdoors or indoors | plant outdoors | harvest |
|
Beetroot 
| Harvest as small baby beets - you will see the shoulders protubing from the soil – will need thinning out – slow to start germinating you may wish to soak prior to sowing to try and speed things up – each seed is in fact a cluster of seeds– harvest as small baby beets. Boltardy, Detroit 6, Kestrel |
Broad beans 
| Harvest whilst fairly small and choose green bean varieties as this will make the beans less strongly flavoured -water well in dry weather Express, The Sutton |
Broccoli 
| Once heads have formed buds you must keep cropping or they will flower -easier to grow than cauliflower - long growing season Early Purple Sprouting, Early White Sprouting, Summer Purple Sprouting, Early Sprouting Long growing period | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Summer Sprouting | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|
Cabbage 
| Lots of varieties of cabbage in all sorts of shapes, sizes, green and red varieties and a type suitable for most times of the year. Hravest when head is solid, if you leave it too long the head will split. April (spring) Minicole (late summer/autumn) Primo (summer) January King 3 (winter) Tundra (winter) Red Flare (red varieties are more challenging) Savoy Siberia F1 (Savoy - autumn/winter) | Spring | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |
| Summer | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |
| Winter | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Red Cabbage | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |
|
Carrots 
| Grow a short or medium rooted variety – cover with fleece or enviromesh to avoid carrot rootfly – will need thinning out - harvest when they are large enough to use, scrape away soil from around the shoulder and judge whether the carrot diameter looks about right. Early Nantes 2, Early Scarlet Horn, Parmex, Rainbow More information on growing carrots here |
Cauliflower 
| Can be challenging - choose ones that produce a small head – children may enjoy growing the multi-coloured varieties - harvest when the head look full and still smooth, if some parts start to grow out and head separate then the plant is about to flower. Rainbow Blend, All Year Round, |
Courgettes 
| Best harvested regular whilst courgettes are small or they become marrows very quickly– very prolific and need plenty of space - plant the seed and grow on in a pot until ready to plant into the ground - prickly plants. Venus, Cavili, Defender, Parador, Parathenon, Tristar |
Cucumbers 
| Grow an outdoor variety even if growing indoors. Harvest when still firm - may be smaller than shop bought cucumbers. Burpless Tasty Green, |
French beans 
| Must be harvested regular whilst beans are young– water well in dry weather Purple Teepee, Valdor, Tendergreen |
Garlic 
| Don’t be tempted to grow garlic bought from the supermarket as these varieties may not be suited to our climate, however once you have bought some bulbs you can retain one or two for planting in subsequent years. Garlic needs to be subjected to a cold spell in order to produce cloves. A successful way of growing garlic is to plant in a tub and leave in a cold greenhouse over winter. This helps prevent the cloves form becoming too wet and rotting. The tubs can be brought out early in spring. Alternatively plant in pots and grow on over winter in the greenhouse and plant out on the plot in spring. Harvest when tops begin to brown and bend over - dry to store. Solent Wight, Purple Wight |
Leeks 
| Can be tricky. Long growing season - can be picked when quite small about 3 cms diameter. King Richard |
Lettuce 
| Loose headed or salad leaf types are the easiest and most reliable to grow - sow seeds throughout the season – grow red and green varieties. Harvest outer leaves first or whole head for heading lettuce once they feel firm. In Perpetuity Blend, Lettuce Dazzle seeds, Red Salad Bowl, Salad Bowl, Salad Leaves Winter Blend |
Mangetout peas 
| Harvest before the seeds/peas swell Oregon Sugar Pod |
Onions 
| Grow these from sets (immature bulbs). Winter onions are planted in autumn and harvested in late spring. These do not store well. Other onions are sown in spring and harvested in late summer. These can be stored over winter. Heat treated sets of spring planted onions are far less likely to bolt and produce hard flower stems. Harvest spring planted when leaves brown - dry before storing - winter planted harvest when they have reached a usable size. Mixed Heat Treated Sets, Autumn Planting First Early | Autumn planted | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D | | Spring Planted | | | | | | | | | | | | |
More information on planting onions here |
Parsnips 
| Must be fresh seed – has a very long growing season and should be harvested after a frost as frost turns the starch into sugars and gives the parsnip a better flavour White Gem, Gladiator More information on growing parsnips here |
Peas 
| Must be harvested regularly whilst peas are young – need supporting – water well in dry weather. Harvest when pods feel and look full but don't leave to go old - if in doubt try the taste test. Early Onward, Meteor |
Peppers 
| Can be challenging – best grown in a greenhouse Salad Festival |
Potatoes 
| Can be hard work and need earthing up – container growing is easier – choose first early varieties to harvest from mid July. Early potatoes can be harvested when the plants start to flower. For full sized potatoes wiat until the tops have died down - use a garden fork and don't 'dig' too close to the plant or you will stab the potatoes. More information on planting potatoes here The Potato Council website has lots of information about potatoes including understanding terms such as earlies or maincrop, a brief history of the potato and recipe ideas. The British Potato Variety Database can be a good source of information but is better for finding information about a particular variety that you are considering growing |
Radish 
| Very quick to mature (about a month) sow seeds throughout the season and harvest when the shoulders start to protrude before the radishes become too large and woody French Breakfast, Rainbow Mixed, Radish Mixed Seeds |
Runner beans 
| August onwards cropping so could be a problem during August holiday– water well in dry weather – must be harvested regularly whilst beans are young Summer Medley, Streamline |
Spring Onions 
| Unpredictable - seed can take a while to germinate and sometimes fails completely - maybe try in containers if your soil is heavy. White Lisbon |
Sprouts 
| Can be challenging - taste better after a frost - pick when at least 3 cm in diameter Trafalgar, Bitesize, Falstaff |
Squash/pumpkins 
| Need plenty of space. Variety very much depends what you want to do with the harvested crop. Harvest before a frost and when the plants begin to die back and the fruits have reached a suitable size dry off in a cool greenhouse to store. Crown Prince, Jack of All Trades, Jack Be Little, Atlantic Giant, Patty Pan Scallop Mixed |
Swede 
| Cold weather improves the flavour - can be left in the ground and dug when required - harvest from anout 10 cm.Brora, Ruby |
Sweetcorn 
| Must be planted in a rectangular format as they are wind pollinated – only grow one variety or cross pollination can occur. Choose a later variety to try and avoid August harvest. Harvest when silks are dry and brown - the kernels should exude a milky substance when pierced with your finger nail. Honey Bantam, Extra Tender & Sweet |
Tomatoes 
| Grow from seed or buy plants cherry varieties are easiest ones - choose vatieties described as bush or determinate that do not need side shoots removing. They also tend not to grow as tall. If you can grow them in a greenhouse there is less chance of losing them to blight – if growing outdoors choose an outdoor variety. harvest when fully ripened and only slightly soft (not squishy) to the touch. Tumbling Tom Collection, Tumbler, |
Turnip 
| Harvest when small about 6 cm diameter - they become woody when too large. Not a favourite with children but worth trying Golden Ball, Oasis, Primera |
Links to varieties were correct in November 2009 but I cannot guarantee that they still are as catalogues do change.
Vegetable plants can also be bought online for example from:
Other suppliers and most nurseries also offer a range of vegetable plants
NB: Victoriana Nursery Gardens offer a discount scheme to schools – click here for information. Victoriana range of vegetable seeds and plants.
The resources offered here also offer more support and include cultural tips, information and a full high quality photographs showing stages of each plant's life cycle.
Some suppliers of vegetable seeds and plants that you may wish to browse
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