My gardening space is pretty limited, but I gave each child a pot and they picked out seeds, for either a flower or vegetable, and planted them. They would ask me everyday if it was time to water their pot.

I also try to plant things they can eat straight out of the garden. Their favorite garden treat last year was the ground cherries. They loved checking around the plants for those little husks. I never did get enough to make jam, because they gobbled them down every time they were in the garden. Peas are another one they will eat straight out of the garden, though not all of them will eat the pod. Root vegetables are fun for kids, especially the different colored carrots, since they never know what they are going to get when they dig them up. My kids also enjoyed fishing through the cucumber vines to find the ripe ones for salads or pickles. Speaking of pickles, for the older kids you might try to let them help you can something. My oldest son, who's eleven now, has helped me the past couple of years with canning pickles, jams, and salsa. He helps with the prep work, and I handle the hot jars.

If you have the space you may want to consider some fruits, such as a strawberry patch, grapes, blackberries or raspberries. Anything they can pick and eat straight off the plant will be a big hit.

I think it's awesome that you are trying to interest the next generation of your family in gardening, and I wish you many happy memories in the garden with your nieces and nephews!

Bonnie

Raised beds help a lot with the really little ones that don't know better than to walk on the rows and plants. You can also plant stuff they like so that it is easily accessible, such as strawberries and ground cherries.

I have raised beds and keep chalk near the garden so they can 'decorate' the garden. It's excellent since they can do it over and over after it rains.

Sugar snap peas!! Last year, the kids just hung out around the pea vines when we went out to play, eating them one after another. They couldn't get enough! Like a PP said, carrots are great, fun to harvest... like digging for treasure... and they're a sweeter vegetable kids tend to like. Strawberries and sunflowers are great. My daughter loved the purple beans and the mini pepper growing by her playhouse, too (I saved space around the playhouse for "their" garden).

And I second the raised beds for little ones... it's much easier for toddlers to understand that they need to stay on the pavers/stones/etc. than to try to get them to understand empty dirt vs. dirt with plants.

Maybe get a few kid-sized tools, too. Both of my kids love digging around in the dirt "helping" turn over the beds, water, etc. with their little tools.

If you can, put up some trellises which will provide valuable shade... the kids were miserable at my community plot last year where I had mostly winter squash sprawling on the ground, we all baked in the hot sun... whereas at home they loved running around hiding behind the bean teepees, staked tomatoes, etc. and the structures gave them some shade.

Another idea if the kids are old enough is to incorporate a container water garden with a couple goldfish. I tried it last year, the kids loved it, but they're still a little too small to stay OUT of the water! Besides the clear safety aspect, they were a muddy mess in about three minutes every time they got near it =)

Sorry, I wrote a book!! Hope it gives you some ideas!

I have two girls, ages 2 and 6. Last summer/fall they helped me do everything. From raking and hoeing (we got some kid sized tools) to planting and weeding. They helped water and fertilize and we took pictures of the first tiny veggies that appeared. They were SO excited to pick them!!! I didn't do anything separate for them though, I just made sure they were involved without being overbearing about it.
My 2 year old was very into it. she keeps asking me about planting seeds and always wants to buy watermelon seeds whenever she sees them at the store. The 6 year old complained more, but still had a great time harvesting.
right now they are helping me with the seedlings. I let them help water mostly. We talk a TON about how we grow food, and how farmers grow things for us to eat, and how we can make healthy choices for our diet (always an ulterior motive with me...)
I love to see their faces when we discover the first ripe tomato, or find a bunch of beans hiding inside of a bean bush.
So I have no idea if this helped you or not, but I think setting some rules, even with the young ones, is important (like don't pull up the bush beans when you pick them), don't spray the tomatoes with the hose etc....

Here are some pictures (I hope this works-please ignore the dying plants as this is 110 degrees in Texas)
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You can have a lot of fun teaching them about bugs - how to tell the good guys from the bad guys - and to get over any fear of bugs in general.

Our granddaughters (8,6, and 2 1/2) love to take their Sherlock Holmes magnifying glasses to the garden and scour the plants for bugs to get up close and personal with and then Grandma or I tell them the bug's story.

They each have their own self-decorated pickin' basket too with their name on it and their own sprinkling cans Grandma painted up for them. We play find-the-plant-that-needs-some-water checking droopy leaves and sticking their fingers in the dirt.

DIL bought them garden themed coloring books so we sit at the picnic table and decide what colors the various fruits and veggies should be.

It is great way to teach kids to not be afraid of bugs and to learn basic plant care and harvesting.

Dave

Planting things like peas, cherry tomatoes, carrots, and radishes which can be eaten on the spot is especially fun. When I was a kid we even liked to chew on a raw stalk of rhubarb.

Involve kids in every phase of gardening, from the initial tilling (keep the worms and go fishing with the kids) to harvesting. Kids are more apt to develop a taste for vegetables if they have helped to grow them. I was helping in the garden since before I can remember, as the family photo album shows, and I've always loved vegetables and gardening.

Jim

Hi - I'm new here, and I garden with kids.

I second everything mentioned above, PLUS:

Veggies in colors that grocery stores usually don't have:
Yellow and purple snap beans
This year I am trying a purple speckled snap bean
Yellow pear tomato
Golden beets
Trying red corn this year
trying watermelon radishes
I want to find seeds for "mouse watermelon" this year as well. They are adorable!

They also love to wander through the garden and crush leaves of the herbs to smell.

I let them choose the herbs for their piece of chicken or fish when we grill. Even the youngest is getting pretty good at this!

They love to gather up mint leaves for our tea glasses, BUT - you have to be willing to grow mint for this one to work, lol.

My kids love arranging rocks into "toad abodes".

Have them look for Preying Mantis - we all LOVE a Mantis sighting!

they can collect rocks and acrylic paint to make plant markers

We have a lot of rocks - mine also make garden "sculptures" with them. They love to surprise me!

Teach them to save seed - Nasturtium is pretty easy, and can be planted just about anywhere!

If you have some older kids coming, they might be interested in "designer" veggies - Mesclun salad mix, squash blossoms or the baby squashes. Point out to them how much these things cost in the store, and how easy they are to grow!

My children's friends are treated to a plastic drinking cup when they visit that they can harvest and fill with herbs to bring home for mom and dad to cook with. I just do a quick check to make sure it is herbs in the cup, not tomato stems or something.

How about an herb garden that they can gather from and hang upside down to dry and make potpouri?

Honestly - the best thing I have ever done with regards to gardening with my kids is let them know that the garden was theirs to enjoy (with a few rules in place about destruction, lol) and let *them* wander freely and decide what excited them. Then, act on it!

Most kids associate small berries with dessert. Strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries are all favorites of my kids. We also focus on vegetables that they never see in the store, such as purple asparagus or purple beans, black cherry or yellow pear tomatoes, and novelty eggplants. There's a "Fooled You" Jalapeno pepper that has no heat (which is fun).

First off,
armymomma, your pictures are great and your children are absolutely beautiful!

There are some great ideas here, and I will definitely be implementing them in our garden.

My three year old boy gardens with me and it is so fun. He is more into digging and watering and making mud, but that doesn't matter, he is out there with me and learning even if he doesn't know it.
He loves planting the seeds, digging the weeds and dead plants and harvesting.
He was really into pulling carrots this year.
I love the idea of letting him pull herbs for dinner.

Other things he loves:
-digging for worms (of course)
-making mud into "mortar" and spreading it on bricks
- we have a fence with a lot of nails and screws and he hangs all of his "tools", shovels, rakes, etc on the nails....and then he plays "garden shop"

When I was a kid, mom gave use each a three foot by three foot garden patch and we could plant whatever we wanted. (She probably helped but I don't remember) Popular kid items were those mini pumpkins, radishes, and kohlrabi.

Ever since my twins were toddlers (they are 8 now), we have had a winter garden right by the front door. That garden, planted in August, has lots of carrots, some winter radishes, some kale, some turnips, and some spinach. We can harvest from it all winter, with the protection of a low tunnel, thick pine straw mulch, and a layer of row cover. (Well, except like right now, when the whole tunnel is lost under snow.) We grow a rainbow of carrots, and by January some of them are 3-4 inches around at the top. They love the huge carrot "coins" that I pack in their lunches.

During the more conventional gardening seasons, we usually have a wall of climbing peas with green, yellow, purple, English, snap, and snow varieties; and a pole bean teepee with purple and wax varieties mixed together. Last year my son had a "Pizza" garden, a 6" diameter round bed with rocks to edge it and raise it a bit and a wedge out of one side (for access to the center) planted with tomatoes, basil, oregano, parsley, zucchini, peppers, and a few yellow flowers (to look like cheese). The tomatoes took a major hit when a hail storm pounded us in early July, but that was actually the most prolific bed in the garden by late summer. We'll be doing that again. (The last two zucchini are still in the kitchen, I haven't had the courage to taste them as "winter" squash, but DS doesn't want them thrown away.) Oh, and for the first time we had success with pumpkins, grown on the south-facing slope in the front yard. (We garden on the side of a mountain, with a short season and cool nights all summer, so the heat-lovers are a challenge.)

Oh, and the potatoes (all blue, all red, and yukon gold) planted at the base of the pea wall, were a great hit. This year we will be trying a longer storage type, as all three of those sprouted really early!

And finally, I have big planters that stand on either side of the front door, one with a yellow cherry tomato (Yellow Currant) and one with a red cherry tomato (Peace Vine), both with some violets or pansies planted around them for early season color. By mid-summer, when they start ripening, the kids will stand there before they even get in the house, and gobble down cherry tomatoes like candy. They are in charge of watering those plants, and happily carry buckets of their bath water out to take care of them.

All of our garden beds have a deep mulch of pine straw (just because we live in a pine forest and it is easy to come by) and require minimal weeding. That is nice with kids.

The whole garden is for the kids to eat from, whether harvested and brought into the kitchen, or snacked from in the garden itself. The peas, for example, never make it into the house. Neither do the cherry tomatoes. My only rule is the winter garden doesn't get harvested until the conventional garden is picked clean.

Catherine

Here is a link that might be useful: Keyhole garden