You should be! Ahhh, when the sprouts grow up!

sounds like good parenting... awesome job!

Thanks guys! I try to keep them interested and it's so awesome to see it pay off.

Read this from the tomato forums, maybe you can share it with your daughter. :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Funny

Grow stuff for her that grows FAST, like radishes for instance. Ask her what she likes to eat (or remember what she likes!) and grow THAT too! Good for her!

My parents just had a few tomato plants due to the size of their yard, but we always hit the farmstands for the freshest vegies. I remember shucking peas and corn in the back yard.
4 out of 5 of us are gardeners (my oldest sister broke her leg in 3 places while gardening, so quit! It wasn't the garden's fault, she's just a big klutz!) LOL Nancy

sunnibel7, lmao, I had read that and thought it was great!
tommyr I always do with the kids, it just seems like school friends and social media get in the way, but not for too long!

It was a wonderful moment, oh so nice, to see her checking all of our starts before she left to babysit for the night. I've got two more teens to get there, so wish me luck!

How wonderful for you! It is always good to see that the eye rolls eventually turn into understanding. My garden draws all of the children in my neighborhood. Kids love to see stuff grow. My oldest one is in the eye roll stage. :) But he is a boy...and 17...well...that's all I can say about that. My two younger ones still think I am a genius!

The pay off may come years down the line. My kids showed no interest in either cooking or gardening and I gave up actively trying to encourage them. But now they are in their twenties and lo and behold my daughter is emailing for advice about her window box and my son scavenges his fellow students' chicken carcases to make stock. It may be years before you know if you've had any influence on them! You can 'over parent' imo whereas just setting an example and leaving the kids in peace may well work just as well. Good on you if your kids respond - but if they don't appear to don't give up hope!

all you need to do is plant a seed in there head.(getit)

Nancy, this girl is my klutz! We never say anything about the bike that she doesn't ride anymore. The last few times she tried ended in bloody disaster! Hopefully she doesn't find a way to injure herself with gardening...

flora_uk, you are right about over-parenting. I see quite a bit of it these days. I didn't have an interest in gardening until my early thirties and then I realized how much I learned from my grandfather because we had to help in the garden and listen to all of the gardening wisdom he gave while we were at it. I do the same, I don't yell as much as him though! :)

terrybull, the seed is planted and spouting quickly! As of this morning all of the kids but one is growing something. And I'm sure when he gets home next week he will insist on something, too. Heaven forbid the other kids do something and not him. It won't even matter if he is interested or not, he will make a competition of it regardless. This is going to be a fun season at our house!

The trick is to get them something to plant that isn't boring. For boys, hot peppers are a good way to go. Even the manliest of men (or boys that think they are manly men) will stop to dig in the dirt if it means they end up with the world's hottest pepper they can use to dare their friends with.

For girls, try odd colored fruits. Pink blueberries, white watermelons, or purple cauliflower.

For both, highly unusual fruits and veggies can do the trick as well. Kiwano melons are absolutely BIZARRE looking, and that makes them fun to grow.

The trick is to not try and get them interested in the gardening at first, but in the end product. Just make sure its something you can't buy in the grocery store that still looks fascinating so you can pull the "Well, the only way you will ever get to try one of these is if you grow your own." deal. By the time they actually get fruit, the bait and switch will be done and they'll (hopefully) enjoy the gardening for it's own sake.

for boys any age= giant pumkins of any kind. they can see a difference daily and that keeps them interested. also the warted pumpkins. i think there called howden. once they walk out to check it everyday. then they could pickup interest on something else.

girls who knows. justin beiber seeds?

That's so neat. My younger son got interested in the garden last summer when we had a volunteer watermelon sprout up. The vine wandered everywhere and we just watched it grow -- the spotted a baby melon! We watched and watched, hoping it would make it before it got too cold, but alas, discovered that either a critter or a careless weed whacker had separated it from the vine. In it's honor, we have planted a couple of varieties, including a yellow meated one, and pumpkins. The yard may be a mess of vines around the edges, but we're going to cheer them on and just deal with it for a few months. Have fun!

Just thought of a thing my Mum did once. If you scratch a kid's name in a baby squash skin the writing will grow as the squash grows.

terrybull, lol at the Justin Beiber seeds! I have 2 diehard fans in this house. Wouldn't they be in heaven! And awesome on the squash, flora. My 5yo puts his name on everything. Definitely will try that one! lascatx, who cares what the yard looks like, as long as things are growing and the kids are enjoying it!

I don't think one can stereotype kids based on age or gender...I am a 27 year old guy, and I started gardening when I was 12. No one bribed me into it, I just liked watching plants grow and that was the only thing I did throughout high school. I would ask my mom and dad for bags of potting soil and seeds as birthday presents. I'm sure there are many out there like me, young, old, male, female...

I lol'd at Justin Bieber seeds.

Shell, I have a feeling your other kids will catch the bug in time. When I was a kid, my mom used to grow all sorts of things and was always working out in the yard. Being a little mimic, I would, on occasion, ask for a packet of flower seeds or something, and plant them in the little wooden planters we kept on the deck, and I got such a kick out of watching them grow, but I didn't really have the patience for it. Then middle school and high school happened, and I lost all interest in planting anything. A few years ago, in my late-20's, I felt this inexplicable pull towards gardening. It started with some potted plants, graduated to a raised bed, and then turned into many raised beds. Now I can't imagine not having a garden or not being able to grow at least a portion of my own food. It took a while, but my mom's influence finally kicked back in. I bet yours will too!