Beans don't transplant very well. Perhaps you could try to explain to her that beans liked to be planted directly in the garden? I have a feeling that 3 year olds are not very patient, but if she plants some outside after the weather warms up she will be eating beans soon enough. In the interim why not start some tomato seedlings inside. Jon

I can't really speak to South Florida gardening conditions, but I have some experience gardening with little kids. Here are the 5 things that little kids LOVE in a garden (in no particular order): 1. Fast rewards: Young kids need to see progress daily to feel that the garden is successful. Something that matures or blooms fast, like radishes, marigolds, or other fast-blooming annuals. Alternatively, something that grows/changes visibly every day, like beans. 2. Tasty Food: Carrots are usually a big hit. Most kids like them, they mature relatively fast, and they come in cool colors. Sunflowers with edible seeds, maybe? (Though seeds can be a choke hazard with little ones.) Broccoli is also recognizable and many kids will eat it. 3. BIG stuff: Kids are always amazed by planting a little seed that grows into a plant taller than they are. Pole beans or other vines (if you have a trellis), sunflowers, corn, etc. 4. Colors: Bright colors, and especially vegetables and flowers in colors they don't expect - my kids LOVED purple carrots and red sunflowers when they were little. 5. Bugs and critters: Butterfly attracting plants are a winner, especially with the little girls. You might want to avoid bee-attracting plants, because preschoolers might try to grab the bees. Also wasps love okra (at least they love mine!) so that's no good. Little boys like frogs, slugs - really all creepy-crawlies. (Some little girls do, too. Especially since preschool girls may not have been socialized to think that bugs are "icky" yet.) So consider a shady overturned pot and/or a shallow water container (dumped frequently to avoid breeding mosquitoes). It sounds like fun. I bet they will love their garden! :-)

Congrats! good job!

About the only way you could put beans out of the reach of bunnies - but within the reach of pre-schoolers - would be to fence in the whole garden. Provided that the problem is rabbits (not deer) a 36" chicken wire fence would keep them out. Be sure that the chicken wire has no gaps at ground level... I hill up the soil about 4" over the bottom wire. For a gate, you don't need anything fancy, unless you feel so inclined... just a removable frame, covered with chicken wire, tied between two posts. I do this on one of my small plots, and secure the gate with a couple pieces of aluminum wire used as twist ties. Rabbits are a big problem in my area too; I've seen 4-5 in my back yard at one time. Because of that, all of my gardens are surrounded by chicken wire (and high fencing to keep out the deer). Without fencing, gardening would be a pointless effort... I'd be feeding the wild life, not my family.