Search...
Home Subscribe
Pie
Home Subscribe
Recent topics Flagged topics Hot topics Best topics
Search...
Search within kids Search permies
Advance search Google search
Register / Login
Energy efficient DIY wood stoves
  • Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
homesteader singles forum GMC website Paul Wheaton Tour of Wheaton Labs movie Building a Better World Book with angry emoji face PDC ATC vids
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • r ranson
  • Carla Burke
  • Nancy Reading
  • John F Dean
  • Jay Angler
  • paul wheaton
stewards:
  • Pearl Sutton
  • Burra Maluca
  • Joseph Lofthouse
master gardeners:
  • Timothy Norton
  • Christopher Weeks
gardeners:
  • Jeremy VanGelder
  • Maieshe Ljin
  • Nina Surya

Intro seed selection for friends children

 
Dian Green
gardener
Posts: 305
Location: Southern Ontario, 6b
194
I like...
cat forest garden food preservation cooking writing ungarbage
posted 4 months ago
  • Likes 6
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I'm sending some stuff to a friend and she knows I'm into the food gardening so I'm including a few seeds so she can start teaching her children about growing plants.
Ages are 10-4. Zone 4 and they are renting for now. Not super adventurous eaters/cooks.
I stuck to stuff I had extra of on hand. There are 4 in the lettuce mix and regular green beans along with some scarlet runners.

Does this look like too much or a decent, basic starter kit?
IMG_2812.JPG
[Thumbnail for IMG_2812.JPG]

All true wealth is biological.
Lois McMaster Bujold

 
K Kaba
pollinator
Posts: 209
Location: MD, USA. zone 7
74
posted 4 months ago
  • Likes 7
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
For younger kids, I love radishes. Easter or French or any of the kinds that grow super fast and come in bright colors.
 
Ben Zumeta
pollinator
Posts: 1507
Location: NW California, 1500-1800ft,
460
2
I like...
hugelkultur dog forest garden solar wood heat homestead
posted 4 months ago
  • Likes 6
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I think snap peas and cilantro are great easy gateway edible growies.

This is all just my opinion based on a flawed memory

 
Rachel Lindsay
gardener
Posts: 1400
Location: Tennessee
907
I like...
homeschooling kids urban books writing homestead
posted 4 months ago
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Great selection! Super ideas, I know the kids will have fun with those.

I bet watermelons would be fun, too.

“If we are honest, we can still love what we are, we can find all the good there is to find, and we may find ways to enhance that good, and to find a new kind of living world which is appropriate for our time.” ― Christopher Alexander

 
Nicole Alderman
steward
Posts: 21827
Location: Pacific Northwest
12419
11
I like...
homeschooling hugelkultur kids art duck forest garden foraging fiber arts sheep wood heat homestead
posted 4 months ago
  • Likes 4
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Since they were little, my kids have really like radishes. I'd go for an "Easter Egger" blend, with the purple, pink, and red radishes. It's super fun to see what color radish you pull up. Radishes also grow quickly, so there's a more instant reward for the little ones.

My climate is pretty rainy and cool for a lot of the growing season, and I have good success with peas. I get a lot of peas, and harvest them for months. I like growing a mix of green and purple snap peas. I highly recommend Purple Magnolia peas. They grow really well in my area, and the pea pods are purple! The purple peas are also a bit easier to spot than the green ones. I think there's also white and yellow peas, but I didn't have as much success growing those. My kids have always loved picking peas.

Rachel Lindsay wrote:Great selection! Super ideas, I know the kids will have fun with those.

I bet watermelons would be fun, too.



I don't know if watermelons will do well in zone 4? I've only seen a few people manage to grow them in my zone 7/8 area (granted, our zone 8 is a lot cooler and cloudier and a shorter growing season than a zone 8 in Texas. Not every zone is the same!)

~ Dragons, Fairies and even a Mini-Paul! ~ You Know You're a Permie When...~ All About Permies, including tutorials ~Herbal Hugel Spiral of Randomness!~Tricks to Keep the Dirt from Sliding off a Hugel~List of Cascadia Bloggers and Facebook Pages!~

 
Rachel Lindsay
gardener
Posts: 1400
Location: Tennessee
907
I like...
homeschooling kids urban books writing homestead
posted 4 months ago
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Nicole Alderman wrote: I don't know if watermelons will do well in zone 4? I've only seen a few people manage to grow them in my zone 7/8 area (granted, our zone 8 is a lot cooler and cloudier and a shorter growing season than a zone 8 in Texas. Not every zone is the same!)



Whoops, I didn't pay attention to the Zone 4 note there. Sorry! I keep trying to grow watermelon here, but I don't have enough sun in my yard. I hope somebody can!

“If we are honest, we can still love what we are, we can find all the good there is to find, and we may find ways to enhance that good, and to find a new kind of living world which is appropriate for our time.” ― Christopher Alexander

 
Jill Dyer
pollinator
Posts: 234
Location: Oz; Centre South
60
I like...
trees books cooking fiber arts writing
posted 4 months ago
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Could you add some broad beans to the mix  (May be known as Fava beans?)   We used to get great excitement with these when we grew them between the jar and rolled up blotting paper  with a little water  - then the sprout and the root system are visible.    They don't mind colder conditions when in the garden, and also make a good "hummus" type concoction apart from the regular ways to cook 'em.   Some people prefer them with the seed coat taken off and in a salad.

Life's too short, eat desert first! [Source of quote unknown]
You have to be warped to weave [ditto!]

 
Dian Green
gardener
Posts: 305
Location: Southern Ontario, 6b
194
I like...
cat forest garden food preservation cooking writing ungarbage
posted 4 months ago
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Lots of good suggestions!

I don't have any of the fun colour radishes on hand and most of the family has sensory issues so they didn't want anything hot.

I don't have any favs beans either, but I'd like to try them. At least the scarlet runners have the big seeds that are dramatic sprouters.

I would have loved to include some nasturtiums but I'm out of them too.

All true wealth is biological.
Lois McMaster Bujold

 
Nina Surya
gardener
Posts: 313
Location: in the Middle Earth of France (18), zone 8a-8b
157
I like...
hugelkultur dog tiny house chicken composting toilet cooking building sheep rocket stoves homestead composting
posted 4 months ago
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
What a great idea to send a starter pack!

Do you have strawberry plants? Could you add a few in the package, with something moist around the roots and in their own plastic bag so not to moisten the seeds?

* Follow your curiosity , Do what you Love *
Permaculture page on Simperi website | Antique and vintage finds TreasureChestTales

 
Stephen B. Thomas
master pollinator
Posts: 1350
Location: Wheaton Labs, Montana, USA
2644
9
I like...
home care trees books wofati food preservation bike bee building writing seed
posted 4 months ago
  • Likes 4
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I think those pumpkins were a good choice, among the others. Even if they don't have large fruits the vines ought to grow and sprawl, and any sense of progress is likely a good thing for brand-new gardeners.

A starter seed set is a fun, useful idea...! Oh, and I second the suggestion for radishes. They're relatively easy and quick to grow, and are hard to ignore once they're ready to pick.

"We carry a new world here, in our hearts..."

 
Anne Miller
steward
Posts: 16674
Location: USDA Zone 8a
4349
I like...
dog hunting food preservation cooking bee greening the desert
posted 4 months ago
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
For beginner gardeners I like to include lettuce as I feel it is easy to grow.

does your friend know how to garden?  If not maybe include a small pamphlet on how to garden?

Maybe include how to start seed with the paper towel method or using egg cartons?

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

 
Matt McSpadden
gardener
Posts: 2477
Location: Central Maine (Zone 5a)
1090
I like...
homeschooling kids trees chicken food preservation building woodworking homestead
posted 4 months ago
  • Likes 4
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Hi Dian,
Most of the things I was thinking of have already been suggested. I like to give my kids one of the seed catalogs and let them pick a couple things. As long as it would grow here. They generally pick oddball items, especially colorful, especially small, especially big... those sorts of things.

My only suggest not in there would be some sort of prolific cherry tomato. They can seem to take a while to get started, but once they start producing, it's fun for them to go pick them... and to watch a small seed turn into something so big. Matt's Wild Cherry Tomatoes and Sun Gold spring and Yellow Pear all come to mind as ones that my kids enjoyed growing and eating.

"When the whole world is running towards a cliff, he who is running in the opposite direction appears to have lost his mind." C.S. Lewis
Visit https://themaineingredient.com for organic, premium dried culinary herbs that are grown, processed, and packaged in the USA.

 
James MacKenzie
Posts: 143
Location: eastern cape breton, 6b
51
I like...
cat fish ungarbage
posted 4 months ago
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
that is a GREAT starter kit!! nice mixed selection!!

all of your choices are fairy easy to grow and have a good germination potential which will be important for keeping the enthusiasm up!

i think you are good as you are to get them going... you can always send more next year!!
 
Michael Cox
pollinator
Posts: 3905
Location: Kent, UK - Zone 8
713
I like...
books composting toilet bee rocket stoves wood heat homestead
posted 4 months ago
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Nasturtiums - super easy to get started, they grow fast from seed and are pretty and edible.

We planted some beneath berry bushes in large planters by the house last year. They did really well.

Moderator, Treatment Free Beekeepers group on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/treatmentfreebeekeepers/

 
If you were a tree, what sort of tree would you be? This tiny ad is a poop beast.
A PDC for cold climate homesteaders
http://permaculture-design-course.com
reply
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
Boost this thread!
Similar Threads
More...