Growing at school

[Jeannine]

Try the odd coloured things too,the kids love that. eg
White, purple,red black carrots.
Purple, green, orange cauliflower.

Funny shapes too, like round carrots, round yellow cucumbers, white cucumbers

Tomatoes come in all shapes, sizes and colours and some have  really neat history behind them too. I have a big collection of tomato seeds and they are very different to what the kids think which is usually just red and round.I have black, purple, pink, orange, yellow, white, striped, speckled, and even some with fuzzy skins,shapes are  round, pear shaped, heart shaped,some look like Christmas lights, some very tiny and some huge.The plants come from as small as 8 inches high and have fruit. Check out Tomatogrowers  online to see pictures

Beans, kids love to see dried beans, some are beautiful, check out a bean site, you will be amazed at the colours and the stories behind the names.

There is a whole school site in growing the 3 sisters , corn, squash and beans, along with classroom resources and history.It is American based but very valid just the same.

If you have the space, squash are a super interesting project, I am biased as I collect them too along with the toms and beans mentioned earlier and  they come in so many sizes and shapes.

Kids love the Jack be Little pumpkins as they are so tiny and they will grow on a trellis.

Show them how to sprout seeds in a jar, they can be eating those in a week and there are loads of varieties. Check out the T&M site for ideas, they may even come up with some freebies for you.

Leeks can be grown in a tub, and they take up so little space the kids can each adopt a leek, some grow quite big.

Sunflowers, all colour and heights, and they grow so fast.

XX Jeannine

[Jeannine]

[emmy1978]

Apparently you can carve neames into your baby pumpkins and it will grow as the pumpkin does. Sounds like veg abuse to me though!!

[hopeful vegigrower]

Well, we never knew such things existed, Jeannine!  You're right, the kids will love these ideas, they're always up for something a bit out of the ordinary.  Thanks to everyone who has contributed, we've got such a lot of stuff to go at now!  Just hope we can get the growing bit right...    :-\  :-\

[Jeannine]

Good Luck, sadly all our growing area at school is now gone as is my lottie due to the flooding,our whole school is trashed so I shouldn't grumble about veggies.I hope you are OK . XX Jeannine

[manicscousers]

hiya, guys, elsie, you used to live near us, our grandson goes to your school and I've just been talking to the headmaster today..been out of action for a while..he told me you're organising it, sent you an e mail..let us know what you need, we'll see what we can do on the allotments, all for a good cause,
callum reckons he acn show how to grow things as he's done some seed sowing with us  ;D
marilyn

[emmy1978]

How totally brill is that? Bet you're glad you joined now eh? With manics on your side you're sorted!!