Best fruit and vegetables to grow with kids

Here’s a list of 25 of the best fruit, vegetable and herb plants to grow with kids in the garden this year. 

Best fruit and vegetables to grow with kids

We had great fun growing vegetables last year and we also planted lots of other seeds.

Our herbs grew really well and our spinach and I loved that my daughter could pick the chard herself and eat it within minutes for her lunch.

This year we’re using our super-cheap but brilliant mini greenhouse to start the seedlings and grow our herbs and vegetable plants.

My friends have raved about how good mini-greenhouses are for years, so I thought it was time to invest. I know you’re here to find out about the best fruit and vegetables to grow with kids, so I’ve just added some information on the greenhouse at the bottom of this post.

Best fruit and vegetables to grow with kids

We don’t have the best garden for growing, it’s not huge, it is east facing and the soil is typically horrible London clay, which is so hard to dig when it’s wet.

But there are loads of fruit and veg which are super easy to grow with little fingers … impatient for exciting results … even in poor conditions like ours.

This is the list of 25 fruit, vegetable and herb plants that we’re planning on growing complete with the start months for sewing in and outside, planting out and harvesting

To best satisfy the interests and tastes of small gardeners we’ve gone for a mixture of:

• Speedy growers like radishes and lettuces
• Some dramatic plants e.g. sunflowers, zucchini and Jerusalem artichokes
• Bulbs and tubers as well as seeds
• Stuff even fussy eaters will eat whole like snap peas and french beans
• Plus spinach, chard, kale and cabbage that can be blended into sauces
• Yummy berries of course
• And some lovely smelly herbs which we can use in everything from cooking and teas to play dough and herb crowns

25 best fruit and vegetables to grow with kids

Original image source

Plant	Sow  In	Sow Out	Plant Out	Harvest
Beetroot		Mar		Jun
Blackberries			Jan	Jun
Blueberries			Nov	Jun
Broad beans		Mar		Jun
Broccoli	Mar	Apr		Jun
Cabbage	Feb		May	Jul
Chives	Feb	May	May	Aug
French beans	Apr	May		Jun
Garlic			Nov	Jul
Jerusalem artichoke		Mar		Dec
Lemon balm		Feb	Apr	Jul
Lettuce	Feb	Mar		Jun
Kale		Mar		Jun
Mint (Grow in containers)		Mar		Jun
Onions			Sep	Jun
Potatoes	Feb	Apr		Jul
Radishes … only takes a few weeks to grow		Mar		Mar
Sage … harvest the second year		May		Jul
Snap peas		Mar		Jun
Spinach		Mar		May
Spring onions	Feb			Aug
Strawberries … might not fruit from seed 1st year		Mar		Jun
Sunflowers		May		Aug
Swiss chard	Feb	Mar
Zucchini/courgettes	May	Jun		Jul

When you’re gardening with kids, I do think it’s worth getting them some gloves, they provide protection against cuts and stings AND make cleaning their nails easier.

Plus it is worth buying kids some hand tools of their own. My tools were definitely too heavy for my 4-year-old to use comfortably.

MINI GREENHOUSE – BRILLIANT FOR SMALL SPACES

We have a four-tier greenhouse like this one by Woodside. It has a weather-resistant cover to protect our seeds and plants from rain, frost and the cold and keep garden pests at bay. 

Why this greenhouse is so great:

• VERSATILE –  great for small pot plants and growing herbs and vegetables
• SPACE SAVING – Ideal for gardens with limited space and balconies. The dimensions are height: 160cm x width: 70cm x depth: 50cm.
• WEATHER RESISTANT – 135GSM PE woven cover to protect plants and vegetables from the rain, cold, frost and pests. 
• EASY ACCESS – Roll up zip panel door is for easy access and ensures that your plants get plenty of ventilation and fresh air.
• STRESS-FREE ASSEMBLY – Simple push together system for stress-free and easy to assemble/dismantle in no time.

It gets lots of great reviews from happy customers on Amazon, the greenhouse is easy to assemble and sturdy. You can read all the five-star reviews here. 

The main issue that seems to crop up in customer reviews is that the greenhouse needs to be tethered or weighed down on windy days. We have added bricks into the bottom of our greenhouse, which is working fine for windy days. 

The other thing you’ll need to bear in mind before buying is that it will need replacement covers, but these are easily available. 
Take a look at the Woodside four-tier greenhouse to see if it is just what you need.

I really hope you’ve found this post useful, you might also like my post on planting seeds with kids.

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