Kiddo garden!

[Messybun]

Alright y’all, I’m expanding my garden. I’ve got an area about 12x16 very partial shade. I’m going to have to add a lot of manure to the soil and dig it up and all. But, I’m wanting to make it super fun for some kids! We’ll probably be moving in a few years, when I finish nursing school, but until then I need a low maintenance and fun garden that produces food. Cheap of course! So far I’m thinking of beans shaped into a teepee trellis. Maybe a wishing well of used tires with something growing out of it. I want to do raised beds I think and then creeping thyme or some other soft ground cover in between the raised beds. I’m trying to come up with ideas and would love if y’all had some! I also need a fence or some barrier for small pests, not sure what to make that out of yet.
Is there anything fun and kid friendly in your garden I could adopt?

 

[CrealCritter]

Alright y’all, I’m expanding my garden. I’ve got an area about 12x16 very partial shade. I’m going to have to add a lot of manure to the soil and dig it up and all. But, I’m wanting to make it super fun for some kids! We’ll probably be moving in a few years, when I finish nursing school, but until then I need a low maintenance and fun garden that produces food. Cheap of course! So far I’m thinking of beans shaped into a teepee trellis. Maybe a wishing well of used tires with something growing out of it. I want to do raised beds I think and then creeping thyme or some other soft ground cover in between the raised beds. I’m trying to come up with ideas and would love if y’all had some! I also need a fence or some barrier for small pests, not sure what to make that out of yet.
Is there anything fun and kid friendly in your garden I could adopt?

Radishes they pop up quick and can be used to mark the rows of later germinating seeds.

Lettuce if you can grow it in your area, lots of different kinds / colors / textures in lettuces.

Pole beans also. When my kids were younger we built a stick house out of trimmed crepmertles and planted the outside with Kentucky Wonder pole beans. It turned out to be a cool play house for them for a couple of years. And they proudly picked dinner multiple times.

Edit...
Pumpkins and watermelon are also fun... But around here you gotta keep the squash and stink bugs under control though.

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[Hinotori]

I second radishes. We always had bush peas. Usually the english garden peas. My brothers and I would always sneak pods to eat the peas as they are so sweet fresh.

Sunflowers were good. We raised those for the fair. We had seed from my great grandfather that made these giant heads. Fought over the seeds as snacks during the winter.

 

[NH Homesteader]

Cool thread, I’m following! Sunflowers are a favorite with my kids. And pumpkins!

 

[Messybun]

Alright! I’m liking your ideas! Yes, lettuce is something I can grow pretty well, and I have a ton of seeds saved from last year. I’m wanting to make the fence good enough that I can let chickens in there sometimes for pest control.
A wall of sunflowers could be fun, and great snacking.

 

[CrealCritter]

+1 for sunflowers pretty much pest free except for wasps that seem to love them a short time and about the same time okra needs picking. Psst don't plant them next to each other


Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[Trying2keepitReal]

Some herbs and put in a fairy garden among the plants- chives, dill, anise etc. My little one has a fairy garden, she picks 2 annuals each year to put in it. It is among the herbs bed.

 

[NH Homesteader]

We also love to do a pollinator garden, they love watching the butterflies and hummingbirds, as well as our bees!

 

[CrealCritter]

We also love to do a pollinator garden, they love watching the butterflies and hummingbirds, as well as our bees!

Butterflies are fun for kids

But I try and not intentionally attract them. Around here with all the prairie lands, the moths and butterflies are thick. So I pretty much have to stay on top of applying Bacillus Thuringiensis (BT) or there would be no hope for cabbages or tomatoes & peppers, with cabbage lopers and horn worms.

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[Hinotori]

Eww tomato horn worms. The hawk moths are so cool though, so it's a catch 22 for me.