On Tue, 12 May 2009 21:47:53 +0100, Richard Elsmore
wrote:

:
:Hi All,
:
:I am novice gardener and only have planted shrubs, climbers etc but
:would like to grow some fruit or vegetables with my 3 year old
:daughter. Can anyone suggest easy ones to start with and can I plant a
:small plant to start with rather than seeds as I was very unscuceesful
:last year with my sunflower seeds and none grew. I planted first from
:seed in a tray indoors then transferred to the ground but they did not
:last at all they seemed too fragile.
:
:Many thanks

Tomatoes are pretty easy and immensely satisfying. Buy a plant or maybe
better a set of 6 cells and plant 18" apart in fertile soil. Tomatoes
are deep rooted, so the deeper you work in some compost the better. They
aren't terribly fussy and I've had very good luck with them. The
tomatoes are green as they grow and then start turning pink and then red
and are ready to eat. It should delite a 3 year old.

You can try pumpkins, too. Any squash, really. The plants looks similar
as well as the beautiful big yellow blossoms, but the fruits differ
widely among squash. Beautiful very fast growing plants, and watching
the fruits grow is wonderful. With squash, if you have snails and slugs
you will want to control them. Try Sluggo, which is non-toxic but does a
good job. Squash do well from seeds. In my experience, it takes around
10-14 days for the seedlings to appear. Good luck.

Dan

Email: dmusicant at pacbell dot net