How to encourage green-fingered kids
Get your children into gardening with easy-to-grow veg and salad options
As the weather picks up, you may feel the urge to get your children into the garden, or at least let off steam in the open space. If you’re short of ideas for National Children’s Gardening Week, be reassured that the kids can still sow vegetables and other seeds now and into the middle of June, which should germinate quickly to produce tasty and colourful salad leaves, edible flowers and healthy veg.
Almost one in three amateur gardeners has gained inspiration for gardening from their parents, according to YouGov research from Readly magazine app – so there’s no better time to start.
Welsh specialist kitchen gardener, best-selling author and YouTuber Huw Richards, who has 730k followers on his channel, selects the following choices which can still be sown and are also suitable for containers:
Peas
“Peas are my favourite. When you eat fresh peas straight from the pod they are so sweet and are like little snacks. Children can eat the pea shoots as well, two or three weeks after sowing, which means they don’t have to wait too long, so it feels like a fast turnaround.
“I’d recommend a mangetout or a sugar snap if they want to eat the whole pod. ‘Oregon Sugar Pod’ sugar snap is a great variety, while the ‘Ambassador’ pea is widely available. The seeds are dried peas, so easy for little hands to manage.”
Growing tip: Start them off in pots or plant directly into the soil, 2cm deep, in a sunny situation. You can sow peas until mid-June, he says.
Runner beans
“These have a bigger seed size than peas, so are very easy to handle. They can grow to about 2m and children can enjoy the beautiful red flowers and the bumble bees that visit them.
“The beans that you sow are pretty, pink with black dots, so are very visual. Easily assessable varieties include ‘Scarlet Emperor’.”
Growing tip: Grow them on a south-facing boundary or wall and stake them with canes, or make a wigwam to grow them up.
Pumpkins
Any children who love Halloween may enjoy growing their own pumpkins, Richards suggests. “These are quite a bit of fun and surprisingly simple to grow but need a bit more space.”
As well as carving faces in the pumpkin come autumn, you can also tip the seeds out, coat them with cinnamon and roast them, to give the children a healthy snack, he suggests.
“If you are looking for something to fill up an empty corner, a single pumpkin plant will do that for you. It grows fast and every day the children check the plants and the pumpkins. Maybe they can take a ruler out to check how long the plant is or how wide the pumpkin is.” Growing tip: Sow seeds until the end of May. They prefer a sunny site and need a lot of compost to get started. Seedlings should pop up within a week.
Good varieties include ‘Jack
O’Lantern’.
Nasturtiums
“Children could plant a hanging basket or container with nasturtium seeds, which will produce bright flowers which they can later put into salads, for a peppery flavour.
“The big seeds look like little brains and can be popped into the ground 2cm deep, or in a hanging basket. They grow really fast and trail or spread, creating a profusion of flowers usually in orange, reds and yellows. There will always be a bee on the plant when it’s in flower.”
Growing tip: Sow them up to mid-June and just a few seeds will create an array of colour. Just make sure the seedlings don’t dry out in the first few weeks.
Swiss chard ‘Bright
Lights’ “This variety produces a rainbow of coloured stems in shades including white, pink, yellow, green, orange and red – and they look so cool. They are often planted in ornamental borders because of how beautiful they are,” he says.
Swiss chard ‘Bright Lights’ is ideally grown in a bed or a large container. Sow seeds 1-2cm deep with 2cm between each seed and grow them as a ‘cut and come again’ crop which can add a burst of colour to any salad.
Growing tip: Keep the crop well watered and the seedlings will quickly appear and start turning different colours. They can be grown in sun or partial shade. Radishes
Sean Lade, director of Easy Garden Irrigation, adds that radishes are another must-have because they are ready for lifting just three to four weeks after sowing.
“This short growing cycle is perfect for kids, who may not have the patience to wait for a longer-growing vegetable, and they come in a variety of colours and flavours, making them exciting for kids to experiment with and try new things,” he says.
Growing tip: Grow them in a sunny spot in well-drained soil with added compost about 1-2 cm deep and 2-3 cm apart, after removing stones, weeds and other debris.
To make it easier for children to sow the seeds, make a furrow with a stick and sprinkle the seeds along the furrow, covering them with soil and gently patting them down before watering. Thin seedlings as they grow, then lift radishes when the tops push out of the soil.
Whether you’re a first-time buyer, in a property chain or free to move quickly, buying a property is daunting at the best of times.
And with the cost-of-living crisis and rising mortgage interest rates, potential buyers need a lot more persuasion to invest in a home these days.
House prices across the UK rose steeply by around
25% from the start of 2020 until Autumn 2022. However, according to March’s 2023 figures from the Nationwide Building Society, prices have fallen by 4.6% since the August peak.
While this may be positive for buyers, some sellers may delay putting their home on the market or see it taking a lot longer to get that all important sale.
And if you’re in a chain, there is nothing more frustrating than finding your next perfect home but being prevented from buying it due to a lack of offers on your existing property.
House prices are expected to stabilise this year. This means it’s a great time to increase the value of your home while still living there, to get it ready for the market, according to homes expert for Saga Exceptional, Amy Cutmore (right).
“Adding value isn’t just about converting the loft or landscaping the garden.
Simply paying attention to easily fixable issues can be the difference between buyers putting in an offer or not.”
She continues: “Not everyone is looking for a project. In our current economic climate, most buyers are drawn to properties that are clean, tidy and aesthetically pleasing.”
Here, Cutmore highlights the top five things to pay attention to before putting your house on the market…
1. Declutter your house
“Clutter… it’s everyone’s guilty secret. And it goes without saying that it is very distracting for viewers,” opines Cutmore.
“Buyers want to visualise the space with their own furniture and belongings in it. Clutter not only makes this difficult, but it can also make rooms look smaller than they actually are.”
She says crowded kitchen countertops and piles of clothes and toys can make viewings overwhelming and create the impression your home doesn’t have adequate storage space – pushing potential buyers to question what other problems might be lurking inside it.
2. Carry out those repairs
Poorly maintained features, such as old appliances, stained doors, or an untamed garden, can make a home feel outdated and unappealing, says
Cutmore.
“Investing time into basic maintenance and DIY, such as mowing the grass or repainting peeling walls, can significantly increase appeal.
“Adding a lick of paint will make a huge difference to a space. Neutral colours are most appealing to house buyers and can go a long way to giving your home a new lease of life.”
3. Give your garden some TLC
A garden is one of the top three features potential buyers look for, according to a poll by Saga Magazine, notes Cutmore.
“So, even if you have a small outdoor space, it’s a good idea to get this into shape. Not only could this lead to a quicker sale, but it could even increase your asking price.”
It’s important to remember first impressions count. “Having an untidy garden makes it difficult for the buyer to visualise its potential, so making sure your front garden is aesthetically pleasing will intrigue potential buyers,” says Cutmore.
“Trimming the hedge, pulling out weeds, sweeping the path and making sure your rubbish bins and recycling boxes are neatly tucked away will make a massive difference.”
4. Remove personalisation
Of course, potential buyers will love to see how you made this house into your home, but what’s more important to them is being able to picture themselves living here – too much personalisation may make viewers feel like they are intruding, suggests Cutmore.
“Temporarily take down the kids’ or grandkids’ artwork from the fridge, pare back quirky collections, and tone down the inspirational ‘word art’.”
5. Be honest about parking
“Let’s face it – most potential buyers will have one, if not two, cars that need a parking space. So if they arrive at a viewing and can’t see an obvious place to park, it’s going to be off-putting.” She continues.
“No one wants to be carrying shopping back to the house from the next street, or have young children jumping out of the car and into the road.”
Cutmore says having offstreet parking could add significant value to your house, with one report stating properties with their own parking facilities can get up to 13% more than homes without.
“The appeal of off-street parking will make your property easier to sell when it goes on the market,” says Cutmore. “So maybe consider creating parking – by switching your front lawn for a permeable gravel parking space.
“Adding value to your home is vital in the current housing market,” she concludes.