Mini Garden
This is a fun project for the little ones to start and will keep them engaged day after day, after they start looking after their own mini garden. All you need is some spare veg, containers and water. You can start most of these indoors and then once they’ve graduate from indoor pots you can move them to containers outdoors.
The best of all, the little ones can literally eat their own fruit and veggies.
Grow Sweet Potato Vines
Originally people grew sweet potato vines as a decorative house plant, but you can also eat the vines and use them for sandwich toppings, salads or any meals you or your kids like with leafy greens. Better yet, you can transfer them to the garden to grow as a sweet potato.
Step 1: Grab a glass and fill it up half way with water
Step 2: Add the sweet potato but keep the top 1/3 of the sweet potato exposed with tooth picks
Step 3: Place in a sunny and bright location (top tip: treat them similar to a house plant)
Step 4: Once you have vines growing, you can take the sprouts and plant outside to grow your own sweet potatoes (they need lots of sun and take 100 to 140 days to grow)
Grow your own Celery
This is a very simple and easy vegetable to grow in your home, all you need to start is the base of a celery, warm water and a container.
Step 1: Cut off the celery stalks and save the base (this should be around an inch high)
Step 2: Rinse the base and place it in a small container or bowl of warm water. It should be near a sunny windowsill with the base side down and cut stalks facing upright
Step 3: Leave this in the saucer for around a week, and change the water every couple of days
Step 4: Once you start to see some leaves sprouting you can transfer to a container with soil, make sure you submerge the base but leave the little leaves out of the soil
Step 5: Water generously and within a week you should see some real growth
Lettuce, Bok Choy, Other Leafy Greens
The great thing about leafy greens is that they can easily re-grow from just the base of the vegetable. Once again all you need is water, old leafy greens and a container to start.
Step 1: Cut off the base of the vegetable
Step 2: Place the base in a bowl of water and use tooth picks to keep the top half exposed
Step 3: Keep the bowl in a sunny spot and mist with water every couple of days
Step 4: Within a week or so, new roots should begin to form along with new leaves and you can transfer your new leafy plants into the soil