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 Gardening Projects February 25, 2005 7:03 AM

Here are a few fun indoor gardening projects that introduce children to gardening by  growing flowers and plants from seeds and vegetables.


Growing Dry Beans
This project was a favorite that my mother used to do with me.

a couple dry beans
paper towel
water
zip lock bag
cool dry space
small pot
soil

Fold paper towel in half. Wet thoroughly, and place dry bean in paper towel and fold in half again, covering beans.  Place in ziplock bag, seal and place in cool dark  space.  Check daily and re-wet paper towel as needed.  The beans will begin sprouting in just a few days. Once beans are sprouted well, you can transfer them to a pot.

Sweet Potato Vine
Sweet potato
tooth picks
glass of water
string

Stick one tooth pick in each side of a sweet potato. Set it in a glass of water with the tooth picks resting on the rim of the glass.  Water should just cover the tip of the sweet potato.  Put in place where sweet potato will get filtered sunlight.  as vine begins to sprout, pin up some string so the vine has something to climb.  Change water as needed, and make sure pototo sits above glass with help of toothpicks, with air flowing under.  If the potato seals at top of glass it will just rot and get really stinky!!

Avocado tree
seed from avocado, dryed for a few days
5-6 " pot
potting soil.

Enjoy your avocado and then save the seed, allowing it to dry for several days.  Peel the papery brown skin off and plant, base down about 2/3 down in the soil.  Leave the pointed tip exposed to .  Germination will take 30-90 days. Keep well watered in bright sun or place in dark cupboard for stronger root system.  When seed sprouts, leave one new shoot and pinch off rest.  Keep in sunny spot.

Growing Carrots and Beets
carrots or beets
shallow dish of water
small pot
potting soil

Cut two inches off the top of carrot or beet.  Set cut side down in a dish with half an inch of water. Change water daily. When roots appear, plant cut side down in pot of moist soil. Set in sunny spot,  water often.

Egg shell seed starters.
Save your egg carton and egg shell halves (be sure and rinse them).
  When you have enough egg shells to fill your carton, Fill each egg shell with potting soil.  Plant seeds of your choice, water and set in sunny spot.  When your seeds have sprouted to desired height, transfer to flower/vegetable bed. Plant eggshell and all in the soil.  The egg shells will help fertilize the soil adding minerals as it breaks down.

Growing Grapefruit
Grapefruit
potting soil

Cut grapefruit in half and enjoy fruit leaving the rind intack.  Save seeds and grapefruit shells.  Soak seeds in water overnight.  Fill grapefruit shell with potting soil and plant grapefruit seeds.  Place on saucer in sunny spot and watch them grow!




Potato Porcupine
large potato
twigs or toothpicks
two whole cloves
grass seeds
potting soil

Use a spoon to hollow out one side of a potato.  Fill with potting soil and sprinkle grass seeds in it.  Sticks twigs or tooth picks in for legs and push cloves in for eyes.  Keep moist and in a few days the grass will begin sprouting.  In two weeks, it will look quite furry.  If you have cats, they will enjoy munching on the fresh grass.





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Spongy Lettuce June 17, 2005 6:33 AM

Here's one we are going to try this week...
Moisten a sponge ( organic if you can find one) and place lettuce seedss in the hole of the sponge. Put the sponge in a shallow pan of water; place pan in a well-lit area. The plants will form foliage. If you place water-soluble fertilizer in the pan, a crop of leaf lettuce may even begin to grow.

Personally. not sure of the fertilizer, but the rest sounds fun. Leithe loved starting seeds with me this spring.
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Sprouts June 17, 2005 6:39 AM

Another project we are going to try is seed sprouting. I picked up these Sprout-Ease
Econo-Sprouter lids at the natural food store along with a some mixed seeds to sprout. The lids fit on mason jars and claim to be made out of recycled materials.
I'll let you all know how it turns out! We are big sprout eaters!!!
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Gardening with Kids August 06, 2005 1:36 AM

The BBC website has some cool ideas for gardening with kids.  Have a look at

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/gardening_with_children

Cheers

Meg

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anonymous  June 14, 2006 12:17 PM

Here I am writing a reply over 300 days later...

Thank you for these resources.  I'm going to try the sweet potato vine tonight.  I think the kids'll love it.

Thanks, again!

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anonymous  May 25, 2007 9:22 PM

Hi!

Great topic.  Something I do with my son is use the tissue method for early germination, he is always amazed that you don't need soil to start the seedlings. Right now we are using rosemary seeds. This weekend though he will be planting some dwarf sunflower seeds to keep on his window.

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