Growing our First Vegetable Garden.

Growing a Vegetable Garden with Kids

We have made some headway in the garden however, although that’s not without its own long list of things to do too. (Does it sound so very old to say that I have lawn envy?! Our lawn is full of tree roots and it’s a lot more weed than it is green grass. Our neighbours, on the other hand have a luscious green garden that I keep staring at!) Anyway, it’s taken a fair few months but we’ve finally finished our vegetable patch! It’s hardly of the ‘Good Life’ standard but it’s something we wanted for the children when we were dreaming of a bigger garden. Here’s what the patch of garden looked like when we first moved in.

Until we really set to it over the last couple of weekends and spent full days in the garden to sort it all out. It’s been a lovely couple of gardening weeks though, building the vegetable beds, sourcing the right kind of veg to grow in a short raised bed and finally planting this weekend. We planted in a mixture of compost and top soil. We also added some bone marrow feed and topped it with some ‘Slug Be Gone’  – it’s good at keeping the snails and slugs from eating your crop and is natural so it’s safe to be used around children. Vitax 3.5L Slug Gone Natural Wool Barrier Pellets It seems to have done the trick so far! It did seem perfect to be planting in May, although I think we may have left some things a little late. But May feels like a month of growth, of flowers and freshness; it’s a month of welcomed warmth and new life. There seems to be something a little more optimistic about May that makes me fully hopeful we might actually grow something! May has so far, been a month of weekends in gardens and planting and smiling at the passing butterflies and bumbling bees.

If you’re looking for ideas to grow in a raised bed – we’ve found the following to do well and they are the easiest for kids to grow too. This is also a good book to swot up on raised bed gardening planting. RHS Step-by-Step Veg Patch

What Vegetables are good to grow in shallow raised beds?

Wooden Spoon Vegetable Garden Planters

And here are the proud owners of their vegetable patches. Finlay has got beans (he began growing these at school) tomatoes and strawberries, Elodie is growing carrots, broccoli and runner beans. Orla has got all the salad stuff in her box – peppers and salad and beetroot. Needless to say, they are their competitive selves and Finlay is quite proud that his strawberries and potatoes are flourishing nicely!

Now there is just the rest of the garden to conquer (we have insane weeds and brambles that are pulled out one weekend and then they re-grow by the next!) Time to get on and tackle the list!

If you’d like more ideas on growing a vegetable garden with kids – here are our other garden posts here:

Creative Ideas for a Family Friendly Garden

Spring Time Gardening

Making a Garden Windchime

Best Garden Toys for Kids

Garden Games for Siblings