easy to grow veggies to put in pots - ideas please!

[chocolateshoes]

Says it all really. We have quite a small garden so are restricted to using pots. I'd really like to plant some veg that DS (2.7) could help look after and watch grow, & then eat. Any ideas for quick, easy to grow veg that will thrive in pots please.

Thanks.

[pickie]

courgettes are very easy to grow and quick as well. Rocket is easy too but might be a bit too strong for young DC

[chocolateshoes]

courgettes - what a wonderful idea. Do you think its too early for them yet? Am worried about frost. I should probab;y wait. Thanks!

[DaphneHarvey]

Cherry tomatoes. We always do those - very happy in a pot and always produce so long as they get sun and you water them a lot - and children generally like them.

Wild strawberries ??? My dcs nursery does them in pots and they are lovely. A tiny little morsel but so delicious.

[colander]

We did green beans last year in a pot - not runners, but the french ones iykwim. They were lovely. I find courgettes work better in the ground rather than a pot, but if you go for it, give them LOADS of water. Cherry tomatoes as someone said are good. Too early for courgettes, try late March. The green beans were our best, plus they are really easy to pick; courgettes can be a bit prickly for DC. Leeks are lovely too - so fragrant. HTH

[beautifuldays]

cherry tomatoes or strawberries in hanging baskets, looks lovely too

[chocolateshoes]

More good ideas - thanks. I guess its too early to do any planting yet. This sunshine has set me off ahead of time!

[lottymadbird]

Tomatoes definitely, runner beans (kids amazed at how high they get), cucumbers, peppers (my DS would eat them raw all day), peas (keeps them entertained for ages picking the peas out of the pod).

[soozze]

We did a few potatoes in pots last year. You don't get huges amounts but my ds loved digging them up. Wild strawberries are a great idea, so pretty.

[snorkle]

I have been looking through the Thompson and Morgan seed catelogue this afternoon.

They have a couple of collections of mini patio vegetable suitable for growing in confined spaces - containers or baskets on a sunny patio.

I'm ordering collection B which has: cabbage, calabrese, mini leeks, parsnips, dwarf runner bean bushes and baby sweetcorn.

collection A has: beetroot, mini carrots, climbing courgettes, mingreen lettuce (tennis-ball sized iceburg type), radish and half pint pea dwarf bushes.

Lots of things are possible if you grow suitable varieties.

[mummypig]

I started growing things in pots last year and did potatoes, carrots, beetroot, salad, tomatoes. The potatoes and the tomatoes were the most successful. I had forgotten what they both tasted like when really fresh. Ds2 kept wanting to try the carrots so we never got past the baby stage but at least I knew he was eating healthy stuff...

This year I'm adding French beans and garlic.

My mum bought me the Delia's Kitchen Garden book which has a section on patio gardens at the back. If your library has it you might want to take a look as it's all made pretty clear, for people new to growing veg.

[Littlefish]

We gre butternut squash in pots last year. They were fabulous! The squash just sat on the ground and grew and grew and grew. Because the plants were at the front of the pot, we grew a tomato plant at the back.

[missingtheaction]

grow what the kids like eating! if they hate cabbage then growing it themselves won't make them like eating it.

you can sow tomato seed now (traditionally done on St Valentine's day btu personally I think that's a bit early and get packtes every mother's day from dc)

Nice to grow them in fun containers - i get wine crates from Majestic (pay £1 to charity for them at my local branch) which look great and because they are square there is no wasted space between them btu this may not be the look you are after for your DCs!

[oggsfrog]

Ooh, Littlefish, I keep meaning to give butternut squash a go. Do they need a long growing season?
Are you in the south? Dh thinks we are too far north for them to have a chance (sw scotland)

[chocolateshoes]

Squash - what a wonderful idea.

Thanks everyone!

[BroccoliSpears]

This year with dd in mind we're doing patio pots of peas, runner beans, sweet peas, hanging tomatoes and sunflowers.

Also want to do shallots and quite fancy doing potatoes in a bin but haven't quite worked how / when yet.

Have a couple of pots left over. Thinking maybe a bay tree for one, and after reading this thread maybe wild strawbs for the other.

[BroccoliSpears]

Oh, and I meant to say that for the climbing things I went to InStore and picked up beautiful willow climbing cones for £3.00 each!!!!