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katn2kiddos

cheap/easy plants for kids to do at home

katn2kiddos
21 years ago

My two year old and I are growing some fun things:

1. We cut the tops off of carrots and beets and put them in water. I bought the fresh vegies at the store with the stems still attached to teach my girl the different parts. We cut the stems down to about 1/2 inch and cut the root to about 1 inch. Then placed the carrot and beet stubs in a bowl filled with rocks and water and put them in her window-new tiny green stems grew almost overnight. Now-only one months later we have beautiful purple green beet leaves and fern like carrot leaves. The roots grew smaller roots-was a great science lesson. We put her plants in soil yesterday.

2. we are growing honey tangerine and grapefruit seedlings-got the seeds from the fruit we ate. Just soaked the seeds overnight-put them in a store bought starting mix, lightly covered them, put them in a warm spot, made sure they stayed moist-took about 3 weeks for the plant to pop up. Also planted lemon and orange seeds-haven't seen them yet.

Comments (17)

  • Gwyn
    21 years ago

    Thanks for sharing.
    Those are great learning experiences for the little ones.

  • thezookeepper
    21 years ago

    Have you tried Green onions? If there is still a little root attached to the white part, place about 1/2 inch into the soil. keep watered... and soon you will have new leaves growing... trim them to keep them about three inches tall.
    You can also grow Pinapple... Do it the same way as the carrots. With my kids we also do a mini cut and come again salad. sow the seed for spinach, two or three types of lettuce(leaf).( we bought one package of mixed seed) When they get four or five leaves trim them off and make a salad. The plants will regrow. We also grew a some pots of 'itty bitty' carrots and radishes from seed... to go with the salad. We also kept one large pot of parsley to trim for garnishes and to put in the salad, but this one I dug out of the garden last fall.
    Any other fun ideas out there?

  • thezookeepper
    21 years ago

    Sorry, The pinapple You need to put in dirt like the onions.
    -Kris

  • catalina_101
    21 years ago

    Hi I just dropped into this forum, but I have loooots of suggestions!

    Guava
    Find UNROASTED peanuts and just stick the whole thing in soil
    Okra (I tried this once...I don't remember what happened, though)
    Peaches, plums, etc (all those drupe/stone fruits)
    Squash and cucumber and watermelons, etc
    carrot tops
    You can try any kind of citrus, pretty much all of them should be fine (of those that have seeds. Limes usually don't, unless you find a key/mexican lime, or one of the fancy thai limes etc etc). Avocado is really rewarding (I have a beautiful year old tree!) See if you can get your hands on a tamarind (clean off the goo and you get seeds that look like obsidian. stick 'em in a pot of another houseplant and they'll be up before you can blink); I don't know how long-lived they are indoors, but tamarinds are absolutely beautiful! I've attached a link about mango. Pomegranate and papaya work too. If you can find a dragon fruit in your local grocery store, I hear that that is quite rewarding. I've heard success stories about star-fruit. Basically, if your town has one, go to china town, pick out all sorts of exotic fruits (don't refrigerate them! take out the seeds, plant them, and enjoy the rest of the fruit!). You can also grow peppers from seeds from peppers from the grocery store easily. Anything that has seeds is doable. Apples grow from seeds from the grocery store, as do kiwis (however you will need both a male and a female plant to get fruit from the kiwi). If you can find dates with the pits still in them, plant the pits and they'll grow. If you find unroasted coffee beans, or FRESH unpreserved olives, they'll grow too!

    Here is a link that might be useful: mango from seed

  • keiko_kubo
    21 years ago

    Avacado seed!

  • pattilacy
    21 years ago

    A friend sent me some rox orange sugar cane seeds to try with my son. We are going to put them out this week and are hoping to grow our own sugar cane. just a thought if any of ya'll are interested

  • klv13440
    21 years ago

    We have grown pineapple by putting it in water with fertilizer for 3 months. We have a super root system grown and we are transplanting it into a rather large container. I can't wait to see how large it will get. It has already gotten rather large. Can anyone tell me how large they get!

  • thezookeepper
    21 years ago

    This link should help... It tells how to do the whole process. And how big they get :)
    Kris

    Here is a link that might be useful: How to grow a pineapple in your home

  • Kim_in_AB
    21 years ago

    My kids have done this for (homeschooled) science over the winter. My oldest stratified an apple seed and has a tree that is about 45 cms tall. She also did a tomato seed from one of our last year's garden tomatoes and enjoyed her first red tomato this week. Oh and pepper plants from harvested seed, too.

    I always give up on them too soon and cast dire predictions on their plants before they start growing like crazy !

  • fchaase
    20 years ago

    My boys like to grow bean plants!We have also gotten into growing herbs.They like mint, lavender, parsley, rosemary and oregano. My oldest is actually preparing to grow his first vegetable garden this year.(He's 14)We will be planting his plants over the next few weeks.My younger two are looking forward to helping out as well.

  • usasmint
    20 years ago

    that sugar cane sounds very intersting how do u grow sugar cane and how much room does it take up do u know? we live in TN and do not have a huge amount of space most of our plants are container grown.

  • weaserbug
    20 years ago

    Marigolds are easy to grow from seeds. After they flower it's fun to deadhead them, take apart the seed pods, examine them more closely, and then plant the new seeds if you want.

  • Nynavey
    20 years ago

    I'm interested in the sugar cane thing too - sounds great.

    I've just made a tepee frame in the backyard out of bamboo sticks. This weekend we're going to plant string beans, morning glories, and gourds at the base of each and see how they go this summer!

  • janetgia
    20 years ago

    Four-o-clocks are also easy to grow from seed. They are attractive flowers in mid-summer, and the seeds are easily harvested by gently "shaking" the plant over a pan - the seeds fall right out! I've had very good luck with these!

  • penguin19
    20 years ago

    ok, i have experience with sugar cane, but not of the gardening sort - the oldest local business is a cane sugar refinery. a warning about sugar cane (not sure if it applies to orange sugar cane): if you have one section of the stalk, like bamboo, you can stick it in the ground and it'll grow. but you may never get rid of it, at least in southern areas with semi-tropical climates. sugar cane just stay and stays. there may be a way to control it, but i don't know it.

  • yummykaz
    20 years ago

    We have had great luck this year. I bought my son a "mystery box" from Gurneys. 9 bucks for well over 100.00 of seeds! You just don't know what ya gonna get! Well there were a ton of " cow peas". We are enjoying the "green beans" off those as snaps in other beans!

  • SHERRIBNC
    20 years ago

    This may be more of a crafty item but the kids love it.
    This works great in the spring and Easter.
    In empty, clean egg shells
    Draw faces on the outside of the shell., In the egg shell put in potting soil and them grass seed. Water when needed. When the grass grows out of the top of the egg shell, Let kids give there "Egg Head" a hair cut.
    Notes When breaking the egg shells try to break near one end so you have more room to draw a funny face and have more soil and grass seed on the inside.
    Also, store the Egg Head in the egg carton, so they will sit up straight.