Here’s our recommendation of the 10 best vegetables which you and your children can grow from seed. We’ve chosen them for their variety in colour, flavour, shape and seasonality. This selection of vegetable seeds will teach your children about how a seed germinates, the conditions that they need to grow into plants and how to harvest the different parts of the plants for food.
1) CHRISSIE CRESS
You can’t beat cress for a first time growing and eating experience.
Sow: Any time of the year, on tissue, cotton wool or compost on a windowsill
Growing: Make sure the seeds are kept moist.
Harvest: 1 week after sowing
Eat: Be ready to share this new mind-blowing flavour experience with your children, homegrown cress is hot and peppery and can be a bit of a shock. Our favourite is to mix it in an egg or cheese sandwich.
2) MINGO MUNGBEAN
Sow: Any time of the year in a jam jar
Growing: Soak the beans for 12 hours then rinse morning and night, draining well.
Harvest: The bean sprouts will be ready to eat in 5 days.
Eat: Crunchy bean sprouts can be added to salads or tossed into stir fries. You can sprout other beans and seeds like chick peas and lentils learn more
3) BRUNO BROADBEAN
Sow: Late Autumn or Feb/March, you can start them in news-paper pots then plant them in the ground.
Grow: Blackflies love the tender top leaves, when there are some flowers on the stem nip out the top, before they infest.
Harvest: Large pods, 10 weeks later
Eat: Top leaves are eaten like greens, small pods can be eaten whole or pop the beans raw from the pods. Also delicious in fritters, or as a paste on toast.
4) PC PEA POD
Sow: In a seed tray in Spring or direct in ground in May and June
Growing: Peas need twigs to grow up, clinging to them with their tendrils.
Harvest: Mange-tout peas are great for kids as they eat the whole pod often straight from the plant. Round peas need to be left until the pods swell and then popped from the pods.
Eat: Salads, stir fries, boiled with a sprig of mint….so many ways.
5) BABS BEETROOT
Sow: From Spring through to Summer, sow every couple of weeks so you have a supply of tiny beetroots fresh from the garden.
Growing: Sow direct in the ground well spread out.
Harvest: About 60-90 days later you should find a golf ball sized root.
Eat: Wash the root and leaves, cook in boiling water. Tiny beets take 10mins, older woodier beets 30mins at least. They’ll stain everything pinky purple so be warned. Delicious in a salad with roasted nuts.
6) CARLA CARROT
Sow: April, May in sandy soil. They are going to around 10 weeks to be ready.
Growing: Plant near onions and chives or in raised pots to prevent carrot fly.
Harvest: After about 10 weeks you should be able to pull a small carrot from the ground.
Eat: Endlessly useful, carrot sticks for picnics, lunches and snacks, grated to add sweetness and colour to salads and soups.
7) RUDI RADISH
Sow: 1cm deep direct in ground in rows. From April-May then August-September.
Growing: Keep moist
Harvest: Pull when small and crisp
Eat: Normally not cooked but ideal for dips and snacks.
8) RIO ROCKET
Sow: Under a cloche or on a windowsill from February onwards, direct in the garden from mid-March-May then July-September
Growing: If you have a greenhouse you can get a great crop throughout the Winter, if not grow it on your windowsill for a few leaves that will add a fresh garnish to Winter dishes.
Harvest:The ultimate cut and come again crop, pinch off the leaves and more appear. When it goes to seed eat the flowers.
Eat: Salads, sprinkle over pizzas or chop into a paste for pasta.
9) SANGHITA SPRING ONION
Sow: Straight into ground. Best in a row as looks like grass to start with.
Grow: Keep well watered and keep sowing every month.
Harvest: Thin rows by pulling the tiny onions and leave the rest to grow bigger.
Eat: Raw or cooked onions add a tongue tingling taste to salads, stir fries or chop and stir into potatoes or other root vegetables for added zing.
10) DESIREE POTATO
Sow: Potatoes are not grown from seed but from an old potato (seed potato).
Grow: Plant 3-4 seed potatoes in 30cm of compost in an old compost bag that is rolled down and has drainage holes pierced in it. When green shoots appear at the top add more compost to the top unrolling the bag up to 60cm
Harvest: Wait until the bag top is covered with leaves and perhaps a flower. Tip up the bag and search the compost for new potatoes. See who gets the biggest and the smallest.
Eat: Boiled, mashed, fried, roasted, always cooked. Try this ‘Potato Pizza’ recipe.
Today is Pancake Day! Also called Fat Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday if you take part in Lent. It’s traditionally a day to eat up all sorts of yummy things in your house that you are promising not to eat during Lent, like chocolate. It’s a long month if you’re giving up your junkiest habit so first of all you need to eat a shed-load of pancakes.
It’s strange people MAKE and EAT pancakes only one day a year.
HOW ODD?! Why only eat such a great food one day out of 365? We must change this silliness once and for all.
But how? …Time for a Seed Agent Mission.
WHAT IF?! We rename pancakes Flippers! Every time we make a pancake we call it a Flipper. Everytime we eat a pancake we call it Flipper. Everytime we see a pancake we call it a Flipper. Soon the world will call pancakes – Flippers!! And then we can eat Flippers ALL year round, and not just on Fat Tuesday.
There’s nothing that can’t be used to fill a flipper, sweet or savoury, hot or cold, the choice is yours Seed Agents! Try some veg-flippers! “Move along old-school lemon and sugar”, “Bye-bye gooey joys of chocolate”, “Hello pongy cheese, spinach and mushrooms!”
Have a go at making your own flippers here and experiment eating them with different fillings. Discover which one you like best!
Diabetic Diva Susan with her latest recipe book.
I asked our friend Susan
http://www.diabetic-diva.com/ also known as Diabetic Diva whether she had some recipes that children could cook with their grown up.
Diabetic recipes are ‘Healthy’ because they have limited amounts of refined sugars and salts so if you want more healthy recipes take a look at her website.
Remember you don’t have to be diabetic to enjoy Susan’s tasty recipes, in fact eating these healthy feasts can help prevent you becoming diabetic so tuck in!
TWIRLY SPAGHETTI & MINCE SAUCE
A family favourite and so easy to make. The mince can be prepared in a batch and frozen for at least 3 months. Good with jacket potatoes, rice, pasta, mock pizza.
Main ingredient: Mince beef, spaghetti Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes Serves 4:
EQUIPMENT
Chopping board
Sharp knife
Can opener
Measuring spoon
Large saucepan with lid
Wooden spoon
For spaghetti
Measuring jug
Measuring spoon
Medium size saucepan with lid
Spoon for stirring
INGREDIENTS
500g lean ground mince beef
½ sweet pepper, roughly chopped
½ onion roughly chopped
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 jar pasta sauce
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
2 tsp dried Italian herbs
METHOD
COOK the mince in a pot stirring with a wooden spoon until it’s brown in colour and no pink bits remain. ADD the onion and peppers and cook for another 3 minutes
NEXT add all the other ingredients and let meat mixture cook until the sauce starts to bubble. TURN the heat down to low and let this cook for at least 20 minutes
SERVE with spaghetti and a salad (even a teeny weeny one would be great) Remember your 5 A Day.
SPAGHETTI
PUT 500ml of water and ¼ tsp salt into a pot
LET it boil
ADD 100g wholemeal spaghetti to the boiling water
COOK for 8 minutes (al dente) cooked still firm
DRAIN and put on a plate
SPOON some mince sauce over
If you like sprinkle grated parmesan cheese over and dried parsley.
Try these
Make mock pizzas using the mince sauce. Slice a wholemeal French roll in 2. Spoon some of the sauce over and about 2 tbsp grated cheese. Grill under hot grill until cheese melts.
Or add red kidney beans, ½ to 1 tsp chilli powder and dried Italian herbs to make chilli.
Here is Susan cooking with some children.
Children love to cook when there's a grown-up to help.
Green Tomato Chutney
How many tomatoes?
Pick all the tomatoes that remain on the vines
Weigh them so you know how to scale up or down the recipe
Ingredients
2.5kg green tomatoes chopped
0.5kg finely chopped onion
Options:
4 cloves of chopped garlic
1-2 chillies
Cloves or ginger
1 tsp mixed spice
4 tsp salt
250g of chopped sultanas or other dried fruit
1L of vinegar
0.5kg brown sugar
3 tsp pepper
Cooking tips
There are two main things going on in this recipe. Firstly, there’s all the chopping. Secondly, there is the boiling. I’d recommend getting some help chopping, it can take a while to chop this many little, odd shaped tomatoes.
The vinegar, sugar, spices and dried fruits go into the pan first. Once the vinegar is hot and the sugar has melted.
Begin stirring in the chopped tomatoes, onion, garlic and chilli.
Overnight salting of tomatoes, allows you to drain some water out of the tomatoes. I think this is necessary if your tomatoes are very juicy it’s a good option. I didn’t have time to do this and I liked the consistency of the outcome so it is not vital.
Hot Jars, for preserving is key. Getting rid of any bacteria in the jar and providing a tight seal as the jars cool down.
Preserves are great to share and swap with friends and neighbours. Cramming the excess of today’s crop into jars for pleasure in the year to come.
Great as gifts and to say thank you!
I delivered the jars of chutney to some of my fellow vegetable growers from the Rhodes Estate, Dalston, to say thank you for helping to build the gardens this year.
Get cooking with your Jack-O-lantern and make some delicious meals.
We’re all familiar with the benefits of eating a healthy diet, but it seems the importance of eating seasonably is less well-known. Those who already grow their own will agree when I say that fruit and veg are at their best when freshly picked. But there’s more to eating seasonably than this.
For a helping hand click on the images below to see when different fruit and veg are in season:
Autumn
Winter (coming soon)
Spring (coming soon)
Summer (coming soon)
Secret Seed Society, child-friendly recipes and tips for growing and cooking with kids for a healthier, happier future.
Eating what you grow with child friendly recipes and cooking tips.
Runner Beans
Have you spent the summer nurturing and tending your runners? Well now is the time to get harvesting! But remember to send us a picture of your longest runner bean for our giant bean competition.
Is there a bean long enough for the Giant Bean Competition?
Runner Beans give your plate brilliant colour and taste great! Try them boiled with your roast dinners; stir-fried in oil with garlic, peppers, beansprouts and chicken; or in a warm new potato and mackerel salad.
Spinach
Popeye knew what he was doing when he indulged in these leafy greens. Spinach is bursting with nutritional value. You can chop it up and stir it round in a frying pan with a drop of olive oil. after a few minutes it will have become much more ‘solid’ and reduced in size…delicious in our tartlets recipe with a little bit of cheese.
Courgettes
Another vegetable that is versatile. Looks a bit like a cucumber but has a whole taste of its own!
Wow! this courgette was yellow! It added colour to our tartlets.
We put it in our tartlets but it is also great in stir-fries or mixed with tomatoes, peppers and onions in a ratatouille. Another favourite is in muffins or cakes. You could even try it raw with carrot, pepper and celery sticks with a tasty dip to dunk it in.
Berries
Blackberries are bountiful this year, take a walk and pick your own. If you manage not to eat them all before you get home try mixing them into some plain yoghurt for a delicious pud.
Carrots
These are a wonderful colour…normally bright orange but did you know carrots were purple originally? For lots of ideas for making carrot soup see Carla Carrot.
Carrots add lots of colour to other dishes or can be used to make a wonderful soup.
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