Ideas please, for things my gd can sow/plant in pots during the summer holidays.

You can grow pea shoots from dried peas (the kind you make mushy peas with) or pea seeds. Put them in a salad or sandwich. www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/grow-plants/how-to-grow-pea-shoots/

Amaryllis are fun as the flower shoot grows so quickly and the flowers are spectacular. I took one to DGD for her to look after and measure the stem each day.

Can I just say talking to a lady from the Far East I think Taiwan or Korea she told me they grow all their veg and house plants in water not soil it would be a lovely experiment for a young person to try

Thank you all for your help, lots to try out.

Nasturtium grow very quickly.

Wild flowers as per photo from a couple of years ago. Unless she’s staying for a few months you might need to take pictures to send her or show her via zoom.

Our grandson found a box of birdseed recently and scattered them in the garden. Be interesting to see what comes up.

An avocado stone takes a bit longer but you get a lovely house plant, she could check on when she visits or take home eventually. Find a bottle with a neck just wide enough to hold the stone place three match sticks slightly into the stone then fill the bottle with water and balance the stone just into the water. It sends down a root quite quickly then tarts to send buds out of the top.
At work the children were always fascinated by changing the colour of carnations or celery, placing a cut one in the coloured water made with food colouring and the flower starts to change colour.
I used to love pollinating the tomatoes for my father with a feather on a stick. later picking ripe fruit for salads or sandwiches.
If you can get a box of mixed living leaves from the supermarket prick them out into seed trays and keep watering.

Tanjamaltija

This is a really cool idea - we did it with kindergarten... just grab a handful of mixed birdseed, and sow in peat, and water sparingly. You never know what will come up, and each pot will be different.

Do they still put hemp/cannabis seed in the mix?
You could be growing more than you bargained for

This is a really cool idea - we did it with kindergarten... just grab a handful of mixed birdseed, and sow in peat, and water sparingly. You never know what will come up, and each pot will be different.

Help my new lawn is very brown and patchy at the moment. Before it is cut it looks lovely,green and lush. But once the gardener has cut it, it shows these horrid patches. Do I need to feed it as well as water it when no rain for a few days??

You can grow a pineapple from the top:

www.gardeningknowhow.com/special/children/planting-pineapple-tops.htm

We used to grow beans in jam jars lined with damp blotting paper; that way you can see the roots and shoot develop.
You could use a couple of layers of kitchen roll.
rainydaymum.co.uk/bean-in-a-jar-experiment/

Definitely cress as suggested, and mustard.
Many seeds can be grown nd eaten as micro greens- very on trend at the moment. 🙂
www.littlecedars.co.uk/growing-microgreens-for-children/#:~:text=Suitable%20seeds%20include%3A%20rocket%2C%20a,have%20a%20distinctive%20aniseed%20flavour

Buy a packet of coleus seeds and plant in pots. Lots of different colours of leaved plants will appear.

Mixed salad leaves for micro greens. Radish and carrots in deep pots. HHA for flowers next year. You could also try cuttings from flowering bushes . Fuchsia and geranium cuttings in water on a windowsill as it is not too late for flowers this year

Cut a few narrow slices from the outsides (the seedy bits) of a couple of strawberries. Place them seed side up on a sheet of dry kitchen towel to dry out - that will take a few days. It’s easy then to collect the seeds, and plant them. If they take, you’ll have fruit next year.

Buy a pot of supermarket herbs, carefully split them at the roots, and plant in new pots.

Cress heads are fun, buy some cress seeds sprinkle on a chunk of damp kitchen roll, they should grow in a couple of days.

Lettuce, spring onions, chives and dwarf French beans grow quickly and are fun to harvest. Although we let the chives run to flower as the bees like them.

Primrose53

Cress is great to grow …. And eat.

We grow lovely spring onions just by planting the cut off ends!!

You can make "cress heads" by sowing seeds on damp cotton wool in half an egg shell. They will germinate quickly so she'll see results if she is only with you for a few days

Radishes are fast from seeds too and fun to harvest.
My veg are grown with the DGC in mind. They love picking peas and beans and digging up potatoes.
Foraging for raspberries can be fun on a walk.

Cress is great to grow …. And eat.

We grow lovely spring onions just by planting the cut off ends!!

Do some bee friendly wild flowers I ve been amazed at how pretty some are and I ve got lots in pots Bugloss viper is beautiful I d never come across it before and so easy Marigolds come up so easily too quick growing is great to capture a young gardener
If you want vegis I ve grown peas beans cucumbers potatoes all in pots

You could try night scented stock, it flowers from seed in 6-8 weeks and smells lovely, as well as being pretty in a pot, I always have some on my patio in the summer.

Not quite gardening but if you can get any dried mung beans they grow into delicious beansprouts in a large jar in 4 or 5 days. Seeing them swell and sprout is fascinating.

How about growing veg from the scraps.

www.ruralsprout.com/regrow-vegetables/