Radishes are great for young gardeners -- they come up quickly and are ready to eat quickly, so they are rewarded quickly for their efforts.

Eggplant is nice to grow. The blossoms are pretty and the fruit is spectaular, growing. Slice lengthwise like big french fries, flour and fry. Children will eat lots of these 'fries.'

ONE zuchinni plant, maybe? Any more and you can supply the neighborhood, unless you really eat a lot of it.

Nell

I've had great success and enjoyment by growing tomatoes, bush beans, cukes and birdhouse gourds. Make sure you've got enough room for the birdhouse gourds! You ought to be able to grow 1-2 on a 25-ft fence, I'd think.

Aside from what you mentioned, I wholeheartedly recommend sweet potatoes, pole beans, asparagus beans, winter squash like spaghetti squash, acorn and pumpkins, watermelon, and then for spring/fall veggies: lettuce, peas, carrots and irish potatoes. Seriously, you must plant sweet potatoes :) They grow like kudzu for me! But then at the end of the season, there's a sweet reward.

How do you like asparagus? I started two beds last year so I haven't harvested any yet, but so far the plants seem very healthy and care-free. I love perennial vegetables.

I've completely failed to grow cauliflower so far. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but maybe this spring I finally got it right.. we'll see. Good thing it's cheap at the store. I've had bad luck with eggplants, mostly due to my laziness and refusal to spray them with bug poison. They attract a certain kind of fly that completely decimates their leaves. I like eggplant but I'm not ready to fight for them.

Squash, by the way, will sooner or later succumb to squash borer caterpillars, but if you keep an eye out for them you can squish them with your thumb.

Have you thought about fruits or herbs? If you have enough space, blueberry bushes and rosemary hedges have been among the most attractive, easiest, and most rewarding part of my garden. Also I just put in rows of blackberry and raspberry canes last year so we'll see how that goes, but so far so good.

Several you bought seeds for I would never start from seed but would purchase plants (sets) from a nursery: Tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapenos, and cabbage. I'll never understand why people purchase Big Boy when Better Boy is available. Do you know the difference? Better Boy is Big Boy with more disease resistance and in my opinion is the best tomato out there. I really don't understand why Big Boy is still marketed. Turnips, lettuce, carrots and cabbage can be planted right now. I have no luck with eggplant due to the flea beetles riddling the foliage but if someone else will grow them I will eat them. The instructions for planting asparagus is way too deep. Okra seeds need to soak overnight before planting and will not germinate till the ground is warm, usually close to May for me. Okra is a hibuscus from Africa. I would plant the gourds in a separate place as the vines are long and would fill your 25 X 25 bed. Irish potatoes and onions should have already been planted. Do not lime irish potatoes.

Eddie, I was seriously considering buying my tomatoes,bell peppers, and jalapenos already started. However, my kids wanted to start everything from seed and watch them grow. They're 10, 7, and 4 and this is our first garden we've created as a family. I have had a garden before my oldest was born, or was he just a baby? Huh, can't really rememeber!! Anyhow, I couldnt remember what type of tomatoes we grew back then that we had such good luck with. Now that you mention Better boy, I believe that is the one we grew. Oh well.... I hope Big boy works out. If not, I'll buy the sets that are already started for me.

As for the birdhouse gourds, I plan to plant them on the fence line. Does anyone know how many gourds usually come from one plant? I want to get an idea for how many seeds to plant.

Thanks,
Jessie

I avoid black beauty eggplant and stick with Ichiban. It is so much more prolific and bears for me much earlier. Cherry or grape tomatoes are also a great choice for kids. Last summer my 16 month old loved eating snaps and cherry tomatoes straight off the vine. She loves mint leaves too.

Jessie, I got 4 gourds from one plant I planted on a 20-foot fence. It pretty much covered the whole fence btw, but I only grew them one summer so I don't know if that's normal or below average or what.

And yes definitely second suwannee's recommendation of cherry and grape tomatoes. They're a lot more vigorous and resistant to disease and bugs, too.

You must plant edible soybeans (edamame) and peanuts. Both are delicious for kids to eat as snacks, and it is so much fun to pull up the peanut plant at the end of the season and see all the peanuts growing on the roots.
Michelle

I'm not sure why but I have never had luck with green peppers. The past three years, I have tried from seed and I have tried from bought plant and have had no luck. I've done all the recommended things . The plant size gets nice but still the pepper will start to grow but never get bigger then the size of my thumb.

I hope you have better luck. I have just given up on growing them myself.

Cath