If you are looking for some fast growing plants for kids – set them up for success with these easy and fast growing plants!
Kids love gardening. It’s a soothing, healthy and entertaining activity which parents, teachers and kids alike can share and enjoy.
Gardening can, however, be disappointing if seeds don’t germinate and heat and drought cause the seedlings to wilt and fail to thrive.
Disappointment is a fact of life and kids can learn life lessons from a struggling garden but in order to reduce that unhappy scenario, you can plant fast growing plants for kids.
Some of the best plants for a children’s garden are those which germinate easily, grow quickly and are resistant to dry spells, poor soil and a bit of neglect.
It’s important that you teach your children that plants are living beings which require proper food, shelter and water to thrive but, that being said, the plants listed below are both lovely and forgiving.
Top Fast Growing Plants for Kids
Veggies
Root veggies are particularly interesting because, while the kids are watching the soft green foliage of carrots, the sunny flowers of Jerusalem Artichokes and the pale purple flowers of potatoes, the plants are working their magic underground and creating a veritable treasure for the kids to dig up and enjoy when the time comes.
Peas and beans are exciting too. They germinate easily, climb and curl round stakes and trellises and produce little beans and peas within days of flowering.
As fast-growing plants for kids go, you can’t get better. What makes them even more rewarding is that the more you pick, the more they produce and, when their season is over, the pods can dry on the plant for next year’s harvest. It’s great for kids to learn to dry, pack and share seed with other keen gardeners.
READ MORE: Create a sucessful children’s vegetable with a raised garden bed!
Fast Growing Flowers
Think kids flowers and you will think zinnias, petunias and pansies.
Nothing is nicer than fresh flowers in the home and zinnias are a gift where this is concerned. They are brightly coloured, long-stemmed and have a great vase life.
Petunias are pretty in every pastel shade and make rewarding borders and hanging baskets.
Pansies have happy faces and grow prolifically. They look amazing in little jugs and low vases. They also press well for craft projects.
Both petunias and pansies teach children that gardener’s skill – deadheading. Both benefit from and grow more prolifically when they are deadheaded daily. Children will find the chore rewarding when they see how well their plants flower.
Succulents
Succulents are the most rewarding and fast-growing plants for kids that you will ever be lucky enough to plant.
They grow prolifically with minimal water and hardly any attention. A leaf placed on top of the soil will obligingly put down roots and grow.
Succulents come in a mass of subtle green, purple and reddish-brown shades and they love growing together so they form a mass of colour and texture.
Succulents are fun. You can plant them in old teapots or in tyre beds or even on hanging walls. They love any container from a rustic tin can to a beautiful terracotta pot.
Succulents are perfect in fairy or miniature gardens as they mass well together to make a magic carpet or a fairy ring.
Succulents are as happy in stone as they are in the soil so they make lovely little desert gardens as well.
Aloes
Aloes have similar growing habits to succulents. Every child should have an Aloe vera. This rewarding plant is frost tender though, so grow it in a pot and overwinter it in a sunny bathroom or on the patio.
Aloe Vera has incredibly soothing sap which can be squeezed or scraped out of the plant and added to cream to make a gentle after-sun treatment. Aloe gel, straight from the plant can be squeezed onto bee stings or mosquito bites. Mum can even rub Aloe gel under her eyes to make a tightening astringent eye gel.
Aloe gel is also the best treatment for burns so kids can keep a pot indoors in case of accidents in the kitchen.
Plants to Attract Birds
If you are lucky enough to have lots of birds in the garden then the kids will love to grow Salvias or fuchsias for the sap-sucking birds and Sunflowers and other seed-producing plants like millet, for the seed eaters.
These all grow quickly and vigorously and will bring the kids endless pleasure as they watch the birds visit their garden. If you own a cat be sure to plant the bird garden out of the way and plant a patch of catnip to distract kitty.
Final Words
Even fast-growing plants for kids should serve a purpose and teach children that if they care for their plants with good organic food and clean water, their plants will reward them generously by offering them food, colour, scent and practical benefits.
