 | Children can learn about science and get a taste of gardening with an container scrap garden for growing pits, seeds and trimmings. This hands-on project is suitable for parents to do with their children or for teachers to have in the classroom window. While not every seed or vegetable trimming will grow, you and your kids may get some neat surprises, too.
To make the indoor garden, start with a large low planter. It doesn't have to be very deep - just 5 or 6 inches. The larger around it is, the more seeds, pits, and trimmings you can plant. A window box is nice because it's roomy but can still fit in a small space near a window. Prepare the planter as you would for any planting. Fill with potting soil to within an inch of the top rim.
Now watch what you cook and eat to see what might grow. Fresh fruits usually have a seed inside, unless you are eating seedless grapes. Try planting apple seeds, orange and other citrus seeds, and pear seeds. Pits from peaches, nectarines, plums and cherries are also great to use. But don't stop with fresh fruits. See if your dried fruits, such as prunes, dates, and raisins, have any pits or seeds and try planting them. Do be aware, though, that many seeds from fruit take a long time to germinate, even a month or more. Be sure to have some things in the scrap garden that grow more quickly, or the kids might lose interest while waiting.
A fruit seed that deserves a special effort to grow is a mango seed. A mango has one very large seed inside, which can, under the right conditions, grow into a 60 foot tall tree! The seed from the mango is about three inches long, and will be covered with fibrous hairs left over from the fruit. Plant the seed, fibers and all.
Vegetables sometimes have seeds inside as well. Technically, a "fruit" is the part of the plant that has seeds inside, so a tomato, cucumber, or squash is really a "fruit." Cantaloupes and watermelons grow in much the same way as cucumbers and squash, so we'll consider them with the vegetables. When planting the seeds from a vegetable, look for one that looks mature, or older than the others. With a watermelon, for instance, it is unlikely that a small white seed will grow, but a large black one is likely to. In a pepper or tomato, look for a seed that is yellowish or brownish. Cantaloupes, winter squash, and pumpkins have a hole in the center that is filled with fibrous material and lots of seeds. After choosing some of the seeds to plant in the indoor garden, you can roast the rest of the seeds on a cookie sheet in the oven for a tasty treat.
Another interesting seed for planting is an avocado seed. If you sprout it in water, you can watch the roots grow, but the seed will grow just as well in soil. Plant it while it is fresh for best results, and put the fat side down. You can peel off the outer skin from the seed to speed it up a bit. The plant grows best in a cool room with lots of light. In our indoor garden, which may not be in the best location for avocado trees, you can expect the seedling to be long and spindly.
When you cook dried beans, be sure to let the kids have a few beans to plant in the container garden. Beans grow well under less than optimum conditions, and it is very possible that the kids will get to see the plant not only grow but flower and produce new beans as well. Be sure to plant the new beans that mature to complete the life cycle.
The kids' container scrap garden can also be used to grow vegetable trimmings into interesting plants. The top of any root vegetable can be planted and watered, and it will send up leaves. To grow the top of a carrot, for instance, cut off the top half inch of the carrot when peeling and trimming it. Plant the carrot top cut side down, and with the top sticking out of the soil. Keep it watered, and soon you will have lacy carrot leaves growing. Try this same method with the top of a radish, turnip or beet, too. With a turnip or beet, the leaves that come up can even be added to vegetable soup.
Potato peelings can be planted, too. Peel the potato kind of badly, with lots of flesh around an eye. Plant this piece of peel so that the eye is pointing up, about an inch under the surface of the soil. Do remember, however, that the sprouts from a potato will be poisonous. Don't accidentally throw them into the vegetable soup! (In fact, if you are growing the scrap garden with very young children, it would be safest to only grow non-toxic vegetable scraps and plants.)
Another vegetable that makes a beautiful leafy (though also poisonous) houseplant that can be grown in the kid's container scrap garden is a sweet potato. Cut off a few inches from the pointed end of the potato and plant it cut side down in the soil. Keep watered and soon you'll have a leafy vine.
If you are deadheading flowers, let the kids plant the flower seeds from the dead flowers in the scrap garden. Marigolds and zinnias are particularly likely to grow and bloom. Look for fruiting bodies, too, like those on a tulip and try planting them. Who knows what might grow? Also, since this is not a "real" vegetable garden, there is no reason you can't experiment with growing weed seeds. Collecting seeds from the wild is an adventure in itself which can lead to many "fruitful" discussions about plant science.
In the kids' container scrap garden, anything can be planted. Try cuttings from houseplants, such as the babies of spider plant or aloe vera, or a leaf of an African violet, or a sprig of philodendron or Swedish ivy. Some houseplant cuttings can be sprouted first in a jar of water and then planted in the scrap garden.
To make the container scrap garden into a real science project, your kids can label the places where seeds and scraps are planted so that they can keep track of what grows from what. Recycled popsicle sticks are great for this, or you can cut little markers from styrofoam trays. Write the plant name with a fine point permanent marker.
The kid's container scrap garden is a great introduction to gardening for any young folks, and can be done in the winter as well as during the growing season. Try it and see what you and your kids can get growing!
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