I am looking forward to summer salads from the garden so much this year! Our garden has officially been planted, and I have some new seeds in the ground. I’ve partnered with Beanstalk Seeds to grow some new produce this year!
Beanstalk Seeds is a seed collection targeted to kids and families to make growing produce as fun as can be. The project is a division of Kansas City Community Gardens (KCCG), which works to create vegetable gardens with low-income families, schools, and community groups in the Kansas City metro area. All proceeds from Beanstalk Seeds sales go towards helping more people grow their own nutritious produce. Moreover, gardening with kids means parents drive attention away from video games and TV and connect, get dirty, and eat well with their kids doing something that is fun for both generations.
Beanstalk Seeds have been tried and tested in the KCCG for over a decade in over 200 gardens. Not only are they are reliable to grow, but the Beanstalk Seed varieties are unusual in colorful ways, so kids love them. “Rainbow Blend” carrots, “Purple Hyacinth” beans, and “Dragon Tongue” beans are all hits with kids. I can’t wait to see what they look like when they come up, and Mazen loves anything to do with dragons 🙂 I am hoping he has as much fun eating them as he did planting them!
In addition to buying seeds individually, you can simply order Jack’s Magical Seed Bag and get a themed bag of seeds in a nice variety. Choose between “Plant A Rainbow” and “Snackable Garden”. These make great gifts! The Beanstalk Seeds website goes a step beyond an online marketplace, including guide sheets, fun facts, easy recipes, and a parent blog covering gardening tips for children’s gardens.
Here are a few shots of my garden as it stood in late March. A few plants from last year actually popped back up after the last frost, and then others were just weeds.
Thomas, Mazen and I went to a garden shop and stocked up on organic compost to till in before planting this year’s seeds.
We borrowed Thomas’s parents’ tiller, which was great to have!
Once the old plants were harvested and cleared and the soil nourished and tilled, I used the garden plan that Beanstalk Seeds sent me as a guide. In the past, I have mostly stuck to greens, so I am excited to try a few new veggies this year! Starting at the top, I planted rows of Greens (kale and swiss chard), Roots (carrots and radishes), Salad (spinach and lettuce), and Pods (peas and beans). I nixed the beets they recommended because they aren’t my favorite and I wanted to save space for more salad. I would have nixed the radishes in favor of more kale, but somebody loves radishes and insisted I plant some ; ) I left some space at the bottom for him to plant some tomatoes, too.
Here’s where the fun comes in! It is just so crazy to think that these tiny seeds will grow into real food. I planted them in rows as per the package instructions and will thin them out after they pop up a bit more.
I have never planted beans before!
A few days later, those seeds sprouted up in neat rows of green. The miracle of nature!
Here’s the herb garden before. A total mess, but home to thriving rosemary and thyme. We cleared out the weeds, mixed in compost, tilled a bit, and planted dill, cilantro, parsley, lavender, and basil.
We had TONS of rain the next week and lots of sunshine after, so I will update you guys with photos as things continue to progress 🙂 If you have yet to plant a garden this year, please consider supporting Beanstalk Seeds!
This post was brought to you by Beanstalk Seeds. Follow along on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Heather R says
What a great post! I live in the KC area and had no clue about this great company. I am going to check them out ASAP. I know this is something my son would enjoy. Thank you!
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog says
I really wish I didn’t live in the city. We don’t even have a balcony in our tiny 300 sq ft apartment! Growing your own greens sounds so fun.
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Carrie this fit chick says
This is SUCH a cute idea!! If I had a garden I would totally do this. One day!
Kelli @ Hungry Hobby says
Looks like so much fun! Unfortunately, I tend to kill my plants, but my mom is great at it. Maybe it skips a generation and she can teach my future kids! haha
Alana says
What a cool company, I love their approach to making a garden a family affair!
I’m volunteering on an organic farm this season (just 1 day a week) and I’ve already learned so much. Growing organic veggies and fruits is an amazing thing. Looking forward to watching your garden grow!
Taryn says
Our family LOVES to garden! And the kids (ages 5 1/2 and 3 1/2) love everything garden-related. Especially the getting dirty and planting part 🙂 We found last year they ate WAY MORE veggies than years past because they had a hand in the entire process. This year we are expanding a bit. And we started plants from seed indoors for the first time. My husband is a bit of a fanatic about it and actually has 2 rubbermaids filled with worms in our basement. We feed them our kitchen compost, and the castings (poop) they produce is supposed to be the best for the garden. We will see! We are up in NJ so we just now started planting certain things like peas and broccoli. The rest goes in after the first frost. Good luck with the new plants this year!
Kate says
Gardening is the most masochistic thing I do. First, it snows off and on until June and then there is a plague of locus (6 different kinds of grasshoppers) every year that just decimate everything. If I won the lottery I would spend all of it on enough semaspore bait to wipe out every last one of the buggers in the state (and maybe Idaho and Wyoming if I have some left over).
Lins says
I’m house hunting right now, and one of the reasons I’m most excited about getting out of an apartment is planting a vegetable garden! It will probably be too late for me this year, but I’ve been researching vertical gardens a lot, and ways to plant up instead of out. Home grown always tastes better – you’re in for some delicious summer salads 😛
Linda @ The Fitty says
I don’t have a green thumb at all, and honestly everything and anything I’ve ever tried planting died out! Do you think Beanstalk seeds would be right for someone as novice as me?
Tracy says
Wow! I’m here in Kansas City and I’ve never heard of them before. I’m going to look into the program for sure. Thanks for the heads up, Kath!!
Melissa | HerGreenLife says
I’m on the other side of the state and hadn’t heard of them, either. So much good local foodie stuff happening in both KC and StL 🙂
Sam @ Hygge Wellness says
This looks like such a great garden project! I’m the worst with plants, but I just planted a few herbs and I’m hoping they actually sprout lol ; )
Melissa | HerGreenLife says
Sounds like a great organization and mission to support! My son has his own little bed within our much larger garden. He selected most of the plants for his plot (his favorite is the ground cherry), but we also encouraged radishes, because they grow so quickly, giving some [almost] instant satisfaction. He is so proud of his radishes and eager to contribute a “side dish” to our meals 🙂
Audrey says
This seems like a really cool company! It’s nice to know exactly where the food you are eating comes from. We have chickens and my husband has planted a ton around where we live. It’s amazing to watch it all grow into edible food!
https://jonandaudadventure.wordpress.com/
Vegan Heaven says
Wow! I love this post. Looks like so much fun!! 🙂 I’d love to have my own garden one day, but unfortunately I don’t have a green thumb at all…Maybe I should give it another try!