Get Your Kids To Grow Their Own

If you’re keen to both get your kids outside this Easter holidays and eating more vegetables in general then look no further than Birds Eye’s Grow Your Own campaign. Created to celebrate the fact that Birds Eye have been growing their own for over 65 years, the idea is to (1) get parents and kids doing something fun together and (2) to show kids that giving growing a go isn’t dull and boring. To encourage your kids to get involved you can also claim free seeds for your kids by entering a code found on packs on Birds Eye vegetables. If you’re not convinced I can vouch for the fact that digging around in mud, and watching stuff grow is very good fun for the under 10’s (not so when you’re a teen I’m afraid). Last year my daughter grew a fair old crop from seeds and seedlings including three manky carrots (“No way am I eating those”), strawberries which she wolfed down before I could even get them inside, and tomatoes and chillis. She even planted some apple seeds which have grown very impressively over winter. Yet, for her the joy wasn’t in growing her own crop but purely in seeing what was coming out of the soil each day. She loved it when the carrot plants got covered in a plague of ants (bringing them into the house to show me…), and when the tomatoes exploded (sun or accelerated growth perhaps?). She even watched intently when a greedy squirrel tried to nibble the chilli plant and ran off in horror and was really sorry when there was nothing left to grow come Autumn. And while I have to be honest and say all the planting didn’t get her to eat a wider range of vegetables, it did invoke a real interest in bugs, growing things and wildlife which has continued ever since. So for me who doesn’t have green fingers being out in the garden with her was an unexpected joy and something I’m planning on repeating this year. So if you’re stuck for something to do beside eat Chocolate this weekend, do give growing a try. You really won’t regret it.