Seeds | Planting | Garden | Growth | Sunlight | Water | Soil | Harvest

Preparation

Ask your group to think about the vegetables they like to eat. Ask them to bring in recipes books or magazines from home that may have pictures of these vegetables.

Print out Vegetable crop planner, Vegetable Spotter Guide 1 and Guide 2, month by month guides to an edible school garden for spring, summer, autumn and the blank planner.

Equipment

• Vegetable crop planner 
• Month by month blank planner for pupils
• Month by month guides to an edible school garden for spring, summer and autumn
• RHS Veg Planner
• Vegetable photos, such as the Vegetable Spotter Guide 1 and Guide 2, seed packets, seed catalogues, gardening and cookery magazines
• Access to the internet
• Paper or post-it notes
• Pencils or pens

1. Make a list of all the vegetables your group like to eat
2. Look at pictures of different vegetables as a prompt or bring in examples of different vegetables and taste them
3. You could ask the your group to vote for their favourite by giving them sticky post-it notes and counting up the votes. Point out less obvious vegetables that are needed for recipes for example onions and garlic
4. Can we actually grow these vegetables? Check on the vegetable crop planner and RHS Veg Planner to see if they can be sown and harvested in the time and season available
5. Decide as a group which vegetables to grow. Up to four different vegetables is a good guide, but this can depend on the space available
6. For each of the chosen vegetables create a plan of when to sow and harvest them

• For an extension activity, look at recipes and find out when to plant and harvest the ingredients