Small garden patch for children. What should we grow?

I have a small patch of soil in my garden approximatly 1.5mtrs square. My daughters are aged 7 %26amp; 9 years.

Any suggestions to what we can grow. The patch is against a fence and a wall on 2 sides. othetr 2 sides are open. Its in my back yard and in a really shaded area. probably on about 2 hours of direct sunlight each day. Thats if its sunny lol. We live in the UK.

Do i need lots of compost and how much digging over should be done before planting. and how long can we expect to wait untill things grow.

Im very very new to gardening.

My daughters have suggested groing veg.

Last summer it was filled with rocks and a few pansy plants. We have also tried putting grass seed down but didnt really work.

Small garden patch for children. What should we grow?
I know that spinach is a cool weather crop. It may do well in shade. You can start spinach three weeks before the last frost. Tomatoes on the other hand require a ton of sun. Try spinach and leaf lettuce to make salads. Although two hours of sun may not be enough, those two would be my best guess. You take a shovel and turn the area over. You only have to dig down about twelve inches or the length of the shovel head. Turn the ground over and then break it up with a hoe or the shovel head again. You can buy bag of manure or compost, or some 10-10-10 fertilizer and add it to the soil. Then, you put small wooden stakes at the end of each row to hold some white string representing the row. You plant your seeds along the string. You remove the string after the plants have come up. You can't water a garden too much. They love water. Water it every other night. I love a fresh salad. I grow two types of lettuce, spinach, onions, and tomatoes.
Reply:You should grow strawberries.
Reply:Sunflowers! They grow so easily and so quickly, which is cool because you can see the progress every day. If you have your heart set on veggies, consider tomatoes. Also think about doing some herbs- these are fun to add to your cooking without feeling like you HAVE to eat certain things (like eggplant).
Reply:You should go to your local nursery and ask them what local flowers will attract butterflies. Little girls will love to see them flitting about.

It's best to use native plants because to introduce foreign species could cause harm to your local wildlife.

Check out the National Wildlife Federation for information about Backyard Habitats.



Tomatoes require about 12 hours of sun a day. I'm pretty sure many other fruits and veggies do as well.

Some berries, like blackberries thrive in shaded areas.