[Bizzi Lizzi]

My daughter likes dabling at gardening and has her own pink gardening gloves .... she loves going and picking the veg for tea but I need to inject more life into her.  I had thought to give her her own spot in the greenhouse and a raised bed but I would welcome any other ideas that might inspire her to do more.  She wants to do more but we seem to have reached an impass.

[sunshineband]

 Great to hear she is interested 

You could give her a small raised bed and ask her to grow salad leaves etc for the family, radishes etc as these grow quite quickly and are tasty.

As a starter crop it's a quick win.

Also think about new potatoes for Christmas as a longer term project for her, with them grown in abag to taje under cover later in the year 

[daisy1990]

would also recommend teaching her to cook- there is nothing nicer than picking then eating the food prepared.  My daughter who is 19 now has two raised beds and grows carrots, potatoes, sweetcorn and salad spinach.  We have just bought three hens and she has two rescue rabbits so enjoys growing food for them too.  She is now a fantastic cook and does dinner most nights including home grown food where possible
Daisy

[Jamie Butterworth]

Its good to hear that she is interested Thanks for the carrot seeds by the way

[Mulberry1990]

I was going to say how my mum (daisy) got me to do it but she's beat me to it yet again!!
I also painted my raised bed and filled it with soil myself so now it feels different to all the other beds so I take pride in my own one!
I picked what to put in it and planted it all up myself. Never been interested in what my mum's been growing before, but now I've done it all myself I am interested.
Also I like to compete to beat my mum! Bit gutted that her carrots are better than mine at the moment =p

[kermit]

Just to add - my mum and gran were always gently encouraging me in the garden, up to when I turned into a somewhat rude and self-centred teenage delight (not saying your daughter has fallen into this trap mind!).  So, I would also say dont worry if teenagers loose interest - it will remain with them and they WILL return to it.  It took my until my late 20s but now 31 and cant imagine life without GYO, and i know this was thanks to my mum and gran.

[peterjf]

veggies and kids go together especially on the plot, but ,

my daughter (25) still dont beleive that eating your crusts makes your hair curl lol,

[Bizzi Lizzi]

Some good advice here - I used to watch my Pop on the allotment as a little kiddy, then help my Nan in the garden planing out, digging up and freezing it. My mum was more the greenhouse lady and loved growing her tomatoes so I have a good pedgree. My daughter will help but needs a special project of her own.  I had thought about her own space in the greenhouse and her own raised bed but having a healthy bit of competition from Mum sounds the key, plus picking and cooking it.  Fortunately she's not a fussy lass and loves her veg.

What she needs is lots of encouragement from fellow yufffffs.

May start a posting just dedicated to my efforts to encourage her, what do you think?  Who knows, a book and a film deal starring Keira Knightley may follow.


 

[Lewjam]

It depends where her interest lies depends on how best to inject further enthusiasm.

Sometimes to the younger generation the ends do not justify the means (All that effort for some thing you can get from the shop or mum will do!)

Its only as you get older you means become as much fun as the means.

The Big thing that helps balance this is cookery, when i was younger i wasn’t massively interested until i learnt not only to cook, but to cook well – skip the bakery and get her cooking main meals heh.  Then i starting wishing i had some fresh X or Y and gradually realised the best way to get it was to grow it!

Also when younger i was more interested in "magic" crops like potatoes and other root veg rather then cabbages and lettuce as half the fun was pulling them up to find out what i had achieved!

[Jonajo]

great to get her interested - I love it when youngsters show an interest in growing veg and the like, and of course the challenge is to keep her interest with small but meaningful growing tasks. And simple cooking lessons might help too as has been advised.

If her interest wanes, punish her by making her watch the entire series of the dreadful "Veg out" programme from many years back: I recorded it the other day on some obscure channel as I missed it 1st time round (several years ago) and was curious to see. My god, talk about buffoons of presenters - distinctly unfunny yet trying to come across as funny. And failing. Yet I rather liked Greg in Masterchef later! But it is good to see allotments and the passion in allotmenteers when growing at least.

[RichardA]

involve her in planning for next year and perhaps keeping a diary with photos etc (could be computer or book based depending on her preferences) let her research varieties and prices and plant problems etc and also as others have suggested look at tbhe cooking and preserving side as well as the advantages over supermarkets for taste and impact on the planet.
R

[daisy1990]

I also took my teenager to Gardeners World Live (with the Food show next door) great day out and she got very enthused!

[Bizzi Lizzi]

More fabulous ideas. 

Holidays start soon so after we've fumigated her bedroom and had the dog to the vets I will tackle the subject of gyo with her.  She's keen but I think planning for spring is the great idea and such a lovely time to look forward to.

A diary/journal for notes and a good book or two along with some seed catalogues will do the trick.  Will keep you informed.

Once again, thanks for the brilliant ideas.

[Kristen]

Depends on age a bit.  Upto about 10 I grew Gourds and Sunflowers with mine. Then we did carrots in pots and mini sweetcorn (very low productivity per unit area though) which they liked to pick for their meal. Soft fruit that they can eat more of whilst picking than at the table perhaps?

Other than that whatever they particularly like to eat, and maybe a longer term project - something that will take two or three years to come to fruition so they learn the virtue of patience as a gardener! or Topiary maybe?

[Bizzi Lizzi]

Sorry forget to say that my daughter is 15 going on 90.