A Crunchy Green to Grow
Children love to plant, water, pick, and stir fry this delicious vegetable.
Japanese red mustard is a lovely vegetable for children to grow in indoor pots or outdoor gardens. It’s touch of spiciness keeps bunnies and deer away, too. I got mine at Baker Heirloom.
At school, we kept indoor planters that children grew and tended. It was from these planters that children could pick fresh greens during the cold winter months. As they carefully watered their plants, they also tended the lighting to make sure the plants enjoyed warm incandescent lights for warm and full spectrum light.
The transition from sprouts to leaves is a fascinating one that is much better than printed images on a page. A planter with soil is much nicer than a sprouting jar because the sprouting jars easily develop disagreeable smells that will be quickly detected by young noses, even though adults will scent nothing amiss for several more days.
Red mustard also makes an excellent first seed to plant in the garden when squierrels and deer are browsing for new shoots because it helps train them away from your plants. We plant garlic in the autumn for this same reason.
Happy springtime!