Child's Garden Variety Pack
This pack of 5 types of vegetable and edible flower seeds was created to provide a tasty and educational experience for children and families. When I give farm tours, I always encourage kids to eat straight off the plant! The varieties included are the ones kids have gravitated towards and enjoyed eating the most. They are:
1) Orca Bush Beans. Allow these beans to dry on the plant for the magical experience of cracking open the pods to reveal the "orca whales" or "yin-yangs" inside. Minimum 30 beans.
2) Burgundy Amaranth. These bright purple plants will grow to towering heights, and when shaken, they will shed their grains. I use this plant to demonstrate to children how plants drop their seeds to begin the next generation. Tender leaves can be eaten straight off the plant. Minimum 100 seeds.
3) Wild Lupine Flower. This perennial flower is native to North America and is highly beneficial for pollinators. Larvae can live safely on leaves while adult insects feed off the nectar. These seeds come from Neda & Nick at Orange Bicycle Guesthouse and Gardens, who have stewarded a large, beautifully variated patch of flowers. Note, Lupine requires nicking and soaking prior to planting. Minimum 30 seeds.
4) Reisetomate Tomato. A deliciously strange tomato that grows in distinct segments (see photo), this oddball always catches the attention of children at the farmer's market. Indeterminate tomato. Minimum 30 seeds.
5) Early Frosty Pea. In my experience, kids love snap peas! This is an extremely vigorous and cold-hardy variety of fresh pea that just keeps producing. Provide them with trellising and they can grow over 4 feet tall. This variety is an open-pollinated heirloom developed in the mid-20th century. Minimum 30 peas.
Grown organically with love and tenderness in the Bruce Peninsula, Ontario, Canada, in the summer of 2023/24/25. All open pollinated. Germination tested.