Kids can easily grow an attractive display of organic beans in a container or raised bed garden on their patio. Beans are legume plants that grow seeds in a pod, rich in nutrients and high in fiber and protein. Kids can grow beans to eat green, fresh shelled, or dried. Pick green beans often to keep them producing and use at the peak of their flavor. Leave beans on longer to let the seeds mature in the pods to shell them. Let beans completely dry on the vine to store dried or to save as seeds. There are heirloom seed companies that offer hundreds of varieties of beans. However, only a handful of varieties are offered at the supermarket, a large percent of beans in the U.S. have been genetically modified and include toxic chemicals, and sometimes dried beans on the supermarket shelf are several years old. Kids can get local organic seeds at the garden center or from local Master Gardeners. Bees pollinate the flowers that grow a few weeks after planting the bean seed. After the flowers drop off the plants, the bean pods appear. Kids can grow pole beans on a trellis or tall support and harvest the pods regularly, as the more that are picked the more that will grow. Kids can also grow bush beans that stand by themselves. Kids can enrich the soil in their raised bed garden by rotating their crops with beans, as they replenish nitrogen in the soil. By planting seeds in early spring and planting a second phase three weeks later, kids can harvest their beans into fall.
Cooking Magic for Kids 