Can you use soil under lawn to grow?

buel10

Hi all.
Briefly, I want to use part of my lawn to grow something for my 2 year old daughter to learn to water and care for. Is it as simple as cutting some lawn up to expose the soil?

Also, what would you recommend as a nice easy starter to get a toddler interested?

kazwookie

Rather than digging up the lawn, why not consider two or three large pots, top soil from a garden centre or similar.

Cress on kitchen roll, fast growing
For the pots, lettuce, radish, sunflowers, carrots, spuds.
Get your child a small watering can (about £1.50 from poundland and similar)

unrecordings

+1 for pots
maybe start with a couple of those supermarket ready to go/kitchen windowsill herb pots and progress from there (cress on kitchen roll also being a superb suggestion - I remember that at school from 45 odd years ago)

shortcrust

Yes, I’ve taken loads of strips of lawn up and planted straight into the exposed soil. Using pots is a good idea though. A seed sprouting in a pot might be more impressive than the same seed in a bed.

Perhaps do a mix of things. Stuff that grows very quickly like cress is great for kids. Something that you can watch grow for years is nice to mark time. I planted a lemon pip when I was little and it was six foot tall by the time I started secondary school. That was in a container and had to be brought in for the the winter. We’re also getting to the time of year when you can plant bulbs for next spring.

unrecordings

Bulbs/roots/tubers are good - even cynical old me gets a kick when I first notice the signs of my tumeric & lemon grass re-emerging from their slumber.
Just make sure not to confuse edible with in-edible during the early stages.

esuhl

I know nothing about this! But I cut a square out of our lawn to use to grow potatoes. It was quite compressed, so I dug it over with a fork.


I just shoved in a few surplus shop-bought potatoes that had gone soft, and I've got loads of thriving potato plants! :-)

unrecordings

esuhl wrote: »

I know nothing about this! But I cut a square out of our lawn to use to grow potatoes. It was quite compressed, so I dug it over with a fork.


I just shoved in a few surplus shop-bought potatoes that had gone soft, and I've got loads of thriving potato plants! :-)

Now that is the essence of this thread - good luck with the experiment

sheramber

Kids love sunflowers as they grow soo big and they can gather the seeds for the birds to eat in winter.

You can buy packets of seeds with 'children's mix' in them.

Some strawberries in a pot or a hanging basket and she gets strawberries to eat.