The Friendly Radish! by Debbie Beckett

Want your kids to eat veggies?  Get them involved in the garden!

It's amazing what kids will try when they plant their own veggies. You know how you love to get your hands dirty in the soil of your garden? Kids love that too!

To jump start their enthusiasm, try growing radishes. They sprout in 3-7 days and are ready to harvest in as little as 21 days.

By using clear containers such as glass jars or plastic cups, your kids can see the development of root crops; science, fun and nutrition all in one.

Sprinkle radishes in a mixed block of salad greens in your garden. As they grow quickly and are harvested, they leave lots of room for other roots (like carrots) to grow into.

Radishes distract bugs. Bugs pounce on the first shoots that appear in the garden; many times it's radishes. I suspect that since the early food for bugs is radishes, they stay off other plants.

Inch by inch, row by row, 

Gonna make this garden grow

All it takes is a rake and a hoe

And a piece of fertile ground 

Inch by inch, row by row

Someone bless these seeds I sow

Someone warm them from below

Till the rain comes tumbling down