Plant your own veg patch

You’ll need

Pens or pencils
A4 paper
Gardening gloves
Gardening tools
Coloured pens or pencils
Device with internet access, one per group
Plants, as desired
Gardening books (optional)

Before you begin

Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. There's also more guidance to help you carry out your risk assessment, including examples.
Make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help if you’re short on helpers.

Planning and setting up this activity

If you don’t have access to an allotment or an outdoor area to start a veg plot, you could research community garden spaces to see if you could use them. You could also ask the relevant owner for permission to set up a growing space at your meeting place.
You could opt to create a mini allotment indoors in a suitable planter or use larger planters outside to grow food in.
This activity is best split across multiple sessions. The first sessions should feature an introduction to allotments or community space. Everyone should also get some time in the first session to think about what they’ll plant and how they’ll set out their plants.
Those leading the session will need to make themselves familiar with the requirements of maintaining an allotment. They may want to do some plant and vegetable research online, from books, or speak to an expert at a garden centre.
Let parents and carers know that you’re planning on carrying out a series of visits to manage an allotment. They might like to get involved and could know others who can help.

Run the activity

Gather everyone together and ask if anyone knows what an allotment is.
Explain an allotment is like a big garden where people come to grow fruit, vegetables and other plants. Allotments are not only great places to grow food, they support lots of different wildlife, too. And people can come to them to get closer to nature.
Ask if anyone has grown fruit, vegetables or flowers before. What do people think the benefits are of growing these things and of looking after an allotment? It may be good for people’s mental health and wellbeing, it’s good exercise, it offers people a focus, you can make new friends, learn new things and be responsible.
As a group, see if anyone knows of any places in their local area you could grow fruit and vegetables. It could be outside your meeting place, a local allotment or a community garden. Instead, you may wish to have some options to choose from and let people vote to decide which on they should use.
Ask everyone to get into groups. Tell everyone that some vegetables can take months to grow, but some are quick growing, such as radishes, beetroots or salad and herb shelves.
Either using gardening books or devices connected to the internet, ask the groups to research:
- three kinds of vegetable that could be planted in an allotment at the current time of year.
- three kinds of hardy annual flower that could be planted in the allotment at the current time of year.
- two kinds of bulb, herbaceous plant, flowering shrub or rose.
When this research is complete, gather back together to share ideas.
Using everyone’s research and considering all ideas, choose three vegetables, three hardy annual flowers, two bulbs, two herbaceous plants and two flowering shrubs that everyone can grow together.
You should ask everyone the length of time they think the group should be responsible for looking after the patch for, and how often you’ll need to visit.
Now it’s time to plan the veg patch or allotment. Give each group some pens, paper and rulers.
Ask each group to draw out the space you’ll be using, whether it’s planters or a veg patch. You may wish to have a pre-drawn template.
Explain to the groups the size, shape and layout of the allotment, and remind everyone what plants they’ll be growing. Making sure to include fixtures, such as sheds, compost bins, water containers and any landmarks.
Now, ask the group to draw where they think each plant should grow and why.
When everyone’s finished planning their allotment, gather together again and share ideas. Together, decide together how the allotment will be set out and agree a final plot plan. Someone should note down what was decided and collect the notes that the groups have made.
Now, everyone should think about how they’ll record their progress on the plant growth. This could be a journal, photographs, a noticeboard or something else.
It’s time to get started. Use the information on this page to help guide you through what needs to be done while gardening and maintaining the plants.

Reflection

Growing plants of any variety is a nurturing experience that requires perseverance and commitment. It’s likely that most of the group will be pretty proud of their little plants once they’ve grown up a bit!

How does everyone feel about growing their own vegetables? Is anyone surprised with the amount of time it took to care for the plants? What was the most challenging part of caring for the plants? Has it changed how people think about where our food comes from?

Growing and farming vegetables has its ups and downs. Sometimes plants don’t grow the way people expect them too. This could be due to lack of water, overwatering, lack of sun, or wild animals eating them.

Did anyone experience this? What happened and how did it make people feel?

Hopefully the rewarding feeling from when the plants were growing made all the hard work worthwhile. Did you manage to eat or cook the vegetables? Can anyone share any particular highlights from this experience?

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

Outdoor activities: You must have permission to use the location. Always check the weather forecast, and inform parents and carers of any change in venue.
Animals and insects: Be aware of the risks before interacting with animals. Be aware of anyone with allergies, and make alternative arrangements for them.
Poles and long objects: Be careful when moving poles or long items. Take care if the ends are sharp. Have appropriate supervision for this activity.
Gardening and nature: Everyone must wash their hands after the activity has finished. Wear gloves if needed. Explain how to safely use equipment and set clear boundaries so everyone knows what’s allowed.
Sharp objects: Teach young people how to use sharp objects safely. Supervise them appropriately throughout. Store all sharp objects securely, out of the reach of young people.
Rubbish and recycling: All items should be clean and suitable for this activity.
Food: Remember to check for allergies, eating problems, fasting or dietary requirements and adjust the recipe as needed. Make sure you’ve suitable areas for storing and preparing food and avoid cross contamination of different foods. Take a look at our guidance on food safety and hygiene.
Online safety: Supervise young people when they’re online and give them advice about staying safe. Take a look at our online safety or bullying guidance. The NSPCC offers more advice and guidance, too. If you want to know more about specific social networks and games, Childnet has information and safety tips for apps. You can also report anything that’s worried you online to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command. As always, if you’ve got concerns about a young person’s welfare, including their online experiences, follow the Yellow Card to make a report.
Near water: Manage groups carefully when near water. The guidance on activities near water will help you to keep your group safe.
Heavy and awkward objects: Never lift or move heavy or awkward items alone. Ask for help or, if possible, break them down into smaller parts.
Visits away from your meeting place: Complete a thorough risk assessment and include hazards, such as roads, woodland, plants, animals, and bodies of water (for example, rivers, ponds, lakes, and seas). You’ll probably need more adult helpers than usual. Your risk assessment should include how many adults you need. The young people to adult ratios are a minimum requirement. When you do your risk assessment, you might decide that you need more adults than the ratio specifies. Think about extra equipment that you may need to take with you, such as high visibility clothing, a first aid kit, water, and waterproofs. Throughout the activity, watch out for changes in the weather and do regular headcounts.
PPE: Before completing this activity make sure you have suitable personal protective equipment (PPE). This could include eye or ear protection, gloves, and anything else you need to protect yourself. You’ll know what you need as a result of completing the risk assessment for the activity.