Vegetables with Fun Names for Childrens' Gardens

comments (0) March 9th, 2010

Chris McLaughlin, contributor

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Let your kids plant Green Zebras.

Photo by Pirate Alice under the Creative Commons Attribution License 2.0.

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If you're planning on getting some kids into the garden this season, there are some vegetable varieties out there with some seriously fun names. Varieties that have silly, or just familiar names are simply more exciting for kids to plant and can be great conversation-starters, too.

"Why do you think they chose this name for this melon?"

"What would you have named it?"

"If you created a variety what vegetable would it be and what name would it have?"

All of the silly veggies below just happen to be heirloom varieties. Which, of course, means that when you and your kids harvest the crop you can save your own seeds for next year. Collecting and storing seed is the next natural progression from growing their own vegetable plants. Now, you and your kids can have your own "seed bank" and give it a silly name.

Tigger melons - This melon is a gorgeous, bright yellow with fire-red zig-zag stripes.
Green Zebra tomatoes - Not just a cool name - but one of the chef's favorites.
Sleeping Beauty sweet melon - Small vines, perfect for small gardens. Lots of little, sweet, cream-colored melons.
Jack Be Little pumpkins - The tiniest pumpkins for the tiniest hands. Darling and decorative.
Dragon's Tongue pole beans - It doesn't get any better than planting a dragon's tongue in the garden.
Painted Pony beans -This bush bean looks just like a pinto or paint pony.
Dragon carrot -This is an awesome purple carrot with a sweet-spicy flavor.
Thumbelina carrot - A stubby, but very sweet carrot that's terrific for heavy soils (like clay).
Casper eggplant - Pure white like everyone's favorite ghost.
Tom Thumb peas - Its name comes from its habit. This is a very compact little plant - perfect for containers.
Cinderella pumpkin - It's carriage-shaped and deep orange-red. Very romantic.
Chocolate Beauty bell peppers - I'm not sure anyone can resist the word "chocolate" attached to anything. Too bad it doesn't tasete like the real thing.
Black Beauty zuccini - Yup. Just like the horse.
Moon & Stars watermelon - Lives up to its name. This melon had a large yellow "moon" on its flesh along with dots of "stars" just like the solar system.
Black-seeded Ice Cream watermelon - Pink-fleshed and super-duper sweet.