Growing Vegetables

Peas And Beans

A Read-Along Activity

S55_Header_ScaryChecksThePeas
 More Read-Alongs
 Back to Story List

Do you remember a while ago when the teddy bears sowed some peas and broad beans indoors in a jam jar? (You can read all about that here). They said that they would let you know what happened to them.

Well, it's been very exciting! Although seeds don't grow whilst you watch them, if you leave them for a while in the jam jar, as the bears did, and just keep topping up the water a little bit every now and then to keep the kitchen towel damp, they WILL start to grow.

S55_01_ThePeasStartToGrow
The Peas Start To Grow
You can see from their pictures here that the peas grew roots and shoots quite quickly, compared to the broad beans which seemed to grow very slowly - in fact, at one stage, the bears nearly threw them away because they thought they weren't growing at all!
S55_02_BroadBeansGrowVerySlowly
Broad Beans Grow Very Slowly

They're very glad now that they persevered - because look at them now!! When the peas and beans were big enough to handle, the bears planted them into some compost in little plant pots and put them in the greenhouse.

S55_03_BroadBeansPlantedInPot
Broad Beans Planted In Pot

Then they grew and grew until they became quite big plants - the broad bean plants are certainly as big as Boo!!

S55_04_BooChecksTheBroadBeans
Boo Checks The Broad Beans
The peas grow into more delicate plants which grow tendrils which will attach to a support.

Once the plants were big enough to live outside, the bears put them into one of the raised beds they have for their vegetables in the garden. They stuck canes in the ground first for the broad beans, to help keep them upright, and they stuck some twiggy sticks in the ground for the peas to curl their tendrils around and grow up.

As you can see in the pictures, the plants are very healthy and sturdy, and growing bigger and bigger all the time. The broad beans are covered in black and white flowers which will turn into green pods which will contain lots of broad beans.

S55_05_PeaPlants
Pea Plants
The peas have not yet flowered, but when they do, they will have pods full of peas! Yum! Yum!

The bears still make sure the plants get lots of water - now they are outside they are watered by the rain falling, but the bears may have to water them if there are long periods without any rain. So they can't really make up their minds whether they want it to rain or not - if it rains, they can't go out and play, but if it doesn't, then their peas and beans won't get enough water. If only they could persuade the weather to rain during the night, and be sunny during the day!! That would be the best of both worlds!

S55_06_BroadBeanPlants
Broad Bean Plants

The bears are checking on the plants every day to see who will spot the very first pods. They can't wait until the plants have pods so they can have peas and broad beans for their tea!!

If you followed their instructions for growing peas and broad beans indoors, make sure you plant them out in the garden, so you can enjoy the lovely vegetables too!