‘Growing to Love’ is a tomato growing project that supports children to learn about food, its origins and growth, while also encouraging vegetable acceptance. This year’s campaign has been supported by a range of experts including TV and radio presenter Sam Nixon and former Blue Peter gardener Chris Collins.
The project involves 21,000 KS1 and KS2 children from 351 primary schools across the UK. The tomato seeds are sown at school before the summer holidays, the seedlings are brought home during the break, ready for picking in September.
Dr Clare Holley, senior lecturer in psychology specialising in children's eating behaviour, Loughborough University said: “Getting children involved in growing vegetables can not only reconnect them with both food and nature, but it can also be enjoyable and an excellent way to help them get excited about vegetables.
“Research shows that being involved in growing vegetables is a reliable way to decrease their reluctance to try vegetables as well as leading children to eat more vegetables.”
Each participating school will receive a ‘Growing to Love’ pack containing all the necessary growing materials including windowsill propagation kits, seeds, organic vegetable feed, compost and plant labels.
Dan Parker, chief executive of Veg Power, added: “We know children learn best when they’re having fun and this campaign was developed with this in mind.
“Teachers have shared that their pupils can’t wait to get stuck in and get their hands dirty while learning about how we grow food and developing their understanding of the food chain, climate, sustainability and our environment. The added bonus is that the children will be more likely to try the tomatoes at the end of the process which we hope creates life-long veg-eating habits.”