Growing to love…

We want kids to love vegetables. One of the best ways to develop that love is through growing your own. Veg Power has worked closely with our partners to develop a creative and engaging way for children to grow to love…vegetables.

Watch our video

Growing to love…

Why growing?

Growing vegetables encourages children to try the food they produce, fosters understanding of the food chain and sustainability, and encourages hands-on curriculum-based learning.

Growing to Love, a project developed by behavioural scientists, teachers, and botanists, and featuring Shaun the Sheep, shows children the joy of growing and tasting their own produce.

Registration closed for 2025, over 30,000 children will be growing their own tomatoes.

Resources for schools

We provide busy teachers with complete, ready-to-use growing kits, delivered in one box, ensuring a fun and effective tomato-growing program. Kits include seeds, compost, feed, and everything needed for a successful classroom experience. Plant seeds in April following the teacher’s guide.

FAQs

Is this suitable for children of all ages?

The programme has been designed primarily for KS1 and KS2 children at this time.

Is this programme compliant with curriculum standards?

Yes, all our work is supported by our in-house team and our expert advisors and although not intended to directly deliver a school curriculum the programme has been created with teachers to comply with the national curriculum.

When will we see tomatoes?

Tomatoes will likely start to appear from July onwards. This depends on when the seeds were planted and the weather.

How long does this take?

The whole campaign runs from April through to September / October depending on when the tomatoes are ready to harvest. The first part of the campaign takes place in school. The plants are then taken home for the summer holidays.

What if we dont have an outside space?

The tomato seeds have been selected so that they can be grown on window sills

Is this programme available in Welsh? Ydy’r rhaglen yma ar gael yn Gymraeg?

Yes it is, click here for Welsh assets. Ydy, cliciwch yma am asedau Cymreig.

What people say…

In 2024 over 20,000 children in schools across the UK grew their own tomatoes from seed to fruit. They were joined by famous faces including TV Presenter Sam Nixon, Blue Peter gardener Chris Collins and Shaun the Sheep.

Here’s what our survey of teachers who took part had to say:

This has been a fabulous growing experience. The children have enjoyed nurturing their plants and we also had an in school competition which has proved a hit.

The tomato growing kits are easy to use and the children love the little booklets that accompany the growing kits, The teacher notes are really easy to use, even for non gardeners!

Kids loved watching the seeds grow. We used the resources to learn how to grow the plants and watched the videos to show us how to care for them.

I love this programme as it’s so easy to do and everything is supplied for the children to use.Its a great idea to get children learning how things grow.

We were amazed at the quality of the resources. Everything was included, different soil types to see the plants through various growing stages. Labels, seeds, greenhouses etc.

Absolutely amazing. The children have loved everything from planting to completing the sticker charts! Fantastic resources! Thank you so much.

Thank you for an amazing opportunity for our children. We look forward to participating again next year. Thanks again!

I found the whole project extremely useful and gave children hands-on experience of growing things from tiny seeds into plants and then being able to harvest the tomatoes at the end.