If you have a green thumb, or better yet, don’t have a green thumb, you’ll enjoy this list of 11 easiest garden vegetables to grow.
Growing up in the south, I can definitely be a country girl when I need to. I enjoy the outdoors and every so often don’t mind getting my hands dirty with a little yard work. While I’d prefer to mow the grass more than anything, it’s also fun to get out on my aunt’s farm to do some planting, digging or harvesting. My mother and her siblings grew up on a farm, so gardening and farming are pretty much in our family’s genes. Gardening and farming, if you enjoy it, can also be very relaxing. While some people, like my aunt, have massive gardens to sell fruits and vegetables, others enjoy a smaller home garden to plant what they plan to eat. Obviously, you’ll need the land and space to create your own garden, but if you’re tight on space, you can check out this list of the 7 easiest dwarf fruit trees to grow in containers or mini garden.
You don’t have to be from or in the south to have your own garden, as people all over the United States garden. According to Elements Lawn Care, the number of homeowners who garden is on the rise across the country, making a community of about 164 million (as of 2012). Gardening is also becoming more popular as it incorporates a healthy lifestyle into communities. Even Former First Lady Michelle Obama had a garden at the White House during their time there. For many, there’s a rewarding feeling to growing the food you eat. To help you accomplish some gardening goals, and get on the right foot to start your own, we came up with a list of some of the easiest vegetables you can grow. Once you tackle these vegetables, you’ll be able to go on to some of the tougher stuff.
In order to create our list of easiest garden vegetables to grow, we used Life Hacker, Spark People, The Spruce, Almanac and DIY Natural as our sources, to see what are the easiest vegetables to grow in your own garden. We collected information from each source and came up with our list by listing the vegetables that were most mentioned on those sites. Those vegetables that were mentioned by the most sources, were ranked higher on our list.
Without further ado, here’s a list of 11 easiest garden vegetables to grow.
11. Beets
Beets do best in well-drained, deep, but not clay, soil because it is too heavy for large roots to grow. Planting beets during winter is the best time because they don’t do well in hot or warm weather. Beets also have a pretty quick turnaround time as they begin sprouting within two weeks.
10. Peppers
If you are just starting to plant vegetables in your garden, peppers are the easiest and great for beginners. You’ll want to wait until any chances of frost are gone to plant your peppers. They grow best on stakes and need plenty of sunlight each day. After they are planted, they won’t require too much work, as you will only need to water them about once a week.
9. Spinach
Spinach, the next one on our list of easiest garden vegetables grows pretty easily, which is a plus if you’re new at the gardening thing, but the plants will not tolerate heat. You’ll want to plant it in the spring and harvest before the summer months for the best results.
8. Zucchini
Because this vegetable needs a hotter temperature, you should find a sunny spot in your garden and create a mound for planting. After planting, you should water it and add a mulch of organic material around the plant to keep the moisture. When the time comes, you should harvest them regularly and they are the best when the vegetable is small and its skin is shiny.
7. Summer Squashes
Same as the zucchini, summer squashes are best in a well-composted soil and they also need a lot of space between the vegetables. There are also summer squashes in bush varieties that take up less space. You won’t need many summer squash plants as just a few will yield quite a few veggies.
6 Tomatoes
Growing tomatoes is very easy and you can plant its seeds anywhere you want. You can grow them in a hanging basket or in your garden, basically, anywhere they can get a lot of sun. Tomatoes need to be exposed to the sun at least six to eight hours every day. The smaller the variety of tomatoes, the smaller the amount of work. Tomatoes are also great for beginners because it doesn’t matter if you forget to water them. Some gardeners say the less water a tomato gets, the better it tastes.
Nejron Photo/Shutterstock.com
5. Radishes
Coming in at number five on our list of 11 easiest garden vegetables to grow are radishes. They are some of the best vegetables for beginners and will also grow just as well in a container as they will in a garden. The best time to plant the seeds is early in the spring as soon as you can start working on the soil. The radishes that are planted in early spring taste a bit milder, while those that are produced in the heat of summer tend to get spicier.
4. Carrots
At number 4 on our list of easiest garden vegetables to grow, we have carrots that are quick growing seeds that can be planted in a garden in spring or late summer. Carrots prefer cooler climates and do best in deeper, loose soil. They are ideally grown in a sunlight and need to be watered around once a week.
AYA images/Shutterstock.com
3. Cucumbers
Like other plants on this list, cucumbers need warmer weather. If possible, you should plant cucumbers in the sun, next to a fence that will serve as support, or you can plant them near corn which will trap the heat the cucumbers need and serve as a windbreaker. If you want to make your own pickles, you should grow smaller varieties. Either way, you should harvest cucumbers regularly to keep the plants producing.
2. Lettuce
Lettuce has many varieties of leaves you can choose from. You can plant them in your garden as seeds or young plants but you need to make sure they are placed in afternoon shade and get plenty of water regularly.
1. Beans
While growing beans in your garden, there are many things to consider like what type to plant, when, and how to plant. But, you shouldn’t worry because the bean is another easy vegetable you can grow in your garden. Among the best types of beans are snap beans, dry soup beans, lima beans and scarlet runner beans. The best time to sow seeds is in spring after the last frost date.
This was our list of 11 easiest garden vegetables to grow. We hope we managed to show you which are the easiest, what conditions they need and how to plant them the right way.
