Plant these low-maintenance vegetables in your garden.
Sometimes it feels like gardening can go one of two ways: some plants will grow strong and beautiful with just a little effort, while others seem to wither if you look at them the wrong way. Finding the right plants for your climate, location, and skill level can be a challenge!
If you’re a first-time gardener, it’s a good idea to start with heartier plants that are more likely to flourish while you develop your green thumb. And if you enjoy eating what you produce, you can’t go wrong with healthy vegetables!
Here are eight of the easiest vegetables to grow:
- Leafy greens
- Potatoes
- Garlic
- Peas
- Green beans
- Cherry tomatoes
- Squash
- Herbs
Let’s “dig” into some more info about these easy vegetables to grow!
Leafy greens
The spring and summer months are peak salad season, and you can enjoy home-grown mixed greens like lettuce, kale, spinach, and swiss chard in yours. To grow leafy greens, plant them in full sun and keep the soil moist. Simply harvest the leaves as you need them. Different types of leafy greens require varied planting times (e.g., lettuce likes the cool temperatures of early spring and fall), so make sure to read your seed packet or plant container for details. (If you don’t have an outdoor garden, leafy greens can be grown indoors!)
Potatoes
If you have a couple of “seed potatoes,” you can transform them into many potatoes! Seed potatoes are a special kind of potato meant to be replanted and yield a good crop. All you have to do is cut them into chunks and plant them with the cut side down and the eye facing up. You’ll want to occasionally add more soil throughout the growing season, but overall they’re pretty low-maintenance. Check out all these different ways to grow potatoes, including containers and raised beds.
Garlic
Do you have some garlic that’s getting old and shooting out sprouts? Turn it into garden garlic! You can plant garlic in the fall or the spring, and all you have to do is plant cloves (sprouted or unsprouted) four to six inches apart in good soil. Containers are acceptable to grow garlic in as long as you have somewhere to put them in full sun.
Peas
Do you like flat, crisp snow peas or plump, juicy sugar snap peas? They’re great for stir-fries, salads, or even just munching right off the vine. And they’re also a versatile and easy vegetable to grow! You can grow them in a traditional garden or containers. Some peas like to have something to grow onto for support, but pea trellises are easy to build.
Green beans
While you’re making that pea trellis, consider making it a little longer so pole beans can share it too! Or, opt for bush beans instead, which don’t need a trellis. Beans grow best in the warm weather of spring, after the last frost. After they’re planted, they’re low-maintenance and only need weekly watering (rain counts) and monitoring for garden pests.
Cherry tomatoes
From fresh garden salads to sauteed pasta dishes, there are lots of ways to make tomatoes delicious. (Yes, we are including them in this vegetable article. To settle the debate, tomatoes are botanically considered fruits and nutritionally considered vegetables!) Full-sized tomatoes take longer to grow, but the mini cherry tomatoes can go from transplant to harvest in 2 months. It’s easiest to buy young plants from a garden center instead of growing them from seed. Grow them in gardens or containers, as long as you have something for the vine to support itself on.
Squash
To grow summer squash, plant seeds in spring when the danger of frost is past. They’re a hardy and well-growing plant; give each plant three to six feet of room to sprawl across the ground, and they’ll reward you with plenty of veggies for grilled skewers, ratatouille, and even baked goods!
Herbs
You can be a gardener even if all you have is a windowsill! Fresh herbs have a lot of nutritional value and can really amp up the flavors of your meals. Some of the best herbs to grow indoors include basil, chives, mint, oregano, parsley, rosemary, and thyme. See this article on how to grow an herb garden for more helpful hints!
Excited to try out your green thumb with these easy-growing vegetables? If you’re entirely new to the world of gardening, check out these gardening tips for beginners.
