So, before I get into the subject of the post, I’m going to sidetrack a little here. On Friday I added a post to my blog. Turns out, I wrote pretty much the same post almost two months ago. The funny thing is, as I was writing the post I kept thinking to myself, “this all seems so vaguely familiar….”
I blame it on mommy brain, tiredness, renos, and clearly not enough coffee.
Anyways, if you were one of those people who noticed, I am sorry about that. I really DID not mean to write about ways to use your tax refund TWICE.
Here’s hoping for a better week of writing blog posts.
I think I’m off to a good start, because, it’s time to talk about gardening. While it’s still winter, early spring will be here before we know it.
I am giddy with excitement because I know very soon I’ll be starting seeds indoors. I ordered my seed packets a few weeks ago and they are sitting there in their beautiful little packages just waiting for me to plant them so they can grow into young plants that will bring a smile to my face throughout the growing season.
I feel like we need to talk about easy vegetables to grow, because if you are a newbie gardener it can be difficult to know where to start.
First, a disclaimer. I am by no means an expert when it comes to gardening. To be completely honest and transparent with you, I’ve only been gardening for about 5 years now. 5 may seem like a lot to a beginner gardener, but in the way of being an expert on things, it’s not really all that long. Not nearly long enough to develop a green thumb as strong as the pro gardeners.
Our first property had full shade (seriously, like almost every inch of our 1/11th of an acre was covered in shade) and old trees in the back yard which meant the whole yard had deep, huge tree roots running through it. Needless to say, it wasn’t the best conditions to grow a garden. You need a sunny spot and fertile soil to have a home garden.
So, after reading that, you may be saying to yourself, “Amanda, what gives you the right, then, to share gardening tips?”
Fair enough.
But – hear me out. Last year, growing my own vegetables went super well. I learned a lot, I had a lot of success, and we enjoyed the fruits of our labor.
Of course, maybe I just got lucky.
BUT, actual gardening aside, I am a HUGE researcher. I research everything extensively before I do it. Our family tends to do crazy things that has people shaking their head at us, and I’m sure they think we are jumping right into new things without thinking, but that usually couldn’t be further from the truth.
I spend countless hours researching everything. I read books, I use the internet, I ask friends and acquaintances who have been there before.
Point in case, when we got our very first puppy a year ago, I researched everything I could about breeds, dog ownership, puppy training, etc. I literally researched for close to a year before we made the jump. I am sure people were tired of answering my questions!
I research so much, I could probably benefit from a little less research.
So before I ever started gardening, let me tell you, did I research my little heart out. Aside from the usual ways to research, I also asked all my gardening friends a ton of questions about growing some successful vegetable crops.
My husband and I went back and forth for months on what type of garden beds we were going to do. Raised? In the ground?
In the end we passed on the raised beds, only because we didn’t want the added expense of soil.
When it comes to what vegetables are easy to grow, keep in mind this will depend on where you live and your climate. Here in Canada where I live we can only grow very limited types of fruit.
No orange trees in my neck of the woods, which is really too bad because I think an orange tree would be a slice of heaven on earth. But apples do quite well in parts of Canada, so planting an apple tree is a great choice.
Of course, we aren’t talking about fruit in this list, but you get what I mean. Your climate also has to be right for successful growing of the vegetables on this list and you will want to look into that. ut, if you are a beginner it can be helpful to know where to start.
10 EASY VEGETABLES TO GROW
TOMATOES
Let’s start with the most popular vegetable people seem to grow. The smaller tomatoes, such as cherry tomatoes tend to be easier than the larger ones. My kids loved growing cherry tomatoes because they could easily go outside and grab their own snack in the garden! The biggest lesson I learned was the importance of staking your tomatoes.
Tomato cages, in my opinion, are not the best option because if you have a healthy crop of tomato plants the cages topple over under the weight of it all. Aside from stakes or tomato cages, you can also use a trellis. Tomatoes can be grown in containers or even hanging planters. There is nothing like enjoying a toasted tomato sandwich with fresh tomatoes from the garden! Tomatoes LOVE direct sunlight, so make sure they are planted in a very sunny place.
LETTUCE
Heading out to the garden to grab some leafy greens like lettuce for a salad was the highlight of gardening season for me! When it comes to lettuce you want to plant it in 2 week intervals to have a continuous harvest all season long. Lettuce plants can handle some shade too so it’s a great vegetable to plant if you don’t have full sun. There’s plenty of types of lettuce like leaf lettuce, or head lettuces to choose from.
CUCUMBERS
Cucumbers are plants that like a lot of room, as their vines sprawl all over the place so you’ll want to make sure you have enough room. Some people like to use a trellis for cucumbers. If you are doing container gardening you can plant a bush type of cucumber. The vining cucumbers tend to yield more of a harvest than the bush variety which is why people love to plant them.
BEETS
Even though beets are easy to grow, you’ll probably never see them in my garden. I’m just not a beet fan! But hey, if you like beets, you should definitely plant some. They are cold hardy, which is actually quite perfect for my area since I live in Canada. They are definitely one of more popular root vegetables.
ZUCCHINI
Almost everyone I know who gardens in my area grows zucchini. It’s THE plant to grow. Being the rebel that I am, this is another vegetable I haven’t grown yet. However, I have seeds for the yellow variety for this year.
I love how this is one of those vegetables that you can enjoy in it’s healthy state, or you can throw it into some zucchini bread to give your treats a dose of vegetables without your kids EVER knowing. It’s a win-win! Zucchinis are well known for the plant that has a great chance of giving you a bumper crop. You can plant the green variety, or the yellow variety (which is technically summer squash).
PEAS
There is just something about popping peas out of a pea pod. This is a vegetable your kids will love to grab as a snack out of the garden, and you can choose between varieties that you pop out of the pod, or the ones with edible pods. Peas are another vegetable that you should plant in 2 week successions so that you can enjoy them for weeks on end! Peas are cool-season crops so you can plant them a little earlier than many of your other vegetables.
SPINACH
Spinach is another plant that enjoys cool weather. You want to plant spinach at 2 week intervals to enjoy it all season long! If you harvest spinach after the leaves get too long it will taste bitter, so you want to harvest it while the leaves are smaller. I loved being able to pick fresh spinach from the garden and toss it into my green smoothies!
GREEN BEANS
You can plant either pole beans or bush beans. Pole beans will require something like a trellis to climb, but bush beans are great for container gardening. Green beans require little maintenance for a successful harvest. Speaking of green beans, check out this cute little song on YouTube called “Green Beans in the Garden.” It will get you in the homesteading mood.
RADISHES
Great in salads, this vegetable is super quick to grow, and who doesn’t like reaping what they’ve sown as soon as possible? It’s a great vegetable to add to salads all season long.
PUMPKINS
Pumpkins are easy to grow and are another vegetable that has vines that like to sprawl out so be sure to give them lots of room. Pumpkins are the vegetable that will make the whole family happy because you can grow them for pies, or to carve during the Halloween season. I love pumpkins because they just scream fall harvest season.
SOMETIMES YOU JUST NEED TO JUMP IN AND TRY IT
My biggest tip on gardening is just to do it! When I first started researching I remember feeling overwhelmed at the amount of information that was out there. What if I did it wrong? What if I failed? How in the world did new gardeners make it work?
Well, guess what? Sometimes it’s time to stop researching and just jump in. Some of our biggest lessons can only be learned by actually doing it, even if it means learning from failure. And of course, if at first you don’t succeed, “try, try again.”
Can you imagine enjoying our own tomatoes you grew on a toasted tomato sandwich all season long? That’s the taste of summer right there. It’s amazing that you can start with tiny seeds and before you know it, you have a kitchen full of vegetables.
Aside from vegetables, remember that you can grow herbs too. A herb garden is very satisfying and the beauty of growing herbs is that you can do it indoors or outdoors.
What do you think? Did I miss anything on this list when it comes to easy vegetables to grow? What are your favorite vegetables to plant? Do you grow vegetables in your garden?
Might want to add green onions, garlic and strawberries .
Yes! Although, my garlic attempt did not go well (I didn’t plant them deep enough!) but I have grown green onions and they were relatively easy!