Starting your gardening adventure doesn’t have to be hard, but it’s important that you chose vegetables that are easy to grow so that you don’t get discouraged as some plant death is enviable when it comes to gardening.
You want to give yourself the best chance to be successful as you get started on your journey. Chose varieties that are easy to plant, don’t require a ton of work, are disease and pest resistant, and produce high yields and in the fastest amount of time.
Start with these 5 easy to grow plants to give you the motivation and courage to keep going.
- Lettuce: Lettuce can be sowed directly into the soil in the fall and early spring as they are a cool weather plants. Once the weather warms up they will become bitter and bolt (flower and go to seed). There is an endless variety of lettuces so it is fun to experiment and see what you like. Plus, leaf lettuce can be cut as they grow, and you can enjoy several harvests from the same plant by snipping off what you need each time.
- Bush Green Beans: These are by far my most favorite vegetable to grow because I always have TONS of beans to harvest and they have never failed me. They grow fast and you can get pounds and pounds of yield in a small space. Green beans are easy to harvest and preserve by freezing and canning. Start with bush varieties so that you don’t have to worry about trellising the pole varieties. Contender and Jade are couple of my favorites.
- Radish: Radishes are not my favorite veggie, but boy are they super easy to grow, so these are a good one to start with kids since they will be successful. Not once have I ever had radishes fail me. Luckily, my son likes them so I do grow them for him. They can be harvested in 24 days, making them one of the fastest growing in the garden. They are a cool weather plant so think spring and fall for direct sowing.
- Peas: There are a few different types of peas: snow peas and sugar snap are cool weather peas, and shell peas (think purple hull, butter bean, zipper, etc.) are summer, all are easy to grow. Direct sow pea seeds in early spring. They will need to be trellised as they like to grab and grow.
- Cucumbers: Cucumbers are a warm weather plant, so they are planted in later spring when soil temperatures are at least 70 degrees. It is recommended to trellis cucumbers that way they climb and keep the plants healthier as well providing you with more growing room. I recommend varieties that don’t require pollination (Parthenocarpic) so that you are guaranteed fruit. A heat tolerant variety, Katrina is one that I will be trying for our area (Southeast Texas)
Bonus
Basil: Basil is my favorite herb and super easy to grow. There are so many wonder varieties and each has its own unique and wonderful smell; and let’s not forget how good basil is in pesto and tomato sauces. Not to mention the medical properties that come along with varieties like Holy Basil, and they they make great additions to your flower arrangements.
Oh, so many things you can do with basil!
They can withstand less than stellar maintenance on my part. However, they do not do well with temperatures below 40 degrees, so make sure you plant when temperatures are consistently above that or plan to bring them inside.