So you’ve got a garden…a backyard…or some space where you can put some containers…
… And you’re wondering what vegetables you can grow.
Nothing too complicated. Just the simplest of vegetables which will grow without need bags of experience or any special skills.
Perhaps you’ve grown some flowers before. Perhaps you’ve never grown anything before. Perhaps you helped your parents in their garden.
Well, let’s unravel the mysteries of successful vegetable growing and make it simple and easy for you to do. Just sow the seed and basically forget it – apart from watering. So you have a variety of vegetables to harvest and share with your family. Onwards…
Discover the 9 best vegetables to grow as a beginner
- Grow crunchy crisp tasting radishes. Radishes with red skin and white flesh really bring a salad to life. Their colour amongst green salad leaves stands out. Either as whole roots or cut into slices. Grow your radishes in the garden. Or in a container. They grow fast and are ready to harvest in 4 weeks.
- Salad leaves. Salad leaves are a must grow for the beginner. That’s because you can keep harvesting them. Cut the mature leaves. And the plants regrow for you to harvest again. The salad leaves you grow include rocket, spinach, endive, sorrel chicory, sorrel and mustard. Need some salad for a sandwich or to garnish a plate? Simply wander outside with your scissors and cut a few leaves. Sow your seeds in a tray with nutrient-rich compost, a container or the garden. And that’s basically it, apart from watering. Salad leaves are fas-growing. And will be ready to harvest in 4 weeks.
- Garlic. How about making garlic bread with your very own garlic? Crushing one of your cloves… mixing it with butter… and spreading it over bread. Growing garlic is simple. Buy a garlic bulb form the supermarket or greengrocer and separate the cloves. Look at the cloves., Where the clove was joined to the bulb is the root end. Push the root into soil until you can’t see the top. And that’s it. Plant garlic in the spring and harvest 4 – 6 months later.
- Chillies. Imagine flavouring your curries… chilli…. A casserole with your home-grown chillies. Chillies are very popular. They can be grown in an indoor window sill as long as they are kept warm. Sow your seeds in February. Move the plants outside after any frosts of May. Harvest the chillies from September onwards.
- Potatoes are a surprisingly simple vegetable to grow. Plant your potatoes deep (12”) from February onwards. Keeping them well-covered. They’re ready to harvest when the leaves start dying off.
- Rhubarb. Imagine eating your home-grown rhubarb as a crumble with custard or ice cream – even both. Rhubarb is simple to grow. Simply plant the crown and that’s it. However, don’t harvest the plant the first year. In the following years, when you harvest it, always leave some leaves on the plants. This way your rhubarb will flourish.
- Lettuce. Picture this; walking into your garden, cutting lettuce… washing it …. And you’re eating it in under 5 minutes. Lettuce is easy to grow. You can buy seedling plants and plant them in containers or your garden. Or you can sow them in a tray and move and plant them outside. They should be ready to eat in 6 weeks.
- Beetroot. A dish of fresh beetroot makes a great addition to mealtimes. Beetroot is a low maintenance plant to grow. You can buy seedling plants. Or sow the seeds yourself in a tray. Plant your beetroot seedlings in the garden. And that’s it. Beetroot doesn’t suffer from any major disease or bug attacks.
- Kale is a green you’ll want to grow. It’s packed full of nutritious goodies. You can plant it from early spring onwards. Start harvesting the leaves when they’re 2” in width.
