When it comes to veggies, freshness is key, and whats more fresh than growing your own?
Most of the gardening sites around the web agree on which vegetables are best for beginner gardeners.
Grow a Simple Salad
Good news!
Some of the least fussy vegetables are ones that are perfect for an instant salad.
It can even be grown in containers, perhaps accompanied by flowers or tucked under taller plants.
Ive had success directly seeding them even in partly shady areas.
Heres more information fromGardeners Path.
Cucumbers
Cucumbers like sunlight and warm temperatures, as well as support for climbing.
(Thanks to their vertical growth, cukes do well in containers.)
Once you give them these and water them regularly, they grow almost like weeds.
Youll probably have enough cucumbers to donate to your neighbors.
The tops can be harvested too as these plants grow.
Green beans, pumpkins and zucchini are also a cinch to grow and quite prolific producers.
Carrots
Remember those projects from grade school where you grew carrot greens from their tops?
Whole carrots are pretty easy to grow in the ground as well.
The only thing about carrots is they might not grow very large, especially if you have rocky soil.
Deep, well-drained soil is preferablea raised bed is a good idea.
Nevertheless, carrots are simple and fun to grow (your kids might even want to help).
They tolerate light shade too, although, like most plants, they prefer full sun.
Heres growing advice fromCornell.
There are hundreds of varieties to choose from, and snapping beans to harvest them is kind of entertaining.
Both types grow easily from seeds.
Most beans prefer full sun and well-drained soil.
Harvest to Table has a list of the25 best bean varieties to grow.
Pumpkins
Pumpkins are relatively easy to grow and are great to have around during the autumn season.
For a complete guide, take a look at the information onHarvest to Table.
Zucchini
Finally, theres zucchini and other summer squashes.
Serious Eatssays:
Zucchini grow so prolifically that theyre the butt of many a gardeners joke.
(The only time we lock our doors around these parts is during zucchini season.)
One or two plants should cut it for most people.
The blossoms are as delicious as the squash.
Like beans and radishes, they grow easily from seeds.
Heres more information fromCornell University.
Hey, the more you garden, the more you grow.
This story was originally published on 4/11/14 and was updated on 6/20/19 to provide more thorough and current information.
