There is nothing more delicious than gardening vegetables in your own plot of soil. As soon as you harvest your vegies you can be eating them without any concern for pesticides, herbicides and any other ‘cides’ that may have come in contact with your fresh produce.
Not only that, they are dead simple to plant and grow and anybody can do it and achieve a good level of success. Gardening your own vegetables is even a great way to get the kids involved and introducing them to the soil, seeds and enjoying the harvest.
Mother Earth Living [Link since removed] has come up with a list of 10 best crops to grow for beginners. They’re not all vegetables but we can live with that. So, while it’s a great list there are a couple I thought that should have made it.
Here’s Mother Earth Living’s list;
1. Radishes.
2. Salad greens (lettuce, spinach, arugula and corn salad).
3. Green beans.
4. Onions.
5. Strawberries.
6. Peppers.
7. Bush zucchini.
8. Tomatoes.
9. Basil.
10. Potatoes.
and to add to this;
11. Carrots. What vegetable garden would be complete without carrots? They are extremely easy to sow and cultivate. The best tip I’ve seen for sowing carrots is to mix the seed with some coarse river sand in a small jar. Shake until they’re well mixed and then poke a hole the size of your index finger in the lid. Slowly pour this mix along the drills that you’ve prepared and cover over. Too easy.
12. Sweet Potatoes If you’re going to grow potatoes, then sweet potatoes aren’t any harder. Cut a chunk off a shop-bought variety – ensuring that the chunk exhibits a few eyes – and plant below the surface the same as a potato. They are such a bountiful crop that you will be rewarded well for planting these.
13. Pumpkins I can’t believe this list missed out pumpkins. One of the easiest crops to grow and with such a large seed it’s a piece of cake to try and sow. You can even collect the seed from your own pumpkin, dry them out and plant in early spring to late summer.
14. Aubergine/ Eggplant Aubergines can be picked up as seedlings at most nurseries and planted as soon as the soil warms up. With 8-12 weeks you’ll have a prolific harvest of eggplants that look great in the garden but are far better grilled and on your plate.
15. Squash Not a big favourite with most vegetable gardeners, it is still a great crop to grow – even if you end up giving the produce to your neighbours. There are so many varieties of squash available now that trying a few new ones might even change your mind about them. Plant out as seedlings at the start of spring and you’ll be picking within 6-8 weeks.
Gardening vegetables can be so rewarding. Knowing how they grow and what you did to produce them is extremely satisfying. And, it should reduce your food bill.