When you are getting started with vegetable gardening, the easier you can make it on yourself the better!
Some of the easiest vegetables to grow for beginners are onions, potatoes, carrots, artichokes and kale. These vegetables are simple to grow, easy to care for and produce a good harvest for you to enjoy.
1. Onions
Onions can be grown from seed or from plugs. The easiest and quickest way to grow onions is to get a bag of onion plugs from your local nursery. Simply push them into the soil, leaving the tops exposed and keep them well watered as they grow.
When the tops start to flop and turn brown they are ready to harvest. Let them dry well after harvesting. This process should take a couple of weeks, once the tops are dry and the skin is papery they are ready to eat.
2. Potatoes
Potatoes are one of the easiest vegetables to grow and can provide you with a lot of food. You can grow potatoes in a container, a bag, a raised bed or the ground. In our experience, we have the most success growing potatoes in our raised bed rather than pots, but you will still get a harvest in a container.
You can either ‘Chit’ your potatoes yourself by leaving them in a cool spot with indirect light and allowing them to grow roots, or you can purchase chitted potatoes for very little cost at nurseries. simply bury the potato in the ground, and as it grows mound up the soil around the greenary (if in the ground) or if in a pot, bury the greenary as it grows. The green stems will produce more and more potatoes.
If planting potatoes in containers, half fill the pot so there is room to add soil as the plant grows.
Keep your potatoes well watered, and harvest once the tops of the vines have died down.
3. Carrots
Carrots are our favorite easy vegetable to grow. I love everything about carrots but especially the way they look as they grow in our vegetable beds. Simply create a shallow row in the soil with your finger or trowel, sprinkle the seeds in to the rows in your container or raised bed. Then close the rows and water gently. be careful not to water all your seeds away. Do not use too many seeds, as thinning carrots can attract carrot fly, so you want to avoid having to thin carrots at all.
Water your carrots well as they grow, and harvest when they are a good size.
4. Artichokes
Artichokes are easy to grow, and look beautiful in the garden. You can easily grow artichokes from seed or you can purchase a young plant from the nursery. We like to plant our artichokes in the flower border, their tall and stunning leaves look amazing. They produce a lot of artichokes with very little care. Harvest when they are dense and full size, just before they open.
5. Kale
Kale is an easy vegetable for beginners because it starts easily from seed and produces so much food all season long. If cared for, your kale plant will grow and grow into a huge plant.
Kale is a cut and come again type vegetable, harvest as it grows and enjoy this lovely vegetable from spring to fall. We recommend a variety like dinosaur kale which seems to resist insects well and does well with less watering. Having said that, the more water you can give it the better they will do. Ideally they would like about an inch a week.
What next?
Check out our posts on how to start your first vegetable garden and 5 skills every vegetable gardener should know to continue your journey to your dream vegetable patch.
