Top 7 Easiest Vegetables to Grow

After two years of experimenting with growing our own food we have discovered some things are very fickle, or disappear within 12 hours via slug attack, and others are incredibly easy. Here is a selection that I consider by far the simplest things to grow ;

Radishes. The simples most reliable thing to grow. Sow seed directly into the soil. They grow very quickly, ready to harvest in just two weeks. As you use up a row, plant another.

Rocket. A delicious salad leaf which is very slug resistant and perfect for sowing direct into the soil. Beautiful flowers ideal for decorating salads too.

Perpetual Spinach (spinach beet). A slug resistant cut and come again crop. Eat young leaves in salad or
cook. Sow directly into the soil.

Swiss Chard Bright Lights. A slug resistant cut and come again crop. Eat young leaves as salad or
cook. Sow directly into the soil. The veins and stalks of these leaves are beautiful and grow in a range of colours - white, yellow, orange, pink, red.

Flat Leaf Parsley. Herbs cost an absolute fortune in the supermarket. Parsley is easy to grow and will last two years before you need to start again with new seeds. You can't beat having bunches of this herb ready to enliven every sandwich and cooked meal.

Mixed Salad. Plant individual seeds into cellular seed trays and plant out when there are two true leaves. Prone to slugs, but fair better in raised beds and polytunnels.

Cucumber. The easiest way is to buy a couple of seedlings in spring from your garden centre. Give it a stick to climb up and reap the benefits.

Comments

[Kitchen Witch]

I am so with you on the chard - love love love the colours.

And the radishes - ah yes, the radishes. The thing I forgot is that we don't actually like radishes, and yet we have somehow ended up with a forest of them. ;)

[debra]

I always plant radishes, too. My husband is the only one who likes them in our house, so we have plenty to give away.

[farmingfriends]

This is a great article very useful. I find beetroot really easy to grow. Sara from farmingfriends

[Deb L]

The slugs ate my marigolds all the way down to the dirt. But they didn't touch the snapdragons, thyme or tarragon. Or at least not enough for me to notice. The chives not only are resistant to everything, they have spread like crazy. When we moved into our house nearly 2 years ago, I was pleased to see roses lining the driveway. And little sunshiney yellow crocus came up in the spring. And a few chives. "oh, how pretty" I thought.

I now have a huge swath in the middle section that is equal amounts of chives and roses. This despite ruthlessly yanking out as many as I could in early spring.

I don't know if Irish slugs like chives though. *grin*

Next year I am going to battle slugs with saucers of beer.

[Amanda Webb]

I love your blog so much! My garden is still a mess but I hope to get planting my organic vegetable garden in Spring. I'll be coming back here for tips. Also good to know that some of my favourite things to eat will be easy to grow.

[warpgirl]

In our Australian vegie patch we too have found that chard (either rainbow chard or silverbeet) is pretty hard to beat for reliability - it seems to survive heat, frost and neglect pretty well and keeps producing leaves for months and months. We've also had good fortune with rocket and various looseleaf lettuces, though they all need careful washing since the snails like them too.

Now we're in a frost free coastal area, we've planted tomatoes seedlings in the open in mid-spring but are already eating ripe ones from the self-seeded plants in last year's tomato patch. Such a luxury! Where we used to live (inland and in mountains) you were lucky to get a ripe tomato by Christmas.

[Maddy]

I must give cucumbers a go, we love eating them so it would be nice to have them on hand.

[ruth]

You forgot Squash and zuchinni! Especially crook neck squash. Simple EZ!