Have you noticed that gardening has suddenly become cool again? From Kate Moss to Alexa Chung, the latest trend is grubby fingernails, gardening gloves, and kneeboards! This new trend in gardening is linked to wanting to eat clean and learning the best vegetables to grow.
Many millennials especially are eating healthier by cutting out unwanted pesticides and chemicals found in store-bought food.
How about you? Are you trying to live a healthier lifestyle? One of the best ways to eat clean is to grow fruit and vegetable plants yourself.
But, if you’re looking to start your own veggie plot, what are the best vegetables to grow? We’ve done a little digging and chosen our top ten best things to grow in a garden.
So, what are you waiting for? Let’s go!
1. The Cucumber Family
Anything from the cucumber family is a great choice for a traditional summer crop. Cucumbers grow on rambling vines that stretch up to 25 feet or so. There are several kinds of cucumbers that grow, for instance, yellow colored, mildly flavored lemon cukes, or long, pale green cukes.
Another member of the cucumber family is the zucchini. The stem and leaves should be kept dry, but the roots need regular moisture. Apart from that, it’s an easy plant to grow.
You’ll not regret planting cucumber or zucchini as one of your homegrown vegetables. Just think about all the cool dishes you’ll create this summer!
2. The Sweetest Corn
Another warm season vegetable that is good to grow in a sunny spot in your garden is sweet corn. The taste of store bought sweet corn will not even slightly compare to your homegrown vegetables.
Homegrown sweet corn is actually good enough to eat directly from the plant when it’s at peak ripeness.
Contrary to myths that sweet corn has no health benefits, it actually is full of phytochemicals that promote healthy vision. Sweet corn is also helpful for weight loss too.
3. Juicy Tomatoes
There are several kinds of tasty tomatoes you can grow easily in your garden. Cherry tomatoes, globe tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes and Roma tomatoes are a few delicious options. There’s just nothing that compares to a ripe tomato freshly picked, still warm from the sun!
You can grow them in containers, keeping one plant per pot. They don’t require a lot of room to grow either. You could even grow them on your balcony if you don’t have a garden.
Because of their quick growing period, some plants can actually produce fresh tomatoes every day for up to six years!
4. Spicy Peppers
Spicy peppers can be grown in large pots that are positioned in a sunny spot in the garden. But they grow even better when they are kept in a greenhouse.
The mildly spicy fruits are long and elegant looking and come in hues of yellows, reds, and oranges. They are jam-packed full of vitamins and are low in calories.
Tasty, good looking and healthy too, what more could you ask for?
5. The Crunchiest Carrots
Freshly harvested carrots are super sweet and crunchy, especially when compared to store-bought carrots.
Carrots are hardy and easy to grow. You can plant them in the early spring and harvest them in fall.
Grow a variety of long and shorter types in medium-sized containers. Make sure to harvest them when they are small, as leaving them in the ground too long can result in large, yet tasteless carrots.
6. Leafy Greens
One of the best things to grow in a garden is anything that is green, leafy and healthy.
Kale, spinach, lettuce, turnip, collards, dandelion greens and more are all super healthy edible garden plants. Most are best grown in cooler weather, but lettuce grows well in hotter months. You can grow several plants at a time in raised beds, which helps you to save a lot of dosh when it comes to your weekly grocery shopping.
Delicious, healthy and money saving…it’s a win-win veg!
7. Sweet Beets
Both beets and their greens are delicious homegrown vegetables to eat. High in iron, potassium and all kinds of vitamins, they will certainly give you a boost of energy like no other.
Grow them deeply in containers with seeds at least three inches apart. Like carrots, they are at there tastiest when they are harvested small. Larger beets tend to lose their sweetness and have a bland, woody taste.
8. A Boatload of Beans
There is an abundance of beans to choose from for your vegetable garden plot. Snap beans, navy beans, great northern beans and kidney beans are all great additions to your garden.
Grow them in containers and harvest them at the perfect moments for the tastiest crop. Depending on the bean will depend on which season you should plant them.
9. Popping Peas
One of the best things to grow in a garden during the cool season is podded peas. When temperatures are cool, peas can be grown on vines in containers. They are quite hardy, and can even survive light frosts.
Just make sure to provide a support for them to climb up. A trellis or fence is essential for peas to thrive.
The tender taste of a fresh snap pea is nothing like what you’ll experience from a store. So throw out the frozen peas and grow your own!
10. Broccoli
Broccoli is another healthy and tasty homegrown vegetable. With its high calcium, iron, magnesium, and a shot of vitamins, it’s basically a superfood.
Grow broccoli in containers, plating one per pot. The plant takes up to 13 weeks to grow, resulting in at least two pounds of broccoli. Broccoli can be quite expensive depending on where you live, so growing your own can save you quite a bit of dosh in the long run.
The Best Vegetables to Grow
These ten best vegetables to grow are just the tip of the iceberg. There are just so many appetizing, colorful fruit and vegetable plants that you can easily grow in your garden. And once you’ve got into the swing of things, you’ll never buy store bought again!
For more home and garden hacks that’ll blow your mind, check out our blog.