The Best Vegetables to Grow for Beginners
Are you thinking about starting a garden this year? Check out this list of the best vegetables to grow for beginners. These vegetables are super easy to grow and perfect for beginner gardeners!
Best Vegetables to Grow for Beginners
Gardening is one of my absolute favorite things to do. Most days, you’ll find me digging in the dirt when I really should be inside doing laundry or housework instead.
But I can’t help it. The garden is constantly calling my name, and I just love being out there.
It wasn’t always that way, though. There was a time in my life when I couldn’t even keep a simple house plant alive. The mere thought of me growing food was honestly quite laughable.
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But after quite a bit of trial and error, I can now grow an abundance of produce for my family. So, if you are just getting started with gardening, I first want to encourage you. You can do it!
Gardening is one of the best things you can do with your time. Not only do you get to grow and eat yummy food, but it’s also great exercise and good for your mental health.
You can click here to learn more about the amazing benefits of gardening.
When I first started gardening, I wanted to grow all of the things. I didn’t know what I was doing, but I was super ambitious and excited to grow my own food. Unfortunately, not everything turned out the way I hoped it would.
And that’s because not all plants are easy to grow. Some are super finicky and high maintenance, and some are super laid back and easy.
Now, If you are overly ambitious like I was, I would say go for it. If your plants don’t make it, well, at least you’ll gain some wisdom for the next growing season.
After all, gardening is just a never-ending learning adventure.
But if you want to avoid the stress, overwhelm, and disappointment that comes with gardening, especially when you are first starting out, I recommend starting with a few of these super easy-to-grow foods.
In my experience, these are the best vegetables to grow for beginners. But remember only to grow what you actually like to eat. Otherwise, what’s the point?
Of course, all plants are susceptible to bugs or disease, but with the right environment and care, these plants are all very easy to grow.
10 Best Vegetables to Grow for Beginners
Tomatoes
Tomatoes are a must-have for any beginner gardener. Plant them in rich, well-amended soil in a super sunny location, make sure they get plenty of water, and you’ll have an abundance of tomatoes in no time.
Be sure to keep an eye out for the dreaded hornworm. Just thinking about it gives me the heeby-jeebies. If you come across one, you’ll definitely want to remove it from your plant as soon as possible.
Zucchini
Zucchini plants are super heavy producers. I read that one plant can produce 6-10 pounds of zucchini. But I don’t know if I believe that. I would have guessed it would be a lot more than that.
Maybe I’ll test it out this summer and track exactly how much my zucchini plants produce. Nevertheless, if you like eating zucchini, you’ll definitely want to grow it.
Like tomatoes, it needs full sun, well-amended soil, and lots of water. Because zucchini are heavy producers, they are also heavy feeders. So, if you want the plant to stay healthy and keep producing, you’ll want to give it some compost or natural fertilizer sporadically throughout the gardening season.
I love to feed my plants worm castings and I also really like this all-natural, organic fertilizer.
Squash
Growing squash is like growing zucchini. Make sure it gets lots of sunshine, water, and food, and you’ll have more squash than you’ll probably be able to eat.
Cucumbers
Cucumbers have been a staple in my garden ever since I first started growing my own food. As a beginner gardener, I was able to grow an abundance of cucumbers without a whole lot of gardening knowledge.
I simply planted the seeds in the ground and waited for them to sprout. Once they did, I gave my cucumber plants lots of water throughout the summer.
We grew so much cucumber during our first gardening season that we ended up giving a bunch away to our neighbors and friends.
Leafy Greens
Leafy greens like lettuce, spinach, kale, and chard are perfect plants for new gardeners. They grow best in cooler weather, making them perfect for spring and fall gardens.
To flourish, they need a minimum of 4 hours of sun a day and water, so if you have an area in the garden that gets quite a bit of shade, that would be the perfect place for them.
I like to fertilize here and there throughout the season with fish fertilizer. This is the one I use.
Kale is super hardy. It can tolerate frost and excessive heat if it is a well-established plant. I had a kale plant that grew for years and years!
Sugar Snap Peas
Peas are another cool-weather crop. I usually plant them in October, and they will continue until about June when the heat finally starts to get to them. Keep in mind that we have very mild winters here in Southern California.
Peas are one of my absolute favorite plants to grow because they are extremely low maintenance. They grow fairly easily without requiring a lot of time or attention.
They do not tolerate heat well, so once the weather starts to warm up, they are usually done for the season.
Hot Peppers
Not everyone is a fan of hot peppers, but I love growing them every year so that I can make fresh salsa with them.
Pepper plants love hot weather. As long as you have a suitable climate and the plant gets plenty of sun and water, you’ll be able to grow hot peppers pretty easily.
Beans
Beans are a popular staple in so many backyard gardens. They are super productive, and they only require a little space.
There are two types of beans: pole beans and bush beans. Pole beans grow upward and require some type of trellis. They are more disease-resistant than bush beans.
But bush beans are a little less work because they do not require trellising.
Bell Peppers
In my experience, bell peppers are easy to grow. But keep in mind that I’m located in sunny southern California, and bells are heat-loving plants.
So, if you live in a cooler climate, they might not be as easy to grow where you are.
Bell peppers require full sun and deep watering. Also, be on the lookout for aphids. They love bell pepper plants. However, my homemade bug spray for the garden can eliminate an aphid infestation quickly.
Radishes
Radishes are not only easy to grow but also grow incredibly fast. Harvesting radishes grown from seed only takes around 21 days.
Radishes are best grown in early spring or fall.
This is by no means an exhaustive list of every easy-to-grow plant. But it is a list of popular, well-known vegetables that are perfect for first-time gardeners.
As I mentioned earlier, all plants, even the easy-to-grow ones, are susceptible to pests and disease. But if given the right environment and a little TLC, even the most novice grower can successfully grow these plants.
