10 easy to grow vegetables for beginners.
Growing your own veg has never been so popular. It's fresh, organic, saves air miles, and plastic, plus it's rewarding and saves money.
But, being honest, growing your own veg is not as always easy. Veg tend to be more demanding, can need feeding and there are plenty of diseased which attack vegetable plants, as do slugs.
Even after growing vegetables for years, most veggies are more disease prone and time-consuming than garden plants and capricious. In 2021, nearly all of my late lettuces bolted, and my fail-safe crops of onions, were not and failed. Previous years have ranged from a glug of courgettes to a lightweight crop. This year beans were in abundance, and the Kale has flourished.
Every year presents a different scenario, with the potential for brilliant success or occasional setbacks. But don't let that discourage you.
Why not start with the easy veg? Without doubt, some veg are easier to grow than others. Listed below are the pick easiest veg to grow.
You'll notice I don't mention tomatoes on this page. That's because they are lovely but a harder vegetable to grow, blight can be a problem.
Some great growing veg tips from Suttons on their Blog
The Easy Veg to grow
All of the bean (legume) family
All beans are easy to grow and to raise from seed. They germinate easily, which avoids the cost of buying small plants. A packet of seed will remain viable for more than one season. Illustrated is Broad bean with a lovely crimson flower, scarlet and white runner beans, various coloured French beans and garden peas.
They are not entirely disease free, broad beans can get rusty and peas can get mildew, but they are fairly robust and give a good crop.
They are not all grown the same way. Broad beans are very hardy. You can even plant them in autumn and they will overwinter, compared with the rest of the bean family, which are all slightly tender.
More growing and planting information: Broad Beans, Runner Beans, French Beans and Peas.
Video How to plant Beans
This video looks at the different planting and support requirements for the different types of beans.
Growing beans in containers is possible, but the crop will be reduced since beans require space and a sufficient number of plants to achieve a decent harvest. I would not recommend runner beans in containers, but broad beans and dwarf varieties of French and peas can do well.
The Allium family - Onions Garlic and Shallots
Onions and garlic do not need a lot to keep them happy.
Well drained soil and sun.
You may think that onions are a bit of an ordinary crop to grow, but they are reliable. It is always good to plant something in the veg garden that you can be (usually!) confident will turn a good harvest at the end of the year. So if you have blight, and bolting, and lack of pollination and other problems, the chances are your garlic, onions and spring onions will still do well.
The large fat bulbs of onions sit on the surface, and they store well and look good hanging up.
Garlic and spring onions can be grown in containers, not so onions.
More easy vegetables to grow
Everyone loves a home-grown potato. Potatoes are easy to grow in containers. If, like me, you garden in a wet area, it may be best to grow early varieties of potatoes to avoid blight.
Grow your own superfood. Kale is an easy crop and very nutritious. It will crop from August through winter and into spring. It is fully hardy and you can harvest over a long period.
Cucumbers are easy, and once they get going, it's Tzatziki time. You can grow under glass or outdoors. They need little apart from a reasonable supply of water. Home-grown cucumbers are so crunchy.
Growing Chillies is simply fun. They are easy to germinate so you can pick your favourite chilli. No need for a garden, a warm windowsill will work, or a sheltered patio spot.