I am thinking about starting a garden, any tips and what foods would be easiest to grow?
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I think gardening is great and I think it helps connect you to the earth. It gives you a sense of time and cycles of the year and the cycle of life.
Easy things to grow are radishes, green onions, herbs, zucchini and other squashes if you have the room.
Tomatoes will give you the greatest difference in taste between store bought and fresh grown - there is just no difference in taste.
About this time of year you would start planting lettuces for the Fall.
I have a garden and for beginners, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, and peppers are the easiest to grow.
For fall vegetables I would suggest lettuce, and greens (mustard, collards, kale)
tomato plants
green onions
bell peppers
melons
cabbage
cauliflower
broccoli
green beans
squash & cucumbers
toms spuds, lettuce, even some flowers
carrot grown anywhere
Melons, in my experience, are very easy to grow from seed and produce the most satisfying results. Watermelons are absolutely my favorite thing to grow.Tomatoes can be frustrating especially in hot weather.
This year was my first garden. I sat down and thought of the vegetables that my family would actually eat, and what grew in warmer weather (we live in Texas). I decided on tomatoes, jalapenos, banana peppers, cucumbers (I like to make pickles), watermelons and pumpkins and green beans. I also planted a variety of herbs (basil, oregano, thyme, dill, sage and lavendar).
This past February I did plant lettuces, cabbage, broccoli, beets, and purple cabbage along with onions and shallots.
Here in Texas it is not time to plant cold weather crops. I won't do that until early October. Make sure you look at the climate of your area before planting your crops, you don't want to set yourself up for failure.
To start a garden, you need to prepare a bed. One way to do this is to have someone come in and rototill your plot. But if you're starting from sod, you'll often end up with a lot of weeds growing up quickly that you will need to pull and re-pull. Another way is to spread newspaper or cardboard, then compost, grass clippings, and whatnot and wait until next year, when you will have fluffy soil with few weeds. Look for a book called Lasagna Gardening for more tips on easy ways to create a garden plot.
What's easiest to grow? Lettuce and radishes grow quickly with little care. Also try arugula and bush beans. Pumpkins and tomatoes are easy. Potatoes and onions are surprisingly easy. Peas usually need something to climb on, like a fence or some poles tied together at the top. Corn also takes little care, although you should plant it in double rows to encourage pollination. Your climate will be a strong factor in determining what is easy and what is hard. Around here where it's cold, melons, peppers, and eggplants are quite difficult, but turnips, beets, and carrots are easy. Hot dry climates have different challenges. What do you like to eat? Plant plenty of it. And if you don't know what something is, don't plant until you try some at a store or farmers' market.
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