If you are just starting out on your vegetable garden, it can feel daunting to know where to begin.
One of the most important things is to not try to do too much at once. Take into consideration how much space and time you have and then pick a handful of foods that you know you and your family love. Once you get the hang of it, you can always add new plants the following year. Here are our recommendations for some easy plants for beginners to grow:
Lettuces
With the combination of successional sowing, growing under cover and a choice of varieties, salad leaves can be cultivated and harvested throughout the seasons. Salad leaves are quick and easy to grow and you can harvest as much as you need for your meal just minutes before eating, resulting in a far fresher and healthier (and more environmentally friendly) salad than you could possibly get buying leaves in the supermarket.
Almost any container will do for salads, from raised beds to window boxes, troughs, pots and seed trays.
Radishes
Radishes are easy to grow. First sowings can be made under cover as early as February, then from April onwards. Sowing a short row every few weeks will ensure a constant supply of radishes. Pick them small and young before they get tough and before the slugs get them.
Courgettes
Easy to grow and prolific. Sow the large seeds under cover in March and April in pots or trays. Plant outside, 1m apart, when the risk of frosts has passed. They can be planted in a bed or in large pots but make sure you water them well. The key to courgettes is to pick them regularly while the fruits are small to ensure a constant supply.
French beans
There are numerous varieties of French beans available – dwarf, forming compact bushes, and climbing. All will fruit prolifically and routine harvesting of the young pods will keep you supplied for several months over the summer. Climbing varieties will need a framework of canes to grow up. They should wind themselves around the cane without the need for tying. For fresh French beans, pick the pods while young and tender and eat as soon as possible after harvesting.
Beetroot
All parts of a beetroot plant are edible. Young leaves are tasty and attractive in salads, while the roots can be eaten raw, cooked or pickled. Several sowings can be made between March and June. As the seedlings develop, thin them out, using the surplus in salads.
Chard
Chard is a type of leaf beet often known as swiss chard, though this is just one variety. They are attractive plants which are prolific and easy to grow. Sow the seeds from April through to August in trays or modules then plant out 45cm apart in their final positions.
Spring onion
Spring onions can be sown as seeds or planted as sets in the spring. Seeds can be sown directing in the ground where they are to grow, or in a seed tray and then planted out 6 weeks later.
Pumpkin
Sow the large seeds under cover in April and May in pots or trays. Plant outside, 1m apart when the risk of frost has passed. Water well throughout the growing season and feed fortnightly as the fruits grow. As the fruits form, it’s a good idea to restrict the number per plant to around four pumpkins, and cut off any further shoots so that the plant puts all its energy into growing those fruits.
Find out more about growing your own fruit and vegetables in The Vegan Cook and Gardener, a book co-written by Piers Warren, who kindly contributed to this post.