One thing I am often asked by beginning gardeners is, “what is the easiest thing for me to grow?” Some of us just dive right in to gardening headfirst, attempting to grow whatever our favorite veggies are, regardless of how easy or difficult it is. Or without even considering that one might be more difficult than others. That was me and ignorance is definitely bliss until you are unsuccessful, and then it’s just frustrating.So, today on Just Grow Something I’m going to cover some of the easiest things for a brand-new gardener to grow, whether it’s in garden beds, raised planters or pots. We’ll take about which growing zones they are appropriate for, what type of light requirements they have, and any specific requirements they prefer like temperature or how they germinate. Just because they’re easy doesn’t mean they won’t appreciate a little attention to their preferences and that will only make them easier for you to get them to maturity. This is a great episode to share with a new gardening friend! Let’s dig in!
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Episode 240: Spring Planted Bulbs and Garden Perennials
Ep. 79 - Planning a Children's Garden
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One thing that I am often asked by beginning gardeners is what
00:00:05
is the easiest thing for them to grow?
00:00:08
Now, some of us just dive right into gardening head first,
00:00:12
attempting to grow whatever our favorite veggies are regardless
00:00:15
of how easy or difficult it is, or without even considering that
00:00:19
one might be more difficult than others.
00:00:21
That was me and ignorance is definitely bliss until you are
00:00:26
unsuccessful and then it's just frustrating.
00:00:29
So today on Just Grow Something, I'm going to cover some of the
00:00:31
easiest things for a brand new gardener to grow, whether that's
00:00:34
in garden beds, in raised planters, or in pots.
00:00:38
We'll talk about which growing zones they're appropriate for,
00:00:40
what type of light requirements they have, and any specific
00:00:44
requirements that they prefer like temperature or how they
00:00:47
germinate or whatever. Just because they're easy
00:00:50
doesn't mean they won't appreciate a little attention to
00:00:52
their preferences, and that will only make them easier for you to
00:00:56
get them to maturity. Let's dig in.
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Hey, I'm Karen and what started as a small backyard garden 20
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years ago turned into a lifelong passion for growing food.
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Now as a market farmer and horticulturist, I want to help
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you do the same. On this podcast, I am your
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friend in the garden teaching evidence based techniques to
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help you grow your favorites and build confidence in your own
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garden space. So grab your garden journal and
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a cup of coffee and get ready to just grow something.
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So right now on the farm, we are super busy getting all the rest
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of our cool season crops into the ground.
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The brassicas and all of the root veggies and the onions and
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potatoes all got planted in March, along with spinach and
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salad, turnips and sugar snap peas and all the leafy greens.
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And we're currently working on the six sessions of things like
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head lettuces and radishes. The greenhouse is like
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overflowing with all the warmer weather things like tomato and
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pepper plants, plus all of the annual herbs that still need a
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little protection from the frost.
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And we're getting ready to start the first six session plantings
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of squash and cucumber plants indoors in anticipation of
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getting those out into the gardens in a few weeks.
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Plus, we're spreading mulch and feeding the onions and garlic
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and laying down wood chips in between the beds.
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And I'm trying to decide when the best time is for me to plant
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these summer blooming bulbs that I got.
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So if you listen to episode 240 about spring planted bulbs and
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perennials, you remember I am doing more this year to be a
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little bit more aesthetically pleasing in my gardens rather
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than just planting flowers as companions.
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Well, I ended up buying bulbs for dahlias, Gladiolus, and a
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couple of different types of lilies.
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And so now I'm patiently waiting, well, sort of
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patiently, for when I think the right time is to get those dug
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in. The lilies I think can stand
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some cooler soil temperatures, but the dahlias and the
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Gladiolus definitely like it warmer.
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So I'm trying to be patient because, you know, I needed to
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add one more task to my already overflowing plate of garden
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tasks by adding bulbs to the list, right?
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So fingers crossed that the effort pays off and that I reap
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the rewards by getting some beautiful blooms in the summer.
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I hope your garden and your garden plans are off to a
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rocking start this spring or finishing strongly this fall if
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you're one of my Southern Hemisphere gardeners.
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OK, let's talk easy peasy veggie plants for the garden.
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The thing that I love about all of these plants is that you can
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grow them just about anywhere. So if you don't have in ground
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space or space that isn't prepped for gardening yet, you
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can still grow these in planters and pots.
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So if you have a friend who is new to gardening, then this may
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be a good episode to send to them if they're wondering what
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they should grow and how they should grow it.
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The first one on my list is hands down lettuce.
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Super super easy. I think most beginning gardeners
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can agree with me on this. Lettuce can be either direct
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sown in the garden or you can start them indoors to transplant
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outside. That is not necessary.
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Even in the coldest of regions you generally have plenty of
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time to get lettuce in just by direct sewing it out in the
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garden. I will say if you are going to
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do either starting them indoors or buying them as transplants,
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usually I suggest if you're just doing the head lettuces that way
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and if you're going to do loose leaf just throw them directly
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out into the soil. Makes it super easy.
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Lettuce can grow generally speaking in USDA zones 3 through
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10. It starts to get a little too
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hot for them up in like, you know, zones 11 or so.
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But if you can provide it with some afternoon shade during the
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hottest part of the day and grow it during the coolest part of
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your year, you might have some luck.
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Lettuce actually can be grown in partial shade so it can take
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full sun to part shade. So as long as you have like 4
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hours of daylight, then you can grow lettuce.
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This also doesn't mean that you absolutely have to have 4 hours
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of continuous daylight. So this goes for all of these
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things. We're going to talk about any
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plant when we talk about whether it's full sun or it's part shade
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or whatever, However many hours you have is cumulative.
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It does not have to be all at once.
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So if something needs full sun, and that's a minimum of six
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hours, and you have three hours of morning sun and three hours
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of afternoon sun, and the rest of the time the plant is in the
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shade, that's OK. You have full sun, you have six
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hours. So keep that in mind when you're
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figuring out whether or not you can grow any of these things.
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Lettuce can grow basically anywhere in a garden bed, in a
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raised planter, in a pot, almost any size pot.
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The only thing the pot size is going to limit is your yield.
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So if you can do something that's at least 6 inches deep
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and least 6 inches across, that's going to give you a
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little bit more volume in terms of your lettuce.
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Lettuce can germinate in soil temperatures as cool as 40°F all
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the way up to about 70°F. So it's one of the earliest
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things that you can throw out there to kind of satisfy that
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itch to garden in the early spring air temperatures.
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It does best at between 45 and 75 Fahrenheit.
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So once it starts to get too hot, the lettuce is going to
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tend to get bitter and then it's going to want to bolt, which
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means it wants to send up a stock to throw seeds.
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So these are better planted on your cooler shoulder seasons or
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whenever your coolest part of the growing season is.
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The great thing about lettuce is it is very fast to germinate.
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It is very fast to grow, and it can be harvested multiple times.
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So if it's a loose leaf version, you can just cut those leaves
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back and it will regrow. Or you can harvest the larger
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leaves and let the little smaller leaves continue to come
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up. If it's a head variety, you can
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still get some regrowth from the root base.
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So just leave a couple of inches after you cut that head off and
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leave that root base in the ground and it will come back
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with some little loose leaf versions of the lettuce.
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So you can get multiple harvests out of 1 planting.
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The other good thing about lettuce is it's a good
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introduction to succession planting because you can
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successively plant lettuces by two different methods.
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The first is by maturity date. So specifically if you're
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growing head lettuces or like head type lettuces that are
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meant to be cut and be loose, oftentimes you can plant
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different varieties that have different maturity dates, plant
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them all at the same time. And that way you have sort of a
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continuous harvest. So if you have one variety that
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matures in about 40 days, then you have another one that
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matures at about 50 days, and then another one at 60 days,
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well, then you have a little bit of a window in between those
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maturity dates where you're harvesting off of 1 variety, and
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when that one's done, you're harvesting the next and then
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you're harvesting the next. So you get a continuous harvest
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all the way through. The other way to do this is to
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stagger your planting dates. So you can do all the same
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variety, or you can do varieties that all have around the same
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maturity date, whatever. And you can plan to plant them
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in intervals. So do your first planting, then
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wait two to three weeks and do the next planting, and then two
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to three weeks and do another one.
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And you get a continuous harvest that way.
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So this is a really good one to sort of play around and figure
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out how to do succession planting if you've never done it
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before. The next really easy crop for
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beginners is radishes. Radishes are are really fast to
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germinate, they're really fast to mature.
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So they're great to plant with these lettuces because they also
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like similar soil temperatures. They will germinate in that 40
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to 65°F range, and they like the temperatures, the air
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temperatures to be between 50 and 70 Fahrenheit.
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So they make nice little companions to grow in between
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your lettuces because the radishes are going to come more
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mature or going to mature more quickly than the lettuces will.
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And so by the time the lettuces need more room, the radishes are
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already going to be out. You definitely want to direct
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sew these in whatever container you're going to grow them in or,
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or directly out in the garden bed.
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They do not like to be transplanted.
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In fact, most root vegetables are going to kind of balk at
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being transplanted because by doing that you're disturbing
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that root system and that can lead them to getting wonky,
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which there's really no ever a reason to have to start radishes
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indoors to transplant outside. Direct sewing them is just fine
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because they can germinate within like 3 to 5 days in those
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cooler soil temperatures and they can mature in about 3 to 4
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weeks. I have some radish varieties
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that I grow that mature in 21 days.
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And so I mean, it couldn't be any easier.
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They do like a little bit more light than your lettuces.
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They prefer full sun, about 6 hours or more.
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So if you're growing your lettuces in a part shade
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situation, then you may not want to companion your radishes with
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them. And the other thing to consider
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with radishes is the soil. You want a loose, well draining
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soil that is free of any kind of rocks or other impedance because
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you can get misshapen roots. If those radishes are growing
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and they bump into something in the soil, it's going to like
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immediately try to curl around it.
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So it's going to, you know, prevent that from happening if
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you can do the loose soil. The good news about this is
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radishes aren't super deep rooted.
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So you only really need to have the the soil, the top 2 inches
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of it be that really loose while draining the rest of the soil.
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You know, doesn't have to be as loose.
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So you can do it in in some subpar soil if you have some
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good stuff on the top. And you can grow radishes in is
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cold a region as USDA zone too, all the way up to 10.
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So it's got a very, very wide range, making it super easy for
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beginners to get started with radishes.
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The next one is spinach. Now spinach can either be direct
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zone directly out into the garden, or you can start them
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indoors for transplant. It's fine either way.
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If you transplant it, it might suffer a little bit from some
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transplant shock even if you have hardened it off, but
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generally it bounces back within a couple of days, so it's not
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too big of a deal. If you feel like you need to get
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a jump on the season or you're just wanting to play in the
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dirt. You can start them indoors to
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transplant out later. That's fine.
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But they're another one that will germinate and soil
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temperatures that are a little bit cooler.
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They technically say 40°, but in my experience it likes a little
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bit warmer than that. So I would say probably 45 to 65
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Fahrenheit for the soil temperatures.
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They do best with air temperatures that are between
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40, 75 and 75 Fahrenheit. So they are very cool tolerant.
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They grow very quickly. USDA zones 3 through 9 are
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probably your best bets for spinach.
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Again, if you're in a warmer zone and you want to try this
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during the coldest part of your year and you can do some partial
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shade to kind of block that afternoon sun, they will do just
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fine in full sun. 2 partial shades, so a minimum of four
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hours on up to that 6 plus hours.
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Doesn't matter if it's in a garden bed or a raised planter
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or a pot, they will grow perfectly fine.
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In all of those, you get to choose how you like to harvest
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it. You can either choose to harvest
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as baby leaf and that means that you're just going to cut it to
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the ground and let it regrow, or you're going to pick the largest
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leaves and let the little baby leaves that are in the center
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continue to grow. Baby leaves are usually ready in
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about 3 to 4 weeks. So super, super quick growth on
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these. If you want the larger leaves
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and it's just going to be another, you know, week or two
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before you get to the larger leaves, usually about six weeks.
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And you can do the same thing. Harvest the larger leaves on the
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outside and let the younger ones continue to grow on the inside.
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You get multiple harvest over a very long period of time with
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spinach, which is another reason why it's really great for
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beginners. It's kind of like plant it once
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and let it be done. It will go dormant in really hot
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weather, but then it usually will perk back up again and
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begin regrowing in the fall. If your summer temperatures
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aren't too high, like if you're consistently above 95°F, OK, the
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spinach isn't going to do very well, but it can be planted
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again in the late summer for a fall harvest.
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Or you can actually overwinter spinach very, very easily in the
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majority of these zones. So and without really having to
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have much extra in terms of like row cover or anything like if
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you're in zone 3, yes, I would absolutely recommend doing some
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some row cover or some low tunnels, especially if you
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experience a lot of heavy snow load.
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But if you can get spinach to the stage that you like to
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harvest it at, we'll call that maturity.
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Whatever version that is of you, whether it's the baby leaves or
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the larger ones, the larger ones do tend to do better over the
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winter time. But you know you can, you can do
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the smaller ones too. You can harvest off of it all
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winter long while it's kind of in that dormant state.
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And then as soon as the temperatures start to warm up in
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the spring and the daytime hours start to lengthen, then it's
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going to regrow and you're going to have a very, very early
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spring harvest. Now, it will bolt shortly
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thereafter, and you'll be able to tell the central leaves start
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to take on a completely different shape and a completely
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different texture, and they start to taste different.
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So you'll know when it's going to start to send up those seed
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stocks. But by that point, you could
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have already planted a brand new crop of spinach for the spring,
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so that is the great thing. If you are new, a new beginner,
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or if you're new to trying to overwinter plants, spinach is
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hands down one of the easiest ones to do.
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I highly recommend it. I have been thrilled thus far
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this spring with how my rose Bush from heirloom roses is
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performing in its pot. After our absolutely for rigid
00:14:33
cold weather this past winter, it is continuing to put on
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beautiful healthy foliage every day and I cannot wait for those
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gorgeous blooms to start appearing.
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I posted an update to this on social media and somebody
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commented on YouTube that they had tried the newer rose breeds
00:14:52
out there with very little success, but then switched to
00:14:56
heirloom roses. And those roses survived a New
00:15:00
England winter in the ground when this gardener lost their
00:15:04
Rose of Sharon as well as all of those expensive new rose breeds.
00:15:09
So they are now sticking with heirloom roses for all their new
00:15:12
plants. I'm very glad that others are
00:15:14
finding success in this way, and it bodes well for what I expect
00:15:17
to be a successful year for me and my new rose Bush.
00:15:21
If you'd like to give heirloom roses a try for yourself, just
00:15:24
head to heirloomroses.com and use code Just Grow to save 20%
00:15:28
off your order of whichever beautiful roses you choose from
00:15:32
their selection of over 700 varietiesheirloomroses.com with
00:15:38
code Just Grow. The link is in the show notes.
00:15:41
The next one is Bush Green Beans.
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These you definitely want to direct.
00:15:46
So there's never really any reason to have to start green
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bean seeds indoors to transplant outside even if you are in a
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short season. So Bush green beans will grow in
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USDA zones 3 through 10 relatively well.
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So even in those colder zones, though, even though you have
00:16:05
fewer days to your your gardening season outdoors, Bush
00:16:10
green beans can still be planted and harvested from because
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they've germinate very quickly and they have really prolific
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harvests, but it's only over about a two to three-week
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period. So even if you have a short
00:16:24
season, you will still get a good harvest out of some Bush
00:16:27
green beans. And these also, again, can be
00:16:30
done in just pots on a patio or on a deck and you know, in
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raised planters or in garden beds.
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People have done these in green stock planters, those tower
00:16:38
planters, they do prefer full sun.
00:16:41
So we're looking at about 6:00 to 8:00 hours is what their
00:16:43
preference is. Soil temperatures between 60 and
00:16:46
75 Fahrenheit. Air temperatures, you know, 6570
00:16:51
on up to about 85. They will stop producing after
00:16:55
you go above like that, 85 Fahrenheit.
00:16:57
They're not going to, you know, enjoy those hot temperatures.
00:17:00
But if you have a longer growing season, you can absolutely do
00:17:03
multiple plantings of green beans.
00:17:06
You can either do them in succession, a couple of them in
00:17:09
a row in the early part of the season and then take a break
00:17:13
during the hottest part of your days and then do another crop
00:17:15
for the fall and you're golden. I mean you will have so many
00:17:19
green beans, they germinate very quickly.
00:17:21
The Bush green beans don't need any trellising and so they're
00:17:25
very easy to work with. The only thing is you have to
00:17:29
consider with Bush green beans is the harvesting.
00:17:33
It can be a little back breaking, bending over the
00:17:35
little plants. So you might want a little, you
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know, something a little scooch, you know, seat to sit on or put
00:17:41
them up in raised planters to make it a little bit easier.
00:17:44
This was probably my husband's biggest complaint when we grow
00:17:47
Bush green beans. And of course we're growing, you
00:17:49
know, several hundred row feet of Bush green beans at one time
00:17:53
and we're harvesting by hand and that's back breaking work.
00:17:56
But if you're doing like a 10 foot row, just know that, yeah,
00:17:59
it's going to be a little bit of effort to go ahead and harvest
00:18:02
them. So if you want to do them in
00:18:03
containers, that's a really good excuse to do them in containers.
00:18:06
And again, they're going to produce over about a two to
00:18:08
three-week period and then they're going to be done.
00:18:09
And you can, you know, have room in the garden for something
00:18:12
else. So totally recommend Bush type
00:18:14
green beans as a beginner crop in the garden.
00:18:16
My next recommendation for a beginner crop is cherry
00:18:21
tomatoes. So if you're wanting to dip your
00:18:23
toe into tomatoes, but maybe you're thinking they might be a
00:18:26
little too high maintenance, cherry tomatoes are a great way
00:18:29
to go. They don't tend to require as
00:18:32
much maintenance in terms of like staking and pruning as like
00:18:37
the larger slicing tomatoes. Generally speaking, you want to
00:18:40
start these indoors and then transplant them out in the
00:18:43
garden or buy them as transplants.
00:18:45
They'll grow well in USDA zones 4 through 11 as an annual.
00:18:50
If you are in those warmer zones, you actually hand start
00:18:54
them just outside directly into your garden beds.
00:18:58
So long as the soil temperature is above 60°F, they'll germinate
00:19:01
just fine. So but the rest of us, generally
00:19:03
speaking, need to start these indoors and transplant them out
00:19:06
when those soil temperatures warm up.
00:19:08
I like to see the soil temperatures at a minimum of
00:19:10
6560 to 65 on up to 75 Fahrenheit air temperatures best
00:19:15
between 70 and 85. They will grow on those cooler
00:19:19
air temperatures. Once you get above like 90°F,
00:19:23
then we start to have problems with them not wanting to ripen,
00:19:26
which you know can be a problem, but then once the temperature
00:19:29
start to come back down again, then they will start to ripen up
00:19:32
with no problem. The cherry tomatoes can
00:19:35
absolutely be done in a large container on a deck.
00:19:38
I just recommend that you use a trellis or a stake of some sort,
00:19:43
and the bigger the pot the better.
00:19:44
So we want something that's a minimum of 12 inches deep, 12
00:19:48
inches across. The bigger the pot, the better
00:19:51
and more robust our root system can be, and that's going to
00:19:53
support more flowering and fruiting.
00:19:57
Cherry tomatoes do prefer full sun, so you're looking at 6 to 8
00:20:00
hours here. But the reason I like them for
00:20:04
beginners is. Yeah, they, you know, they're,
00:20:07
they're easier to manage if they're staked or caged in some
00:20:11
way. It's also easier to harvest off
00:20:14
of them, but you don't have to. And there are a lot of smaller
00:20:18
cherry tomato varieties that I have grown in hanging baskets.
00:20:22
And of course they're not staked in those hanging baskets.
00:20:24
They just kind of, you know, come down over the sides and you
00:20:26
can harvest off of them that way.
00:20:28
So it doesn't necessarily have to be a high maintenance plant.
00:20:31
They're fast growing. They do a really high yield per
00:20:35
plant and they're not super particular on their maintenance.
00:20:38
So the only thing to remember with cherry tomatoes is that
00:20:43
rain events, especially when it's been very dry and even then
00:20:48
you have a ton of rain hit. But even over watering can cause
00:20:53
cherry tomatoes to split open. So they're taking up a lot of
00:20:57
water in a very short period of time and those thin little skins
00:21:00
just can't contain everything. And so they'll split open.
00:21:04
This is not a big deal if it's, you know, you're going out there
00:21:07
and you're harvesting right away after it happens.
00:21:09
I wouldn't harvest those and bring them in.
00:21:11
If they, if it's been a day or two and they've been sitting out
00:21:14
there split open. Like that's just a breeding to
00:21:16
ground for like bacteria and disease and stuff.
00:21:18
And you probably don't want to be eating that.
00:21:20
But if you're out there right away after the rain event and
00:21:22
you're able to pick them and they split later after you've
00:21:24
brought them in or they've just split on the vine, they're still
00:21:27
absolutely edible. If you want to prevent this
00:21:29
splitting #1 make sure that you're watering routinely.
00:21:32
So we with everything we want, you know, less frequent, more
00:21:36
thorough waterings, but we want to make sure we're consistent
00:21:39
about it. But if you're not watering and
00:21:42
you're relying on Mother Nature, like we have a lot of the time
00:21:45
with our tomatoes and it's been very dry and all of a sudden you
00:21:48
see that there's going to be a really heavy rainfall.
00:21:50
I actually tend to go out and pick them just a little bit
00:21:52
early. So I'll go out and I will
00:21:54
harvest anything that looks like it's pretty close to being ripe
00:21:58
and let it just kind of ripen on the counter in a brown paper bag
00:22:02
rather than leaving it out there and waiting until it's perfectly
00:22:06
ripe. But then knowing that it very
00:22:07
well might split because we have rain coming in.
00:22:10
So for me, it's like better safe than sorry.
00:22:12
But other than that, there really aren't any real
00:22:14
particular considerations for cherry tomatoes, which is why I
00:22:17
think they're really good for beginners.
00:22:20
So Next up is zucchini or any type of a summer squash,
00:22:24
specifically Bush type plants. Now, before you come at me as a
00:22:29
Midwest gardener talking about how easy it is to grow zucchini,
00:22:33
I am not taking into consideration any pests or
00:22:36
diseases with this list. OK, So if you live somewhere
00:22:39
where there's squash bugs and vine bores and cucumber beetles
00:22:41
like me and zucchini and summer squashes can be kind of
00:22:45
challenging to grow, that is not what I'm talking about.
00:22:47
OK, Zucchini as a plant on its own is absolutely just down.
00:22:54
Hands down, it's one of the easiest things that you can
00:22:57
grow, which is why there are so many memes like talking about
00:23:01
sneaking zucchini onto your, you know, your neighbor's porch and
00:23:03
running away. Because once you get them
00:23:05
growing, they're very prolific. And unless you are in an area
00:23:09
like mine where you got you were inundated with squash pests,
00:23:13
there aren't a whole lot of pests that plague them in other
00:23:16
areas, may not even aphids or anything.
00:23:18
So they are typically very very easy for beginners to grow.
00:23:22
You can direct sew them right in place outside, or you can start
00:23:26
them indoors for transplant. Either way, the easiest thing to
00:23:29
do is just direct so them, you know as soon as the soil
00:23:32
temperature reaches about 65 Fahrenheit, boom, put them out
00:23:35
there and they will germinate for you just fine.
00:23:37
They like air temperatures best between 70 and 85 Fahrenheit, so
00:23:40
they're definitely a summer crop.
00:23:42
They do prefer full sun, so we're looking at 6 to 8 hours or
00:23:46
so. But you can absolutely do them
00:23:48
in large containers. You'd want your container
00:23:52
probably a minimum of 12 inches. I would say 18 inches deep if
00:23:56
you can do it because they do tend to have deep roots and of
00:24:00
course larger soil mass than the larger the root mass can be.
00:24:04
And the larger your plant can be, which means the more
00:24:06
prolific it can be. You can grow zucchinis or summer
00:24:10
squashes or Corgat's I believe they call them in Europe in
00:24:17
growing zones 3 through about 10 in zones 11.
00:24:23
You know, with those warmer areas, you might face a lot of
00:24:25
blossom drop just because of the heat.
00:24:27
But you know, USDA zones on the cooler side, you absolutely can
00:24:31
start these indoors for transplant for when it starts to
00:24:33
get warm. The reason I think these are
00:24:34
good for beginners, again, very prolific production with not a
00:24:39
whole lot of maintenance. Yes, you have see people who
00:24:42
stake them and tie them up and do all that sort of thing like
00:24:45
troublesome with them. That's not necessary.
00:24:47
And I have had summer squash plants that were every bit of
00:24:53
three feet across and two foot tall and just continued to
00:24:56
produce all season long. So if you're a beginner or
00:25:00
you've never grown zucchini before, make sure that you
00:25:03
research how what the average yield is for zucchinis and
00:25:08
summer squashes before you decide how many you're going to
00:25:10
plant. So you don't end up being that
00:25:12
person who has to go and sneak the squash onto your neighbor's
00:25:16
porch because you have it coming out of your ears, right?
00:25:18
Consider what you're going to use it for.
00:25:20
Consider how much of it you're going to use and whether or not
00:25:22
you want to preserve any of it when you're deciding how many of
00:25:26
these that you want to grow. But I absolutely recommend
00:25:28
zucchini as a beginning Garter plants.
00:25:32
The next one is Swiss Chard. Now, if you're not a fan of
00:25:35
Swiss Chard, I get it. But the cool thing about Chard
00:25:37
is it just like spinach, you can harvest it at just about any
00:25:41
stage. So you can do baby leaf and just
00:25:43
toss it loose into your salads. Like one of our favorite things
00:25:45
to make is a spring mix that is baby Chard, baby kale, loose
00:25:50
leaf lettuce. And then if I want to spice it
00:25:52
up a little bit, then we throw some baby arugula in there as
00:25:55
well. It's fabulous.
00:25:56
But we also grow our Chard to where they're huge leaves and we
00:26:01
sell them by very colorful bunches because we grow the
00:26:04
rainbow Shard and they're very stunning and eye-catching.
00:26:06
So you can, you know, switch Shard is, is pretty versatile.
00:26:10
You can direct sew it out into the garden.
00:26:12
You can start it indoors to transplant out.
00:26:15
The fun thing if you are going to start them indoors or if you
00:26:18
buy transplants. This is fun for everybody, but
00:26:21
also kids get a kick out of this.
00:26:22
If you're growing multi colored Swiss Chard, it comes in red,
00:26:26
pink, white, yellow, green, whatever color you're growing.
00:26:31
When you pull that plant out of its pot and you look at the
00:26:34
roots, the roots are the same color as the stock on the Shard.
00:26:39
So if you're growing a red Shard, those roots are going to
00:26:42
be red. They're really cool looking.
00:26:44
I have a picture somewhere else, see if I can find it and post it
00:26:47
of I think three of our Shard plants that I was transplanting
00:26:51
was like yellow and white and and red or something all lined
00:26:54
up and all you see is these bright colored root balls.
00:26:57
They're really, really cool. You can typically grow Shard in
00:27:01
USDA zones 3 through about 10, absolutely in, you know, pots if
00:27:07
you want. And they don't have to be that
00:27:09
big, especially depending on how large you want these to get.
00:27:12
If you want the bigger Shard, you at least want it to be a
00:27:14
minimum of about 8 inches deep. But if you're just doing baby
00:27:17
Shard, it doesn't have to be that big of a pot.
00:27:19
This is another one that will take some partial shade.
00:27:21
So full sun is fine, but part shade, you know, 4 hours or so.
00:27:26
Four to six hours is perfectly fine for Shard.
00:27:29
It does like those cooler temperatures, so you can
00:27:31
germinate them in soil. Temperatures as cool as 45
00:27:34
Fahrenheit, prefers it a little bit warmer.
00:27:36
It can go up as high as 70 Fahrenheit, but the air
00:27:38
temperatures kind of matter here too, between 50 and 75
00:27:42
Fahrenheit, although they will tolerate beyond that range.
00:27:46
So this is kind of their preferred temperatures, but they
00:27:49
will tolerate some heat and some cold, which is one of the
00:27:52
reasons why I recommend it for beginners because it's kind of
00:27:54
flexible in terms of, you know, the atmosphere that it will grow
00:27:58
in. And the leaves can be
00:27:59
continuously harvested. So if you're harvesting those
00:28:02
larger leaves and leaving the smaller leaves to grow, even if
00:28:05
you're doing the baby leaf, it will continue to to grow for you
00:28:09
all season long, even more so if you're doing the much larger
00:28:13
leaves and you're harvesting that way.
00:28:15
This is another one who will that will tend to kind of go
00:28:18
dormant when this when the temperatures, the air
00:28:20
temperatures get too warm. But that will pick up again if
00:28:23
your temperatures are not too, too hot in the summertime, like
00:28:27
here. In most cases, unless I can
00:28:29
provide it with some afternoon shade, Our Chard is usually done
00:28:34
by about Midsummer. Like it just can't handle the
00:28:37
heat. But if I do it somewhere where
00:28:39
it's going to get some afternoon shade, then it'll keep going all
00:28:41
season long with not a problem. So Swiss Chard is another one
00:28:44
that I would recommend. And also if you've tried beets
00:28:46
and you like beet greens, but you haven't actually been able
00:28:49
to get your beets to grow and you just want to stick with the
00:28:52
green part of it. Swiss Chard is a cousin to
00:28:54
beets. So it's the same kind of texture
00:28:56
and flavor, sometimes not quite as earthy I think as beet
00:29:00
greens, but still a reasonable substitute too.
00:29:03
The next one would be Bush type cucumbers.
00:29:06
So cucumbers in in any case can be direct zone or they can start
00:29:10
it be started indoors and transplanted outside.
00:29:13
They do pretty well in USDA growing zones 4 through 10.
00:29:17
You can do these in pots. And the reason that the Bush
00:29:21
type ones are, you know, so easy for beginners is because you
00:29:24
don't have to worry about a trellis, You don't have to worry
00:29:27
about training them. So if you have a large pot that
00:29:29
you can throw some seeds into, they're going to be pretty
00:29:32
prolific producers. These Bush type cucumbers will
00:29:36
continue to grow and produce for a much longer period of time, I
00:29:40
think sometimes than the ones that require trellising, which
00:29:43
is why I like them for beginners.
00:29:45
They do like full sun, so between 6:00 and 8:00 hours a
00:29:48
day and they do best with air temperatures between 70 and 85
00:29:52
Fahrenheit and the soil temperatures need to be about a
00:29:54
minimum of 65 Fahrenheit before you try planting them or
00:29:57
transplanting them outside. OK And the next one I know
00:30:00
people have some strong feelings on and that is kale.
00:30:03
So you either are very pro kale or you are very anti kale and I
00:30:08
get it. I don't know why it's so
00:30:09
polarizing but if you do like kale, know that it is very easy
00:30:14
to grow. You can either direct sow it or
00:30:15
or you couldn't transplant them it it doesn't care either way.
00:30:19
It will germinate very quickly and grow fairly quickly
00:30:22
regardless of how you plant it. You can do this generally
00:30:25
speaking, USDA hardiness zones 3 through 9.
00:30:28
Once you get warmer than that, Kayla's going to struggle just
00:30:32
because it's a brassica and brassicas have a hard time with
00:30:35
the heat. If you are in one of those
00:30:37
warmer zones and you can grow it during the coolest part of your
00:30:41
year and also provide it with some afternoon shade, then you
00:30:46
can likely go ahead and grow kale in zones 10 and 11.
00:30:48
You just have to have some special considerations there.
00:30:51
It will take part shade. So that's another one where if
00:30:54
you have a corner of your gardening area that doesn't get
00:30:58
full sun and you're looking for something to grow, kale can be
00:31:01
one of those things. With all of these plants that
00:31:05
are part shade or can tolerate part shade, the only thing that
00:31:09
you're going to notice is that they will grow to maturity a
00:31:13
little bit more slowly than if they were in the full sun.
00:31:17
Other than that, the growth habit and the yield should be
00:31:20
pretty much the same. Kale will is another one that
00:31:24
will germinate in the cooler soil temperatures.
00:31:26
So they say a minimum of 40. I actually prefer 45 to 50 for
00:31:31
for kale on up to about 70 Fahrenheit in terms of soil
00:31:34
temperature and the air temperature can be as cool as
00:31:37
45°F all the way up to 75. It does like the cooler
00:31:41
temperatures, but it will tolerate the heat.
00:31:45
This is another one that produces over a very long period
00:31:47
of time and that you can choose to harvest in at any stage
00:31:52
basically. So you could harvest it for the
00:31:54
baby kale I mentioned. We put baby kale into our spring
00:31:58
mix along with the Shard and that kind of stuff.
00:32:01
But you can also wait until kale is really large if you you don't
00:32:05
want to shiffen on it or whatever to cook it down.
00:32:08
When you harvest it for like baby leaf, you can cut it all
00:32:12
the way off and just let it regrow that way.
00:32:14
Or you can harvest like the larger leaves and leaves.
00:32:16
The smaller ones depends on how meticulous you want to be.
00:32:19
When it starts to get larger, you harvest those larger outer
00:32:23
leaves and the center will continue to grow.
00:32:26
As it grows, it starts to develop a stalk in the center
00:32:30
very similar to what you would see in a Brussels sprouts,
00:32:35
right? So you get this tall stalk and
00:32:37
you'll be harvesting those leaves all the way around that
00:32:39
stalk as they're growing, and you'll always have the new
00:32:42
growth coming in at the top. Eventually this plant is going
00:32:46
to look kind of like a palm tree.
00:32:48
It's going to be kind of bare going all the way up, and that's
00:32:50
going to have this little plume at the top, the fresh growth.
00:32:54
So however you choose to harvest it, it's going to have a very
00:33:00
extended period of time that you get to harvest it.
00:33:03
This, just like the spinach is going to do the same thing and
00:33:07
the hottest part of the season, it will likely go dormant and
00:33:09
then pick up growth again when the temperatures cool off.
00:33:12
If you have a, if you're a very hot area in the summer time, you
00:33:15
know you're over 95°F for an extended period of time, it's
00:33:18
not going to be super happy with that.
00:33:20
But again, you can replant in the late summer for a harvest in
00:33:24
the fall. You can also allow your kale to
00:33:26
get to some maturity before your kind of dormant period over the
00:33:31
winter time kicks in. And you can continue to harvest
00:33:34
off of it over the winter time. And then it will have this fresh
00:33:38
flush of growth in the early spring as soon as the
00:33:41
temperatures are conducive and as soon as the day length starts
00:33:44
to lengthen. And you will have that super
00:33:47
early, early harvest while you're, you know, planting fresh
00:33:52
kale plants in the spring. So again, tolerates frost,
00:33:55
tolerates heat, tolerates poor soil.
00:33:57
So you can practically grow kale anywhere and produces over a
00:34:01
nice long period of time, which is why I think it's so great for
00:34:04
beginners. And then finally we have one
00:34:10
that comes with a little bit of a caveat because it is easy to
00:34:17
grow once you get it going. And I'm talking about carrots.
00:34:22
Yes, they are Divas. I have said this before, but
00:34:25
they are easy to grow once you get them going.
00:34:27
The only reason carrots are Divas is because they really
00:34:31
need that consistent moisture when they are trying to
00:34:35
germinate and it can take them up to three weeks to germinate.
00:34:38
So if you are new at growing carrots and or even if you're
00:34:42
not new at growing carrots, I mean, sometimes they're just
00:34:44
finicky, OK, at least in my experience.
00:34:46
So you definitely want to direct sew these.
00:34:48
Again, they're a root vegetable, so we don't want to disturb
00:34:50
them. We want to sew them directly
00:34:52
wherever they're going to grow. Yes, this can be a pot.
00:34:55
You can do deep pots about 12 inches deep and just space them
00:34:58
appropriately in the pots and you can get a really good carrot
00:35:01
harvest that way. USDA Hardy zones 3 through 10.
00:35:04
Anything warmer than that, they don't tend to do very well and
00:35:08
they do want full sun, so we're talking six or more hours a day.
00:35:12
The one thing is the soil, just like our radishes, the carrots
00:35:16
like a loose, well draining soil.
00:35:18
They like a sandy soil. So if you can grow these in like
00:35:23
raised planters or pots of some sort where you have a little bit
00:35:27
more control over the texture and the composition of your
00:35:30
soil, I highly recommend that. I have done really great carrots
00:35:36
in ground a couple of times in a couple of different beds, but my
00:35:40
like a knockout harvests of carrots have always come in my
00:35:46
planter box direct planters. That's just because I can
00:35:48
control that soil contexture. So you just want it to be free
00:35:51
again of those rocks or anything chunky.
00:35:53
So they're not growing in and around anything, right?
00:35:56
The main thing with carrots is when you plant them, make sure
00:36:01
that you have a way to keep them consistently moist.
00:36:04
So if this means you water them in really well and then you put
00:36:08
a layer of burlap over top and you water the burlap to keep it
00:36:12
in contact with that soil, to keep it moist, fine, do that.
00:36:16
For me, I toss a loose thing of a layer of straw over the top
00:36:21
and then I water that. And then I will put insect
00:36:24
netting over top that lays directly on in contact with the
00:36:27
straw and water that in too. And that way it's keeping it
00:36:31
pretty consistently moist. And then of course, I just have
00:36:34
to pull that insect netting up when they start to pop up.
00:36:36
This day comes right through the straw with no problem.
00:36:39
They will germinate in cool soil temperature.
00:36:42
So 45 to 70 Fahrenheit is perfectly fine.
00:36:45
They just want that consistent moisture.
00:36:47
So if you can get them to that point where they actually
00:36:50
germinate, then after that it's easy peasy.
00:36:53
The only thing that you have to worry about with carrots is just
00:36:55
thinning them out to make sure that they have enough space
00:36:57
between them so they can get to their full size.
00:37:00
They don't want to be competing with each other and they also
00:37:02
don't want to be competing with weeds or anything either.
00:37:04
But carrots are great to plant in like individual rows and then
00:37:10
plant radishes in between them because the radishes, because
00:37:14
they germinate so quickly, like in a matter of a couple of days,
00:37:18
you will see where the radishes are.
00:37:20
And then now you know where your carrots are.
00:37:23
Because when something can take like 3 weeks to germinate,
00:37:26
sometimes you forget where they are in that bed or wherever
00:37:29
you're growing them in. So having something else in
00:37:33
between those lines of carrots that pops up right away kind of
00:37:37
gives you an idea of where they're growing.
00:37:39
So yes, I say carrots or Divas, but because you can direct sew
00:37:43
them and there's not a whole lot of maintenance or, you know,
00:37:47
pruning or anything else to go with them, as long as you can
00:37:50
give them consistent moisture, I think carrots are perfectly fine
00:37:53
for a beginner. So other than carrots, all of
00:37:58
these crops that we talked about share some specific
00:38:01
commonalities that make them beginner friendly veggies for
00:38:04
the garden. Most of them have very fast
00:38:06
germination and very fast growth.
00:38:08
Not a whole lot in terms of pest or disease problems, with a few
00:38:11
exceptions there. I know don't come at me about
00:38:13
those squash bugs. They have a fairly wide growing
00:38:16
window and a fairly wide temperature tolerance, and they
00:38:19
are all suitable for containers or raised beds or in ground
00:38:23
planting. They can practically be grown
00:38:25
anywhere. So I hope that that gives you a
00:38:28
starting point for starting your gardening journey or helping
00:38:32
someone else to start theirs. Coincidentally, these are all
00:38:37
great crops to grow with kids in the garden because they require
00:38:41
less maintenance and most of them grow pretty quickly, which
00:38:44
provides some instant gratification for the kids.
00:38:47
I did an episode all about gardening with kids quite some
00:38:50
time ago and I will leave a link to that in the show notes.
00:38:53
So until next time, my gardening friends keep on cultivating that
00:38:56
dream garden and we'll talk again soon.
00:38:58
OK, It's not record this and then hopefully it recorded
00:39:04
properly this time.