5 Vegetables to Grow if you’re a Beginner Gardener

My dad always had a vegetable garden when we were growing up and my love for growing my own vegetables really does stem from those harvests! Gardening is a constant learning experience and when you’re starting out it’s easy to get excited about all of the possibilities of what you can grow. In my experience, it’s good to start small and plant veggies that are easy to start from seed, grow quickly and produce prolifically. Being able to watch these vegetables grow is such an exciting experience and can really give you a boost of confidence as a budding gardener!

5 Vegetables to Grow as a Beginner Gardener

To be completely transparent, I didn’t try seed starting until a few years into my own gardening journey. I bought the starts from the garden center at Home Depot and that worked great for me! Like just about everything else in life, everyone’s gardening experience will be different, and even if you only get a few ripe tomatoes your first year I’d still consider it a success! So, if you’re ready to get your hands dirty, try these 5 easy to grow vegetables in your garden!

Lettuce

Lettuce is actually perfect for growing in pots so it’s easily incorporated into any size gardening space that you’ve got! It’s amazing how many kinds of lettuce greens there are that aren’t offered at the grocery store. I love to plant cut and come again varieties but also seed mixes that provide several different types in one pack. I planted the mix below last spring and got such a great harvest from it!

Radish

The sharpness and flavor of a homegrown radish can’t be beaten! I love to quick pickle them and add them to salads or on top of tacos. They don’t like to be transplanted so it’s best to sow your radish seeds directly in your gardening space and most types only take 30 days to mature! Also, because they don’t take long to mature, they are great to plant between other longer-term veggies, like cabbage or tomatoes even, in your garden to maximize space since they will have been picked long before the other plants get big enough to block the sun!

Beans

I think beans are such an underrated vegetable. Parboil them and toss in some olive oil, salt, and pepper and you’ve got a tasty and simple side dish for dinner! My favorite variety to grow are just the basic green pole beans and because they will grow up a trellis, they save so much space in your garden. They produce a lot and if you like the variety and want to grow them again the following year, the seeds are super easy to save!

Cherry Tomatoes

It wouldn’t be a vegetable list without some sort of tomato on it! I enjoy growing all sorts of different tomatoes but if we’re talking the best type for a beginner gardener, it would have to be the cherry tomato! I have had so much luck with cherry tomatoes in my past gardens and there is honestly nothing like the taste of a homegrown tomato! My favorite way to enjoy homegrown tomatoes is in a tomato salad and you can get my recipe for one here. Cherry tomato plants grow great in pots and because the fruit is smaller, it takes less time for them to ripen and they sure can produce a bounty of tomato goodness!

Zucchini

If there is one truth that is understood amongst people who know and love a gardener, it is that during the summer, you will likely get a zucchini or two or a basket full from the gardener during the peak zucchini season! Zucchini plants, if taken care of, can produce copious amounts of fruit. They love the sunshine and lots of water and if left unchecked, can grow to gargantuan sizes. I love roasting zucchini but they are also easy to freeze and add to soups during the winter months. There’s also zucchini bread…who doesn’t love zucchini bread?!

Here are some other easy to grow veggies for more inspo:

• Beetroot
• Cucumbers
• Broccoli
• Kale

My biggest tip for anyone starting their own garden is to grow what you like to eat. If you don’t like one of the vegetables mentioned above then don’t grow it, and if you LOVE one of the veggies above grow more of it! Gardening is all about experimenting and the successes and failures are how you learn more and more about growing your own food! Gardening and growing my own food has been such a rewarding experience, it inspires me to eat healthier, it gets me outside, and most of all it is something that truly brings me so much joy! Follow me on Instagram @learning.to.bloom and for my gardening adventures follow me @sow.little.thyme as well! Happy planting!