Growing a garden is an easy way of having fresh veggies at your fingertips to enhance your family’s meals, maintain a healthy diet, and save money on groceries.
Plus, the flavour and texture of garden-fresh vegetables far exceeds supermarket produce, and tending to a garden is a stress reliever that lets you truly enjoy the fruits of your labour.
However, you don’t need to be a seasoned gardener with a green thumb and a lot of time on your hands to start planting. If you’ve got access to soil, sun and water, there are a number of low-maintenance vegetables you can try growing.
The below is a listing of plants that are a novice agriculturalist’s best bet for a successful edible garden to enjoy throughout spring and summer!
Low-fuss lettuce
Lettuce is quick to harvest offering more immediate satisfaction as well as ample salad greens that are far tastier and more nutrient-rich than store-bought varieties. Plus, with all the different types of lettuces available to spice up salads, including romaine, butter leaf and red oak, you’ll want to plant a patch to enjoy all season long.
Garden-fresh herbs
Herbs are easy to care for and a culinary asset when you need to turn a bland dish in to a fragrant and flavourful crowd-pleaser. Fresh basil, chives, dill and mint can be tossed into salads, and be used to punch up marinades and sauces, and even cocktails.
Hardy root vegetables
Most root veggies, such as carrots, radishes, and turnips, are hardy vegetables that require minimal maintenance. They can be planted directly into your garden in early spring and be left there until fall harvest. It doesn’t get any easier than that!
Bountiful beans
Grade-school science projects everywhere have proven that growing green beans is so easy, a child can do it! From snap to string varieties, there are many plants to experiment with, and you can enjoy eating beans fresh off the stock or cooked to accompany a meal.