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Easy Grow Vegetables

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Growing your own vegetables is not only a great way to save money but it can be a fun activity for the whole family. Here are 10 easy grow vegetables that the kids and adults will love. Along with gardening tips to help your garden thrive.

Tomatoes

Photo Credit

What are we going to grow? Michelle Obama became the hero of parent-gardeners when she planted a garden at the White House. Kids love digging in the dirt and watching the plants grow. It’s also a great way to get them to eat their veggies!

10 Easy Grow Vegetables for Kids

  1. Sugar snap peas
  2. Lettuce, spinach and other leafy greens
  3. Radishes
  4. Carrots
  5. Potatoes
  6. Green Beans
  7. Cherry Tomatoes
  8. Pumpkins
  9. Sunflowers
  10. Broccoli

Sugar Snap Peas

Sugar Snap Peas

Growing Sugar Snap Peas should be done during the cooler months in your location. For most locations that means a spring and fall planting schedule with southern locations enjoying winter plantings.

Tip: Before planting sprout your seeds in-between several layers of paper towel.

Lettuce

Lettuce, spinach and other leafy greens

There are dozen of types of choices for the home gardener when it comes to deciding what type of leafy greens to plant.

Tip: These plants prefer some afternoon shade to protect them and helps to prevent sun scald which can ruin your harvest.

Radishes

Radishes

Now here’s a vegetable that any way you can entice kids to eat is always welcome. These peppery little orbs definitely should only be grown in successive plantings in early spring and early fall.

Tip: It works great to plant radishes in smaller containers so they can be moved indoors if there is a threat of frost.

Carrots

Carrots

Carrots demand loose well-drained soil to grow successfully, which makes them great candidates for raised beds or containers.

Tip: Seed directly to the soil and once they have germinated thin them out so there are 3-4 inches between plants.

Potatoes

Potatoes

A staple of most kitchens, growing your own potatoes is a rewarding experience. To start your potatoes dig a trench 4-6 inches deep, place the seed potatoes in the bottom and cover with soil. 2 weeks after planting when the potato sprouts fill the trench with 3-4 inches of soil. Repeat this until you have a 4-6 inch mound above ground level.

Tip: This can also be done with patio containers.

Green Beans

Green Beans

There are two types of beans, bush beans, and pole beans. The conditions they can be grown in are similar, however, pole beans need some form of support.

Tip: Water regularly after sowing the seeds preventing the soil from drying out. Continue until they emerge.

Cherry Tomatoes

Cherry Tomatoes

Tomatoes are the most popular vegetable to grow in containers. Just make sure the container is large enough to maintain the plant. Only plant one tomato plant per container and place the pot in a sunny spot that gets 6-8 hours of full sun every day.

Tip: Choosing dwarf tomato varieties makes it easier to grow in smaller pots.

Pumpkins

Pumpkins

Pumpkins need a lot of room, often one hill consisting of 4 plants can cover up to 100 square feet. Plant them once the soil is above 70 degrees, over 90 is preferred.

Tip: Pumpkins have shallow roots so use care when working around the plants that you do not injure their sensitive roots.

Sunflowers

Sunflowers

Most sunflowers are easy to grow and will thrive in many areas. I’ve planted them in a normal garden setting in rows and along the edges of south-facing buildings with great success. They make excellent cut flowers.

Tip: Planting them will encourage bees to come to your garden.

Broccoli

Broccoli

Broccoli is a nutritional powerhouse rich in vitamins and minerals. It’s possible to harvest throughout the growing season using succession plantings. With the last seeding done mid to late summer in most places.

Tip: Harvest your broccoli in the early morning before the soil heats up for the best taste.

Gardening Tips

Purdue University Extension Service has put together lots of great information to help you with your planning, planting and taking care of your garden. Start with planning your garden…

Raised beds help improve water drainage in heavy clay soils or low lying areas. Raised beds also bring the garden to a height that is more workable for physically disabled or elderly gardeners.

There is no standard size for a raised bed, but keep in mind that you will need to reach everything in the bed without stepping into it.

Recipe for Growing Media (soil) makes 1 bushel

  • 1/3 bushel of soil
  • 1/3 bushel of organic matter {compost, peat moss, well-rotted manure}
  • 1/3 bushel vermiculite or perlite
  • 1/2 cup fertilizer {5-10-5, 6-10-4, or similar fertilizer formulation}

All of these items can be found at your local garden center, along with plenty of garden tools to choose from.

Purdue University has a really good Vegetable Planting Calendar for you with planting information on the area you live in. It is full of useful information like when to plant tomatoes in Indiana. It works very well as a gardening calendar.

Here is an example…

They list vegetables from asparagus through watermelons. When you are planning what you want to plant, be sure you have enough space too. Plants can take up a lot of space, Purdue University has some Space Saving Techniques.

Looking for more gardening tips? Check out our most popular posts – click on the photo to read! 

Vegetable Garden Landscaping Shade Plants Flowers

Vegetable to grow

Do you have questions about gardening? Leave your questions in the comments below.

Photo Credits:  PeasLettuceSunflowerPotatoesBroccoliCherry TomatoesPumpkins

 

9 Comments

  1. I started planting vegetables about three years ago in my own garden. I can say that it’s definitely worth it, especially if you want to be sustainable and use fresh vegetables in your cooking. This is a great list, very helpful!

  2. I think that some of the suggested easy to grow vegetables are not good companions. I have read on several different places that broccoli and tomatoes shouldn’t be grown close to each other. Parents should know this, as the children might get disappointed in the end of the growing process.

    Mark

    1. Douglas Latham says:

      Hi Mark, You bring up a valid point.

      It is true that it’s not recommended for broccoli and tomatoes to be grown side-by-side, some research has shown that there is a possibility of the broccoli causing minor stunting of the tomato plant and reducing overall vigor. But the most potential for damage is the broccoli and other plants of the brassicas family which include broccoli, brown mustard, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, kohlrabi, rutabaga, and turnip are alternate hosts to bacteria blight.

      Here’s the ironic part, It is beneficial to rotate tomatoes and broccoli in the same space.

      So how we accomplish this is by having multiple beds, this allows us to keep the two separated and then the next year we switch planting areas.

      I hope that clears up any confusion Mark.

  3. I am so confused because I moved here from Alabama. You say to plant but it is snowing. Do you have suggestions for a late winter. I really am amid on my gardening and homesteading.

    1. Douglas Latham says:

      Hi Cris, Let’s see if I can help clear up your confusion. I’m going to assume you live somewhere in northen Indiana or northern Illinois so planting dates here are going to be much later than where you moved from. This publication from Purdue University is a good reference if you are in Indiana. (http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/HO-186.pdf) If you live in Illinois the University of Illinois Extension Service has a nice publication that covers the steps for gardening (http://web.extension.illinois.edu/vegguide/default.cfm) Step 6 has a chart that includes the average planting dates for most vegetables.

      I’ll share with you my recommendations for planting my own garden. I’ll be planting seeds after April 15th and setting out plants at the end of April.

      Hopefully this will help you, I know it can be confusing in the beginning but it won’t take long before you’re a pro.

  4. I am wishing I could get out into the garden, but we had 8″ snow on Friday 🙁
    Thanks for the link to the Perdue Space Saving Techniques, it is a very handy reference.

  5. I. am. dying! to start planting. Of course it’s SNOWING today!! Um, isn’t it April or something?

    Thanks for the tips – as always, you’re so helpful!

  6. I wish I had a big backyard to grow a garden. Growing up in Ohio we used to have HUGE garden. A lot of work but totally worth it.

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