You can’t beat the simple delight of exploring for dinner vegetables in your own backyard. When it comes to fresh vegetables, nothing beats picking them yourself from your own garden. It’s better to grow your own food than to rely on store-bought ones. You know exactly what you’re putting into your body and what you’re ingesting. Vegetable gardens might also save you money in the long run.
Maintaining a garden may seem like a lot of work at times, but it isn’t always as difficult as it appears to be. Garden veggies may nearly grow themselves if you plant the right seeds at the perfect time. Choose vegetables that require minimal upkeep, are ready to be harvested in a short period, and suffer less from pests and diseases.
Let’s get introduced to some of the vegetables that are ideal for planters, a backyard garden, or a pot on a balcony under direct sunlight.
Broccoli
Vitamin C, vitamin A, and vitamin K are all found in broccoli, making it an excellent source of these nutrients. This nutrient-dense vegetable also helps reduce the incidence of various malignancies, according to some experts.
During the spring and fall, broccoli thrives best. For a summer crop, it can be sown as early as March or as late as August for a harvest in the fall. Another option for avoiding frost is growing broccoli indoors and transplanting it into your garden when temperatures increase above freezing.
Grow one broccoli plant in each pot for the greatest results in a container. After 8 to 12 weeks of growth, broccoli is ready to be harvested and used in a dish. Cabbage worms are a pest to watch out for when producing broccoli. Floating row covers or lightweight bed sheets can be used to protect your broccoli plants from harm.
Lettuce
Vitamins A, C, K, and C, B-carotene, iron, folate, calcium, potassium, and magnesium are just some of the nutrients found in lettuce. Butterhead, Chinese, Romaine, and loose-leaf lettuces such as red and green leaf lettuces should be produced.
There is nothing better than planting lettuce seedlings in cool weather. Additionally, it’s a good choice for pots and window planters because the roots are shallow. For a fall harvest, plant lettuce in early spring or late summer. Keep the plant watered as the seeds germinate, then harvest when the leaves are about a few inches long.
Tomatoes
Gardening for fresh tomatoes is a big draw for many newcomers to the hobby. Vitamins A, C, K, and B6 and folate and potassium are all found in tomatoes, which can be used in salads, sauce, preserving, juicing, and condiment preparation.
Tomatoes can be grown in small gardens or even on balconies because of their small area requirements. Tomatoes thrive in warm to hot temperatures, so sudden cold snaps can be disastrous. May is the time to transplant seedlings outside. Tomato plants are ready for harvest in 12 weeks. The plant can yield fresh tomatoes every day for up to six years on top of its comparatively short growth phase.
Potatoes
Vitamins B6 and C, Potassium, manganese, copper, niacin, phosphorus, phytonutrients, and dietary fiber are all present in potatoes. Boil, bake, or roast them, and if you want to reap the health advantages of potatoes, avoid frying them or slathering them in butter, cheese, and bacon pieces.
In late February and early March, you can plant potatoes in potato bags partly loaded with compost. Compost can be used to cover up the green shoots as soon as they emerge from the soil. A bag full of plants will only need to be watered once they’ve been full. After around 10 to 20 weeks, the foliage begins to turn yellow and die back. To harvest your own potatoes, take the bag out of the ground and sift through the soil.
Beans
As well as being an excellent source of protein, beans are also a good source of complex carbohydrates and fiber, and many other nutrients, including copper, folic acid, magnesium, iron, manganese, phosphorus, and zinc.
Sow the seeds straight in the ground under direct sunlight. Seeds should be planted two inches apart in 18-inch-wide rows after the last frost. Trim the bush beans once they’ve grown six inches. It takes less than two months for them to go from seed to harvest, yet they’re ready to eat for weeks.
Kale
Vitamins A, C, and K, calcium, folate, and antioxidants are just some of the health benefits of kale. It can be used in juices, smoothies, salads, or even sautéed as a side dish.
For a fall crop, plant kale in the spring or late summer. Frozen temperatures enhance the flavor of its leaves. But summer heat makes it bolt and become bitter, making it unpalatable. There are two ways to cultivate kale: directly in the ground as a seed or indoors and then transplanted. You can simply cut and leave the plant to regenerate until your next harvest.
Peppers
To grab the most out of your diet, opt for the darker red variety of bell peppers. Among their many nutrients are vitamins A, C, B6, B2, and E, dietary fiber, niacin, folate, and potassium, all of which are abundant in these fruits and vegetables. Toss them into your favorite salsa or hummus, or eat them raw with a hummus dip.
The best time to grow peppers is after the last frost. They thrive in beds, pots, sunlit patios, and decks because they flourish in the heat. Plant peppers four to six inches apart in well-drained ground, and don’t forget the compost as you’re doing so. Beautiful peppers will appear after 60-80 days. When the peppers turn bright green, yellow, or green, they’re ready to be picked.
Radishes
Copper, magnesium, Vitamin B6, calcium, and manganese are abundant in these little root vegetables. Radishes can be eaten with a salad or paired with hummus for a healthy snack option.
Radishes can be planted in the spring, summer, or fall for the best results. You can grow them in pots or straight in the ground, and they’ll provide you with a steady supply of crisp, colorful vegetables throughout the summer. Within 60 to 80 days, they’ll be ready for harvest. When the radishes’ tops are large, green, and bushy, it’s time to pick a few to check their size.
Swiss Chard
Swiss chard is as elegant as it is nutritious, and it’s always nice when plants can do more than one thing. Foliage on their vibrant yellow, orange, and red stalks is a rich source of vitamins A, K, and C and dietary fiber and minerals such as potassium and iron.
Long, graceful leaves with beautifully colored ribs of red, orange, yellow, or white adorn this stunning green. Mid-spring is the ideal time to sow them. It’s easy to grow from seed so that you may put it in your garden right away. If you give it some midday shade in warmer climates, it will continue to produce until the first frost. The outer and new leaves can be picked throughout the season, and they will continue to produce.
Final Thoughts
Even if your backyard is modest, your vegetable yield does not have to be. These fast-growing, high-yielding plants may provide a wide variety of nutritious and delicious vegetables. In many cases, these plants may be planted in containers, and some of them prefer to grow vertically. As a bonus, you’ll save a lot of money on groceries thanks to the abundance of fresh produce you’ll harvest this summer or fall.