[Karren]

The following is a top 10 list of easy-to-grow vegetables and their recommended varieties.

Carrot. Plant seeds several times throughout the growing season, early spring into fall for a continuous harvest. Soil should be loose and deep. Varieties: ‘Nantes,’ ‘Chantenay,’ ‘Touchon,’ ‘Short n’ Sweet’.

Cu***ber. Wait until warm weather to plant seeds. Varieties: ‘Sweet Success,’ ‘Fanfare,’ ‘Lemon’.

Green Beans. Plant seeds after frost danger. Bush types are easier to manage, but pole types are more productive in an equal space (because they’re taller!). Varieties: ‘Blue Lake,’ ‘Contender,’, ‘Kentucky Wonder’.

Lettuce. Plant seeds as soon as soil can be worked—hot weather ruins the plants. Varieties: ‘Black Seeded Simpson,’ ‘Buttercrunch,’ ‘Deer Tongue,’ ‘Nevada’.

Onion. Timing the planting of seeds or the miniature onion bulbs called sets can be tricky. Also consider mail-order onion seedlings. Check locally for availability.

Peas. Sow seeds early in spring as soon as you can work the soil. Varieties: ‘Alderman,’ ‘Sugar Snap,’ ‘Oregon Trail,’ ‘Super Sugar Mel’.

Radish. Sow seeds during the short, cool days of spring and fall. During these times, radishes are perhaps the easiest and fastest vegetable to grow. Varieties: ‘Cherry Belle’, ‘White Icicle,’ ‘Scarlet Globe’.

Summer Squash. Sow seeds after weather warms up. Grow bush types to save space. Varieties: ‘Sunburst,’ ‘Yellow Crookneck,’ ‘Scallopini’.

Sweet Pepper. Plant seedlings in warm weather along with tomatoes. Varieties: ‘Bell Boy,’ ‘California Wonder,’ ‘Sweet Banana,’ ‘Gypsy’.

Tomato. Set out seedlings after the air and soil have warmed up. Tomatoes come in countless varieties; among the best: ‘Celebrity,’ ‘Big Rainbow,’ ‘Brandywine,’ and ‘Enchantment’. Tomatoes are one of those rare plants that actually benefit if seedlings are planted deeper than they grew in the nursery pot. Plants will be more anchored and sturdier, and roots will develop along the buried portion of the stem. Pinch off lower leaves once you plant.

Source - http://home.ivillage.com/gardening/veg/0,,807s,00.html

[Johnnie]

I would love to plant a garden. Fruits and veggies these days are quite expensive.

[Karren]

I've got all my seeds ready and my onion sets.. Too bad were supposed to get a couple inches of snow tonight!

[bella1342]

I'm planting my first garden this year. We'll be working on it this weekend if it's not too cold.

[Bec688]

I love our veggie garden, you really start appreciating your veggies and you get such great satisfaction cooking them as you've done the hard yards growing them.

[Karren]

Yeah and you can also grow a lot of them in pots!! We got 2 inches of snow last night so my gardening is still weeks off.....

[jodevizes]

I love to grow tomatoes as they are so easy. I get them as small plants and pot them on or plant direct in the soil. Very good eating. Potatoes are also easy in barrels or other large containers. Just remember to add more soil as the shoots start to grow so that the tubers are deep and the potatoes don't go green. New Jersey potatoes are beautiful straight out of the garden yum

[Darla]

i have some issues with the article. first why grow onions? they are so cheap to buy its almost not worth it. same with potatoes.

and no zucchini and eggplant. along with tomatoes and peppers by far the best bang for the buck.

and peas well you probably needed to get those planted already.

[Karren]

We grow so many onions that they last all year... and there is nothing better than digging up a potato and going in and cooking it and eating it right then... Store potatos just lack something....

[Darla]

there are certain things i've tried and just wouldn't bother again. i put onions and potatoes in there.

the others were watermelons (too much space for too little yield) and corn (just wanted to try it, had 6 rows about 20' long) got a few ears and it looked cool out there but evidently not nearly enough

[Karren]

I tried mellons too... never had a long enough growing season here and they never got sweet...

[Darla]

i ended up having 4 real good ones (it was the small one from Burpee) but that was it! when i can buy watermellon for .50 lb its anothe rthing i will pass on. now when you look at tomato or pepper prices that makes the most sense plus we eat a lot more of those

[bella1342]

I'm plating tomorrow. I'm so excited.

[McRubel]

I was surprised that zucchini wasn't on the list. My family had a garden and that was one of the few things that grew!!!!

[reesesilverstar]

Can you plant in the summer? I'm not sure how it works in the US... But I'm waiting for my mum to get here. I miss having trees and veggies in the back yard. I totally am up for planting my own stuff.

[jodevizes]

If you only have a flat you could grow stuff on your balcony or window ledge. Over here in the UK we have geurilla gardeners who go around planting vegetables on waste and public ground. That's not to say they bring in a tractor and start ploughing up the grass but any spaces that look as if they are being neglected.

I'm with Karen in that there is nothing like getting potatoes straight out the garden and cooking them. Even something as relitavely bland as a cu***ber will taste better. Don't forget that when you grow your own you plant varieties that are selected for taste unlike commercial varieties where taste is very low down on the list. The only vegetable which may be better are frozen peas, they are frozen within an hour of being harvested and they don't loose anything after that.

I guess you have to decide what you want to eat.

[Karren]

Can you plant in the summer? I'm not sure how it works in the US... But I'm waiting for my mum to get here. I miss having trees and veggies in the back yard. I totally am up for planting my own stuff.

You can plant any time you want as long as your last freeze in the spring is over and your first freeze of the end of the season is at least as many days away as the maturation date on the seed package... Typically 60 to 90 days. and of coarse some plants are heat sensative like letuce and peas... They do best in the early spring before it gets too hot... I plant as early as I can get by with and then for things like carrots and peas I plant them again in late June so I get another crop in before winter....

[reesesilverstar]

Thank you Karren!

[ox0xbarbiex0xo]

Has anyone tried a topsy turvy? I'm curious to see if they work! lol

[Karren]

Has anyone tried a topsy turvy? I'm curious to see if they work! lol

I remeber seeing a hydroponic garden at Disney World where all the plants were growing up side down so I think this will work... Probably pretty expensive and you could just take a tomato plant and put it in a hanging basket.... end up with almost the same thing cheaper..