Looking for low maintenance, easy to grow vegetables and fruits for your vegetable garden? Are you new to vegetable gardening? Don’t know what to plant? You should plant easy to grow vegetables and fruits so your first attempt at vegetable gardening is successful.
You should plant vegetables that are so productive they grow like weeds. The kind where you will have a hard time keeping up with harvesting your vegetables! If that’s the kind of vegetables you are looking for then you will like my list below of easy to grow vegetables and fruits. You don’t even need a green thumb to grow these vegetables. They are fool-proof, easy to grow vegetables and fruits.
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Easy to Grow Vegetables for your Vegetable Garden
Cucumbers
If I were to pick one vegetable, Cucumber wins the top spot as the easiest vegetables to grow in your vegetable garden. Just water frequently so the soil is slightly moist.
There are two types of cucumbers, vining cucumber plants or bush type cucumber plants. The vining cucumber plants are more productive than bush type cucumber plants.
Cucumbers are so productive you will feel like your cucumbers are growing like invasive weeds! The vine cucumber plants will spread itself out, latching on to other plants! Beware it can look unruly! Don’t complain though because the growth rate of Cucumbers is really impressive.
Be warned that you will harvesting and eating cucumbers almost every day! The best part is Cucumbers are pretty low maintenance.
It is still productive even if you don’t add fertilizers or if you skip a day or two of watering (just make sure soil is slightly moist at all times). Cucumber plants will need support, so you should install trellis and cages to make sure your cucumber plants are well supported.
Zucchinis
Zucchini is tied for top spot as the easiest vegetables to grow in your vegetable garden. If you grow your zucchini plants in a sunny spot with well drained soil and keep the soil slightly moist, you will be guaranteed to have a bountiful harvest of zucchinis all summer long!
Zucchini plants are so productive to grow you will have trouble keeping up with the harvest. You will be eating zucchinis all summer and you will be giving it out to your neighbors and friends.
Similar to cucumbers, growing zucchini is low maintenance. You don’t need to fertilize your zucchini plant for it to grow productively. You just need to water your zucchini plant so the soil is slightly moist.
Tomatoes
Similar to cucumbers, tomatoes are extremely easy to grow. As long as you plant your tomato plants in a sunny location with well drained soil and keep the soil always slightly moist, you will have productive tomato plants.
Plant a few varieties of tomato plants because the rate of growth varies depending by tomato variety. I find cherry tomatoes much more productive than beefsteak or plum tomatoes.
In fact, at the peak of the summer growing season, you will find that it’s hard to keep up with your tomato harvest. Be prepared, you will be harvesting a lot of tomatoes.
Plan to eat a lot of tomatoes this summer and to incorporate tomatoes in your cooking every day. (yes, tomatoes are that bountiful!)
It’s truly effortless and easy to grow tomatoes. Tomato plants are so productive, it will require support otherwise it will topple over. You should definitely install tomato cages when planting your tomato plants.
Peppers
Peppers are also easy to grow. As long as you plant your peppers in a sunny spot with well drained soil, it will grow on its own with little help from you!
You do have to water your pepper plants. Make sure to keep the soil always slightly moist.
I usually plant a few varieties of sweet bell peppers and spicy peppers like Jalapeno pepper. Know that the yield from pepper plants are less than what you will get from cucumbers and tomatoes however, I still suggest planting a few pepper plants since it’s low maintenance and easy to grow.
Plus, you will hooked the moment you bite into your freshly picked bell peppers, it’s so sweet and delicious compared to store bought bell peppers.
Eggplants
Eggplants are also great for beginner gardeners. They grow best in sunny, well drained location. Keep the soil moist but not soggy.
I usually plant a variety of eggplants- the bigger black beauty eggplant variety and also the smaller ichiban eggplant variety. The yield for eggplants are similar to peppers, it’s not as productive as cucumber and tomatoes but it’s still very rewarding to harvest your very own eggplant!
Plus, eggplants are low maintenance and easy to grow. You really don’t have to do much, it will automatically grow. Like all vegetables in your vegetable garden- just don’t forget to water your eggplant!
Easy to Grow Fruits in Your Vegetable Garden
Strawberries
If you are looking for easy to grow fruits in your vegetable, try growing strawberries. Strawberries are easy to grow. Strawberries grow best in a sunny location and are happy if you keep the soil slightly moist (avoid watering the leaves).
You will have a lot of fun harvesting sweet strawberries direct from your own vegetable garden. Once you taste the melt in your mouth, fresh from the garden, sweet strawberries, you will not want to go back to store bought strawberries!
The nice thing about strawberry plants is that it is perennial, so it grows back every year (effortlessly!)
Planting strawberries is also a good idea if you want to space out your vegetable garden crop harvest schedule. Planting strawberries will give you something to harvest during the early summer season (June) while the other vegetables on this list will be ready for harvest mid to late summer.
Easy to Grow Herb
If you are truly looking for easy to grow plants, mint takes the top spot. Mint is the most productive plant on this list! Mint is the easiest to grow of all herbs. Mint grows like weeds plus it’s a perennial so it grows back every year.
To be honest, mint plants are so productive, that I’m almost scared to plant them because it can take over your vegetable garden! I personally avoid planting mint directly in my vegetable garden.
Before planting mint, you need to plan carefully the location of where you want your mint to grow because mint plants grow like weeds. You might regret planting it because you will get mint everywhere year after year!
If you want to grow mint, I suggest planting your mint in a separate container or pot so it is isolated and does not take over your vegetable garden!
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How to Keep Animals Off Your Vegetable Garden
You will want to keep animals off your vegetable garden. If left unfenced and exposed, garden critters such as squirrels, deers and rabbits will eat through your precious vegetable crops!
Unless your backyard is fully fenced in, you need some kind of fencing to protect your vegetable gardens from your garden critters. If only small animals in your garden, a low fence is sufficient in keeping the rabbits and rodents away. You can use these aesthetically pleasing cedar garden fence to complement your raised garden bed.
For small plants like strawberry plants, you can make garden cloche using chicken wire or you can buy ready made garden cloche to protect your strawberry plants from hungry animals.
However, if you have bigger animals munching on your vegetables. You may need to go higher and build a deer fence.
I also installed a scarecrow owl to scare the garden critters and birds away from my vegetable garden. The scarecrow owl is surprisingly effective. You can get the scarecrow owl with the rotating head so it is more realistic and effective.
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