What vegetables should I plant?

18 years ago

I'm just staring my own vegetable garden, about 15x25 feet, and I was curious as to any recommendations on what I might be able to plant starting mid-late May that are easy to handle and produce a fair amount of produce for the work (ie no carrots, onions, etc). I'm thinking about a couple rows of corn, summer squash, various peppers and a row of tomatoes. I figure I have space enough for a couple other plants, but the choices are too many for me to pick just one or two. Any suggestions?

Likeiwse, I'm planting flowers and I want ones that will return every year, as well as groundcover, again, with low maintenance.

I'm a busy guy with a wife and 4 kids... so any simple, easy to follow recommendations would be hot. Thanks!

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Comments (4)

grannymarsh
18 years ago
Pole beans will not take up much ground space, and the taste is the same. Make a simple teepee out of STURDY wood strips and lash it together at the top. Make it at least 6 feet tall. A big plus is that you don't have to bend over to pick them !! Easy care perennials include daisies, coneflower, daylilies, asters. I like to use leaf lettuce, spinach, etc. as borders in my flower gardens. Lettuce comes is a variety of colors, so you can get tasty as well as some extra color.
cantstopgardening
18 years ago
Potatoes are very fun to harvest with the kids. And they are super easy. Just use ones from the grocery store that have begun sprouting. Lots of mulch over them. Lots.

I second the beans. They are about the easiest crop to grow. And zuchini is legendary for growing in abundance. Corn can be a bit tricky, as the varmits like it as much as you do. But fresh corn is wonderful! And the kids can help make a scare-crow/squirrrel/coon to help protect it. (Can you tell I like to garden with kids?)

The leafy veggies are also very easy, as GrannyMarsh said. Swiss Chard comes in beautiful colors, spinach, lettuces are all good. Beets, grown just for the greens would be another choice. (I eat the beet roots too, but no one else in my house likes them. But we all like the greens. And our pet bunnies love beet greens as a treat.)

As for involving the kids, mine like to help plant, and harvest. They will water as well. But we mulch (used to use grass clippings, now I have a huge supply of straw,)everything, so no one is out there pulling weeds in the hot summer sun. No one likes pulling weeds ;-) Wait, no one except Ginger-the-wonder-dog. She likes to be fed the roots of the quack grass when we pull it. I even have gotten my neighbor kids to pull a few pieces of quack grass, just so they could feed her. Funny dog!!

Marigold flowers are a wonderful companion for the tomatoes, as they help deter nematodes. Marigolds are very easy too. Alyssum is another flower that is so willing to grow.

Have fun with it! If you are wanting to get a bit more involved in gardening as the years go on (I do hope so, it is a wonderful hobby,) I would suggest you keep a very simple garden journal. I use a simple theme notebook. My notes really help me learn more about my garden.

Jean
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For regular turnips it may be a little late, but Hakurei turnips would work very well. All those crops you listed are frost-tolerant, so you have way more than 60 days. The spinach and kale are particularly tolerant and will be fine right until the first permanent snowfall. OTOH, you have to add a 25-50% extension to the DTM to account for fall's shorter and ever-shortening days. I would also suggest radishes, tatsoi, bok choy, gai lan and claytonia. IME, freeze damage thresholds are about like this (this is without row covers): Least tolerant: lettuce and bok choy - mid to high 20s F Tolerant: beets, turnips, radishes - mid 20s F. Mound up soil around the growing root to prevent the root from freezing. Very tolerant: kale, spinach, tatsoi, claytonia - mid teens F This post was edited by Slimy_Okra on Fri, Aug 15, 14 at 21:48
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deerfieldponder
18 years ago
My onions, carrots, radish, lettuce, carrots. Are up and running. I put in tomatoes last night. May15 is our estimated last frost day here. Radish and onion sets are super fast to get going now. If time is an issue, with the kids iknow I have tow little ones, maybe this year get plants that are already started at home depot and harden them off several days outside so you will not have to water every day to get started.
Cheers, Matt.
jimihendrix
18 years ago
My Garden is about the same size that should give you about 12 row`s 15x25, the mistake i made the first year is planting things to close together. Planting to close there is no room for the hoe and the weeds take over. Easy thing`s to grow that dos not reqiure to much work. Corn is not a good idea you dont get much. Try Bok Choi, Bush Beans, strait row with bamboo poles and string plant about an inch or so apart, the tee-pee thing you will get low yealds. Don`t plant potato`s from the super market they are sprayed and will not do good, Beet are excellent the top`s you can mix with your lettuce for a custom mix. Happy Gardening

What vegetables should I plant?

Comments (4)

grannymarsh

cantstopgardening

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