Green Living
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Which veggies should I plant?
I posted this on gardening earlier today, but am not getting a lot of action. Perhaps, you ladies can help. TIA!
We're starting our first vegetable garden this year. We already have a raised bed (left by previous homeowners) that gets sunlight all day, and we're in zone 7. Which vegetables are the easiest or best producing for first time gardners? I've been thinking about squash, zuccini, lettuce, green beans, asparagus, broccoli and tomatoes. What should I cut from this list?
I've read that cherry or grape tomatoes are easier to grow than regular tomatoes. Would you recommend them instead?
Re: Which veggies should I plant?
Learning to start all over again... Blog
I've heard asparagus is tough also.
I know that squash and zucchini are easy, as are cucumbers. Lettuce can be fickle; I haven't had any luck with it, but that won't stop me from trying again this year. I would love broccoli but I'm not going to attempt it.
I've been told that watermelon is easy; we are going to try that too. I've grown several herbs in the past (rosemary, basil, mint); those are super easy and can be grown in pots. Someone (Alisha_A?) mentioned that mint can take over like a weed though.
My Lunch Blog
Plant rosemary and mnt in pots if you don?t have endless space.
Grow the veggies you like to eat. I agree that cherry tomatoes are a good first time tomato.
Lettuce grows relativey quickly. You don't want it in the full sun, so try planting a row between other things.
Don't forget things like raspberries or rhubarb. Once established both are relatively easy. Maybe try snow peas if they work in your climate. These are really rewardng as snacks right of the plant after working.
I try and grow one have or strange thing each year. Last year it was black salsify. Really hard to harvest but amazing. It was our delicacy. Most of all, have fun!
FYI - Most green beans are 'climbers' so you'll want to include some type of structure for them to climb up or they won't do as well. They were easy to grow besides that.
I'd cut the asparagus.
I tried lettuce and got a lot, but didn't care for the taste - plus it was so inexpensive at the store, I didn't feel it was worth it personally.
We did strawberries as well (I know, not a veggie).
I also grew okra, which I found easy.
My squash didn't produce, but I think it was because we got so much rain last year. My Corn didn't either and I won't be doing corn again this year.
I was thinking of trying to do peppers again this year as well.
I'd say go with items that you eat frequently.
i would cut the asparagus (as pp mentioned) and add herbs- basil, parsley, thyme, etc.
strawberries are very easy, and for my family growing up they came back every year.... if you put some pine needles around them it is a perfect fertilizer for them- they love it! (we even put them on the plants in the fall and left them over the winter that way).
if you do plant mint, i suggest either planting it in a pot, or if you want to put it in the ground- we have had good luck burying a tire on its side (you should just see the top of it sticking out of the ground) and planting it in the center of the tire. this prevents the mint from taking over your whole garden.
good luck!
I'm in your same zone and this is our first year too. I've already started tomatoes (3 kinds), sweet peppers, broccoli, cauliflower and lettuce (2 kinds) growing in pots indoors (started from seed). I've got spinach already sprouted in the ground. When it's a little warmer we're going to sow squash, zucchini, cucumbers, pole beans, cantelope, watermelon and eggplant. We have two raised beds (4x4 and 4x8). I'm also going to grow a bunch of herbs (oregano, basil, parsley, cilantro, rosemary, etc). I'm skipping the mint this year. I grew some last year in pots and it grew like crazy and I hardly ever used it.
Asparagus is hard to grow. It takes 3 years for a plant to mature enough to harvest any (or you'd have to buy a two year plant and harvest next year). Plus I think you've missed the window for our zone already.
We are also in Zone 7, and have two 3x6 raised beds. I agree with PP about cutting the asparagus. It takes 3 years to get a crop, and the harvest season is so short it's not worth it for a backyard garden. I have had zero luck with broccoli also. It's a cool-season crop that requires a lot of sun, an odd combo. So by the time the sun's high enough to provide 7-8 hours of sunlight, it's 80-90 degrees out (too hot from broccoli).
I've heard squash and zucchini are easy to grow, but grow prolifically. It's just DH and I, and we don't think we'll be able to eat the whole squash and zucchini harvest, so we're sticking with the Farmer's Market for that. Basically, we're trying to grow everything that we buy in large quantities from the market. Here's what we're doing:
Veggies: Green beans, english peas, jalapeno peppers, large and cherry tomatoes, spinach, 2 kinds of potatoes, yellow onions, sweet peppers, cucumbers, eggplant, sugar snap peas, and carrots. The tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers we started indoors this past weekend, which is about 2 weeks late for Zone 7
. We're going to direct-sow the onion sets, peas, and spinach this weekend. We should have done the spinach a week or two ago.
Herbs: Thyme, rosemary, oregano, cilantro, mint, and chamomile. YES put the mint in a separate pot! I have a farmer's market friend who does great basil deals for me, and since I have to cut the whole plant to make pesto I don't see the benefit in growing it myself. We'll buy the other herbs as transplants from another farmer's market friend who started them in a greenhouse.