5 Best Vegetables to Grow in Your Garden
91An Early Spring Vegetable Garden
If you have enough space to plant a small vegetable garden this spring, not only will you eat better, but, you will also save money on our grocery bill all year. Fresh vegetables not only taste much better but are much healthier for you too. I am going to give you some ideas on which are the easiest vegetables to grow and store, so you can continue to use them all year.
(Some of these vegetable will come back each year if, your winters aren’t too harsh.)
Spinach Greens - Spinach is one of the easiest vegetables to grow and will come back every year as long as you let some of them “go to seed”. Going to seed means that you let them grown until they bloom and will drop their seeds. All you need to do is “turn them under”. This means that once they have gone to seed, till them under so, actually, you have just replanted them. They may grow soon enough that you will have more in the fall and again in spring. Once you have picked the leaves, wash them thoroughly and take out the bigger veins in the leaves. Now you can have fresh greens for your salad. You will probably get more greens than you can eat from your garden. You can store them by boiling them in salted water until they are tender. At that point you can put them in freezer bags and put them in the freezer. You will have greens to eat all winter.
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Garlic – Once you have planted some garlic bulbs, wait until they go to seed before you dig them up. Now, turn those seeds under and you will have more garlic next year. You may still need to replant some to be sure you have enough come spring. Garlic can be stored in a cool, dry place where they can get air circulation. They should store well for a long period of time. Once they begin to feel a little soft, you can freeze them to use for cooking when you need them. Now you have garlic to use for your recipes all year.
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Onions – Onions are another vegetable that will come back each year if you let it go to seed. If you will dig up some of your onions early they will be what is called “green onions”. I love to eat green onions with nothing but saltine crackers! Green onions will not keep very long, so be sure and refrigerate them. Green onions are great to slice and put in salads. I also chop the green stem and use them instead of chives for my baked potatoes. We do plant some new onions each year, mainly because we love to eat the “green onions” so much! Once the stems on your onions have turned brown, it is time to dig your onions. Onions will keep for a long time also, stored in a cool, dry place with air circulation. Some of your onions may not get very big, but those are the best to put in stews. Once your larger onions begin to feel a little soft at the top, you can actually chop and freeze them to use when cooking when you need them.
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Tomatoes – Nothing is better than a fresh, homegrown tomato! You can plant cherry tomatoes for salads and larger tomatoes for slicing and cooking. Of course, you can take the salt shaker with you and do what I do ... pick the tomato, rinse it with the hose, give it a little dash of salt and eat it! My husband and I make our own picante sauce with our tomatoes each year. However, if you make your picante sauce hot, you will also want to can some “stewed tomatoes” to use for cooking for the rest of the year. Our picante sauce is mild enough that I just use it in place of stewed tomatoes. We can enough tomatoes so that I never have to buy stewed tomatoes or picante sauce. You can also can your own tomato sauce.
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Green Beans – Green beans or, sometimes called “string beans” are really very easy to grow. Green beans grow in low to the ground bushes and have to be picked, which can be backbreaking for some people. I love picking green beans, but my back does get a little tired sometimes, so I have a small child’s plastic chair I take out to the garden with me. We can green beans every year, and have enough to last us until they put on again the next spring. You can do the same thing with black-eyed peas. They are a little more difficult, as you have to shell some of them and it takes a lot to make a quart jar full, but now you will have your home grown green vegetables to eat all year round.
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There are several other vegetables that you can grow and store for later use, but I believe these five are the easiest. At least, they work the best for me. Just to list a few of the others, you can grow cucumbers to make your own pickles. Broccoli and cauliflower can also be frozen for later use. Okra is a southern vegetable that is very good fried or pickled. Pickled okra can be canned and stored all winter.
I hope I have given you some good ideas that will help you eat healthier and save some money on your grocery bill. Happy gardening!
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Hello hydenz. I'm glad you enjoyed my hub. I hope you found it useful Thank you for your comment.
I just love gardening .I always think of new things that I can plant in my garden which can grow easiely....
Hello...Nice information you have given. Voted up
Great hub! We just planted our garden yesterday and planed tomatoes, cucumbers, basil, peppermint, rhubarb and pumpkins. We plan to add to it though, so this was helpful!
Haha! Mine is white! What color is yours! :)Thank you for your comment, vote and share! It is always appreciated! Have a great spring. :)
I will use the child's chair in the bean patch in a couple of weeks. Great Hub voted up and share.
Hello maxravi. You are so welcome. I am glad you found my hub useful. I wish you and your mom "happy gardening". Have a wonderful day! :)
Thanks Sgbrown for your points.I mom love gardening , I will give her some tips from your article.
Hello greatstuff. I am not sure what the weather is like in Malaysia, but the ground needs to be warm for chiles and plenty of sunshine. Try, try again, as they say! :) Thank you for stopping in and commenting on my hub, it is always appreciated. Have a great day! :)
I planted some chilli seeds a month ago and it didn't grow that well..maybe don't have green fingers. Envy you!
Hello Shannon. I'm so glad I was able to help! One of my sons and his wife are starting their first garden this year. Once you eat fresh vegetables out of your own garden, you are going to be hooked! Thank you for stopping by and commenting, it is always appreciated. Have a wonderful day! :)
Very informative hub! I'm in the process of setting space aside in my yard to grow a garden. Your article was helpful in making several decisions. Thank you.
Hi Susan. You can definately grow tomatoes in a container. A large pot outside in the full sun would do great. One tomato plant will continue to produce more tomatoes, however, spinach, onions and garlic don't. You would have to plant many plants in containers. Green beans continue to produce, but you need alot of them to do much good. I would probably just stick to growing tomatoes in a container. Thank you for stopping by and reading my hub. It is always appreciated! Have a wonderful day! :)
Can these vegetables be grown in containers? :)
Hi Cookware Bliss! Good to hear from you. Thank you for voting and pinning! It is always appreciated! Have a great day! :)
Hi Peggy! I'm sorry you miss your big garden. They are a lot of work, but so well worth it. You got the best covered...tomatoes, peppers are two of my favorites! Thank you for your vote and sharing! You know it is always appreciated! Have a wonderful day! :)
Voted up and pining it :) Thanks for SHARING!
I had a huge successful garden in Wisconsin many years ago, and had some luck growing a more limited amount of vegetables at our last house in Houston in some of the garden beds. We have so much shade at this house that I have limited space for growing vegetables. I have many herbs and have a couple of tomato plants, a green pepper plant and just planted some swiss chard and kolrabi seeds a few days ago. Hoping that the area will furnish enough sunlight during the day so that the seeds can mature and grow. I would LOVE a larger garden space with adequate sunlight. Would certainly grow more vegetables! Voted up, useful and will share with my followers.
Hello ytsenoh. Thank you for your kind words. We didn't have a basement, but my dad use to hang onions and potatoes in burlap sacks in a storage room attached to the house. Thank you so much for your thumbs up and comments, you made my day! Yes, tomato is actually "classifed" as a fruit, but most people think of it as a vegetable. :) Have a wonderful day!
SG, good hub with some great gardening ideas. Loved your advice on the spinach. I remember when my dad used to hang garlic in his basement. He was a huge organic gardener and we learned a lot from him. I give you thumbs up because of your idea and the way you presented each vegetable. Is tomatoe a fruit?
Hello Thelma. I am glad you found my hub useful. You may also want to check out my How To Grow a Vegetable Garden too. There also be something in there that you find useful. Good luck with your garden! Thank you for stopping by, voting and sharing, it is always appreciated. Have a wonderful day! :)
I am planning to grow my own vegetables in our backyard. Thanks for SHARING this hub. Voted up and useful.
Hello WD! Thanks for stopping by. It gets really hot here too, but I have to get past the last freeze first. Maybe next week I can plant my peas. Have a wonderful spring! :)
Hi Flickr! These are some of the easiest to grow. We also have, peas, squash, okra, potatoes, lettuce, cucumbers and peppers. I love garlic too! Thank you for stopping in, it is always appreciated! Have a wonderful day! :)
'm already started. It gets so hot in the summer, that the veggies don't like it. I had a good time reading the Hub. I am ready to go get dirty now.
I have a good crop of cow peas every year.
Wonderful. I think those are some of the greatest choices to put in your gardens. I am a huge fan of garlic. Voted up and socially shared.
Hello cebutouristspot! :) If I am correct, you are in the Philllipines. I am not sure how hot it get there, but tomatoes take ALOT of water. Onions grow better when the weather is cooler. Your vegetables sound wonderful. I hope your garden does very well this year. Thank you for visiting my hub and your kind comments! Have a wonderful day! :)
@sgbroiwn you must have a green thumb. As I tried to grow tomato and onion and they died on me :(. I do however have chili, sweet potato, spring onion, Bitter melon, and squash which I just started.
Hello LABrashear. I am glad to hear from a fellow gardener. We planned on preparing our garden plot this week-end, but it is raining....again! On your garlic, just remember, they don't need to be planted very deep, and keep the soil around them loose. I hope your garden does well this year! Thank you for visiting and commenting on my hub. It is always greatly appreciated! :)
So glad I saw this. I love gardening and have a pretty big one, but I have never done well with my garlic. I will try again and see what happens. have you checked out the book Carrots Love Tomatoes? It's by a lady out of OK. I pull it out every year before I get started. Actually, I'm so addicted to gardening I was going to pull it out this week and get started planning. Voted up and sharing. Thanks for the info!
Hello Brett. You are going to want to go ahead and re-plant, but you will get extras by letting them go to seed. Thank you for reading and sharing my hub. Appreciated as always! Have a great night! :)
Some good suggestion, especially as many of them will seed themselves, so you will get more each year.
Voted up, useful and SOCIALLY SHARING.
Hi peepingtomb! Looks like you have some good choices in your garden also. I love my fresh green beans, but my back doesn't much like the picking! Thank you for your kind comment. Good luck with the gardening! :)
I have my winter garden in Florida now. Spinach, Kale, Collards and potatoes. You have some great choices here. I've pickled my green beans in the past.
Hi Mandy! It really depends on how hot it gets where you are. You can tell when the spinach needs water as the leaves will start to droop. I would recommend watering the onions then also. Here in southern Oklahoma, we water our garden everyday unless it rains.
Garlic and tomatoes are my favorites! My mom plants them in the backyards sometimes and I'll help her dig it up for use in my marinara sauce. Do you know how low maintenance are spinach and onions? Will I have to water everyday?
Thank you Dee! My husband and I have had a garden every year for the last 25 years! That's a lot of gardening. :) Anytime you want a little advice, just let me know. I would be happy to help you! Thanks for the vote up! I will be reciprocating soon! :)
I have so much wanted to be able to grow a vegetable garden. My mother had a wonderful garden, both vegetables and flowers, with a few fruit trees. The green thumb did not pass down to me...LOL. All the veggies you mentioned in your hub....I LOVE. Anyway, if there are any miracles left for me out there maybe one of them can be the abilitty to grow wonderful vegetables. Great hub. Voted up and useful.
sgbrown Hub Author 17 hours ago
Hello mrs rao. I'm glad you enjoyed my hub. I hope you find it useful. Thank you for your comment and vote. Have a great day! :)8