6 Tasty and Easy to Grow Vegetables Perfect for New Growers

Given how much the average chef spends on produce such as vegetables, it’s surprising that more people aren’t growing their own. Having your own supply of fresh home-grown vegetables will make it far easier for you to experiment and to develop your own unique flavors and dishes. The following 6 vegetables are both easy to grow and are used in a range of different dishes. If you have ever considered growing your own vegetables, these are the ones to choose.

Salad Leaves

Crunchy salad leaves are an excellent way of adding texture and flavor to a variety of dishes. You can purchase a salad seed mix, which can be sown throughout the summer months and will be ready to be harvested within a few weeks. Best of all, your plants will keep growing, allowing for multiple harvests from a single crop.

Radishes

Radishes are an excellent way of spicing up an otherwise unremarkable dish. Radishes bring a crunchy texture and a peppery, almost spicy, flavor to them. Radishes are easy to grow either outdoors or in a container. Sowing them in the early summer will guarantee you at least one season of delicious, colorful crops. Here is a radish stir-fry recipe in Sri Lankan style.

Potatoes

Potatoes should be sown during late February or early March and grown in bags, covered with compost. When they grow enough that the green shoots become visible above the compost, they are then topped up and the process is repeated. Potatoes are extremely versatile as a food, which makes them a great choice for growing at home. They are also remarkably easy to grow. As long as you remember to water them and to top up the compost as necessary, your potatoes should flourish. Check how to cook potato and egg curry in Sri Lankan style.

Peas

Peas prefer the cooler weather, so they are best sown between March and June. They are then ready to harvest a few months later. You will need to put up some chicken wire or netting to support their stems as they grow. Other than this, growing peas is a simple and straightforward process. You can cook peas with cashew too.

Spring Onions

Spring onions are the perfect way of adding a little bit of bite to your salads. They need to be sown between March and July, taking around 8 weeks before they are ready for harvest. Try planting them alongside some mint in order to deter predators such as the onion fly. Spring onions can either be grown in the ground, or in pots. They work great either in a cold salad, or a stir fry.

Peppers

Growing peppers is a little bit more involved than the other veggies on this list, but they are an excellent challenge to take on once you have gotten comfortable with the more basic vegetable types. There are a variety of different pepper types you can grow; you can find out more information about growing and harvesting peppers over at Mygardeningnetwork.com. Here is a recipe for bell pepper rice. Try it too.

These vegetables aren’t just simple to grow, they are also vitally important ingredients in a number of dishes. Having your own supply of organically-grown vegetables on hand will help to give your dishes an edge that others won’t be able to match.