Easy plants for beginners

February 6, 2008 at 2:23 pm (Organic gardening)
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GardenersSo you want to garden? If you have your garden (or containers) set up, here are some great plants to start with. Please note, I’m writing from southern Michigan, so your results will best match mine if you live from New England through Ohio and west at about the same latitude (the light and dark green stripes on this map).

Best plants for a beginning garden (including container gardens):

  • Onions
  • Tomatoes
  • Green beans
  • Peas
  • Curly kale
  • Swiss chard
  • Hot peppers
  • Potatoes
  • Herbs, especially basil and chives
  • Squash, including zucchini, take a lot of space but are pretty reliable producers

Some plants that I don’t think are a good bet for a first garden:

  • Carrots and beets (very picky about water until they’re established)
  • Corn (takes a lot of space for a few ears; must be picked at exactly the right time)
  • Cucumbers (fairly picky about water)

5 Comments

  1. TeacherPatti said,

    February 6, 2008 at 7:01 pm

    Thanks, Emily!
    Can you start any of these inside and move them outside? Sorry if that’s a dumb question, but I have heard that some things can be started indoors so long as you have good light.

  2. Emily said,

    February 7, 2008 at 12:09 pm

    Patti-

    Herbs generally do well indoors. Onions and potatoes do not. The other things can all be started indoors and moved outside - but be sure to “harden them off” by taking them outside for the day and bringing them back in at night for a couple days before planting them outside. This reduces shock, as does planting them in peat pots - you can drop the whole pot in the soil, so less risk of damaging the plant by taking it out of the pot.

    Green beans and peas are terrific kid plants, in my opinion. They are large seeds, and very dramatic when they sprout. They’ll be 6″ tall with a couple big leaves in a week or ten days, and if you have enough sun, you can grow them indoors. Fix up a string trellis - maybe a broomstick or curtain rod with strings tied on, going down to a pencil stuck in each pot - and they’ll grow 6′ tall!

  3. TeacherPatti said,

    February 7, 2008 at 7:15 pm

    Thanks, Emily! I want to do a unit on local food/food production (I have no textbooks, so I’m kind of winging it!!) The beans/peas would be cool :)

  4. Emily said,

    February 8, 2008 at 9:48 am

    Patti- e-mail me from my professional web site http://www.drgndrop.com/ - I can help with this unit! My day job is instructional design, and I’ve done units for the Kalamazoo Nature Center and a Boys’ and Girls’ Club garden.

  5. Bible Versus and Gardens » Easy plants for beginners Eat Close To Home said,

    March 10, 2008 at 1:38 pm

    [...] Get the entire post from here. [...]

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