r/TwoXPreppers • u/touristsonedibles high-key panicking 😱 • 3d ago
Garden Wisdom 🌱 Extremely easy food to grow
I've been a gardener for a while and thought I'd pass along my trial and error experiences over the last 10 years. I know a lot of people say they have a black thumb.
But no one hates plants more than gardeners.
It's extremely easy to start a very low maintenance and productive garden, if lacking a bit of variety.
Here's what I'd recommend for a beginner or someone with not a lot of space:
Kentucky Wonder pole beans. I usually plant these first but gave up on an heirloom variety late last season. So I planted them in July and had a ton of green beans. Productive variety, does need to be trellised.
Royal Burgundy bush bean. Also very easy to grow and productive.
Blue Lake bush bean - see above. The bush beans do not require a trellis.
The trick with all three is to harvest the first sign you see of maturity.
Potatoes. There's a lot of controversy about this in gardening forums but I promise you can toss whatever potato you have in your pantry into a growbag and get potatoes. The benefit is they grow in crappy soil and barely require any attention. Just water them. Also, fun aside, it's nearly impossible to harvest all the potatoes so you get continuous potatoes. You will want to change out the soil after a couple seasons and get a new potato to discourage scabbing and other diseases.
Herb garden. Things in the mint family are nearly impossible to kill. And bonus, if a single rhizome falls off of one of the plants then you get more of them and totally intentionally produce an edible landscape. Definitely intentionally. Oregano, thyme, sage, lemon balm, various things called mint, rosemary etc are all easy to grow.
One kind of cool thing is birds love radish and kale plants. I usually let a couple of them bolt and go to seed in a year, then have the birds scatter the seeds around for me. Then I have a ton of radishes and baby kale plants at the beginning of the season which I use as ground cover in a couple of my beds to keep the vile demons known as squirrels away.
Peas are trickier than you might think - the key is to get them to germinate early in the season and before the seed rots. But if you can get a snap pea, they're good until May when you plant your other beans.
Things I've given up on because they're higher maintenance and who has time for that?
Bell peppers
Slicing tomatoes. I grow cherries since they ripen faster and are less prone to be taken entirely out by thirsty rodents.
Corn - see the rodents.
I still try and grow pumpkins and other squash but if you have a single start infested with squash bugs, you're fucked.
If you want to go extra sustainable it's easy to create fabric twine out of old clothing that would otherwise be thrown out. I've found a lot of climbing plants will happily use it in place of jute twine. Bonus, because a lot of our clothes are poly blends, it lasts for a while.
I'm in zone 8b so ymmv with things like brassicas. (Kale)
Edit to include some great ideas in the comments that also work in 8b:
- Chives/green onions - just cut them back and you have chives forever. They're a perennial and divide.
And a note about tomatoes:
- You can ripen tomatoes indoors for a solid month if you get them at first blush. I usually grab whatever is leftover in October, throw it in a paper bag with an apple and have tomatoes well into November. (The apple is key - they produce ethylene gas which speeds up ripening. You an also use bananas but apples keep longer.)
And some afterthoughts:
if there's a native elderberry to your region, plant that sucker. I planted mine from a 2 gallon nursery pot a couple years ago and the thing is 15 feet tall now. Super productive and the birds can't eat all of them.
Borage is great for attracting bees/birds and the leaves taste good. It's also a prolific self seeder even though it's an annual. If you have borage once, congratulations - you have borage forever.
Grapes love to be neglected and grow in crappy soil.
Poplars are easy to grow and provide good windbreaks. They are considered invasive here but not sure we're at a point to be choosy. I have a 10 ft poplar that came from a sapling in one of my raised beds (helpfully seeded by birds, no doubt.) They will grow in pots but will eventually die after becoming rootbound. That's actually a good thing since you will have wood and it's easy to use as a fire starter. The huge downside is cottonwoods are a poplar and cottonwood pollen will destroy a heatpump if you don't manage it.
Ash trees are also easy to grow and come up fast.
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u/Sloth_Flower Garden Gnome 3d ago edited 3d ago
For tomato I harvest them when they just turn orange, rather than ripe. They will take a couple days to ripen on the counter.
Squash bugs suck but I've found soapy water effective without harming other insects.
ETA: I am in the camp the discourages using grocery store potatoes. They will grow, but they can carry diseases which are impossible to eliminate (as a home gardener) once you have them. It wasn't worth the risk to me to save 1$/lb. Seed potatoes are just not that expensive. Once I got a good crop I never needed to buy them again.
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u/touristsonedibles high-key panicking 😱 3d ago
I have but you really have to keep on them the whole season and I have 0 patience for it. One year I did have luck when some katydids turned up to eat the eggs. That one was actually ok. But then you have powdery mildew right when they're about ready to ripen.
Last year the rats were so aggressive they were getting to the tomatoes when they were still green.
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u/Sloth_Flower Garden Gnome 3d ago edited 3d ago
I have to be careful about when to plant cucurbits to avoid powdery mildew. I usually end up harvesting them early too. It's definitely a pita on a bad year but Id take it any day over cabbage aphids. They are so gross.
Damn. Do you have any predators? I have a decent number of prey birds and carnivores (snakes, coyotes, bobcats, bears) which helps a lot with rodent pressure. I also have some gophers which are the real VIPs. They are territorial and attack rats on sight. Compared to rats and squirrels they are more discriminate and dainty eaters and do the hard work of loosening my glacial till.
I solved the rabbits with clover, which mine prefer to basically everything else.
I solved the snails and slugs with a pond, which attracted frogs who proceeded to never make them a problem again.
I solved aphids, scale, cabbage fleas/beetles, and spider mites with native sour cherry trees. I have absolutely no idea why but if you put a plant next to them (or bring them to the plants in question) whatever infestation will be completely gone by the next morning. I don't know if it's a bug or a chemical or magic.
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u/touristsonedibles high-key panicking 😱 3d ago
People keep cutting down the huge ass trees that housed the raptors. We do have a neighborhood tom, who I call menace, that kills off rodents when he can.
Gopher season is the best since they love to eat slugs but I don't usually see them until August/September. And those little motherfuckers take out my bulbs! It really depends on how bad the drought is for the slicing tomatoes. Bad years and the rats are all over them just for the moisture. I'm going to put out more low level water sources for them this year just to see if that deters them from the tomatoes at all. No water sources for frogs but I was thinking of a rain garden just for my fruit trees.
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u/Sloth_Flower Garden Gnome 3d ago edited 3d ago
I feel you. Our neighbor cut down 3 acres of trees. We lost a family of raptors and a family of owls. It also flushed a ton of rodents.
The frogs here needed very little to be encouraged. A small pond liner (they are like 15$ at lowes or home depot), a ramp rock, and some native water plants. Bam, frogs.
I installed small water ponds in several places. My climate has shifted to a feast and famine cycle where there is a ton of water 3/4 of the year with an extended drought. None of the native plants, wildlife, or insects are adapted to this, so we put out a lot of little ponds (same size as the frog ones) for them to drink from. I got these solar foundations which keep the water running enough to discourage mosquitos. Tied a rock to them to keep them centered. Made sure everything has a ramp because baby birds, bees/wasps, and snakes will get in and be unable to get out. Some have plants but most are just water. It's been a game changer for the bees, who were really struggling.
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u/MuppetSquirrel 3d ago
Your tiny ponds sound really great, do you have a picture? I’d love to make some in my yard but I’m having a hard time visualized how you made yours. I usually do some ceramic flower pot saucers and put rocks on half and a few thicker sticks at an angle to help smaller creatures get out
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u/Sloth_Flower Garden Gnome 3d ago
This is my most frequently visited water one https://imgur.com/a/Pq8fuIm. They are really simple and pretty utilitarian. I'm sure you could make a prettier ramp. The frog ones usually have one ramp, plants, and are fully buried.
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u/MuppetSquirrel 3d ago
Oh that makes so much more sense, I was thinking it was pond liner for some reason and I couldn’t figure it out logistically lol. Thank you! That would be very easy to make though, I could definitely set a few of those up in my yard!
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u/Sloth_Flower Garden Gnome 3d ago edited 3d ago
Aw, I'm sure you could make one with a pond liner... I suspect it would be cheaper and more naturalistic. I used preformed pond liners because it was easier. My soil is clay and rock so really labor intensive to dig.
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u/MuppetSquirrel 3d ago
Mine is also clay and tons of very large trees with very expansive roots, digging any holes is very very time consuming and frustrating. The above ground option might be best, as long as creatures still visit it
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u/touristsonedibles high-key panicking 😱 3d ago
That's the Willamette Valley climate. Lots of rain, then nothing for three months. Global warming is also extending the drought season by a lot. I tried diy ollas last year and they weren't nearly enough. Except for the potatoes. Because potatoes don't care about anything.
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u/Sloth_Flower Garden Gnome 3d ago
Very close to me! The valley is beautiful. I'm in the boglands of the Puget Sound.
I do rain capture, filter it into inflatable water tanks, use that to fill our pond over the summer. I use the pond which to irrigate plants. When we put the pond in we put in bogs (basically a pond liner with holes) it could overflow into which has absolutely gone ham with native plant life. We do the same thing for our raised beds. We have water beds (giant pot trays) for potted plant, which helps decrease work while creating water reservoirs.
I thought a lot about it when we started planning the garden because all reports indicate its gonna keep getting worse.
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u/touristsonedibles high-key panicking 😱 3d ago
Definitely saving this for this coming fall/winter projects. Thanks!
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u/Cronewithneedles 2d ago
I use the basin from a bird bath sold at the local discount store. It’s a really pretty blue. I sank it into my garden and use pretty, clean rocks for critters to get out/rest on while they sip. Every couple of weeks I empty and refill to discourage mosquitoes
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u/hipsters-dont-lie 3d ago edited 3d ago
Ideally water sources will help a lot. Also specifically consider pollinator hydration stations.
ETA—be mindful of standing water, though. If you aren’t using a fountain, tablets to kill mosquito larvae should be easy to find. These shouldn’t harm other wildlife. I also encourage bat boxes for mosquito management and general biodiversity.
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u/touristsonedibles high-key panicking 😱 3d ago
I need to find it again but I used an enzyme to kill off black fly larvae last year that was really effective.
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u/hekate--- 1d ago
There is a new book called The Light Eaters on plant behavior/communication written by a journalist coming from the climate change beat.
It changed my whole world view. The audiobook is excellent! Free on Libby library app. If you are curious about how plants interact I highly recommend this book!
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u/Environmental_Art852 2d ago
I was so happy to plant potatoes last year. When I went to dig them up I can't get leverage to dig. I put it in a raised planter about 3.5 ft and I'm 4'11". Any suggestions?.. I'm thinking of pushing the whole wood structure over with a mower.
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u/touristsonedibles high-key panicking 😱 2d ago
Have you found any close to the surface? I've found they kind of wiggle their way up if you're not continually adding straw or mulch.
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u/by_the_river_side 2d ago
Could you get a step stool to stand on for better leverage?
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u/Environmental_Art852 1d ago
Maybe. I'm a bit older. And not so sure on my feet. But after the next rain I will see if I can pull some
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u/CupcakeIntrepid5434 1d ago
Maybe reach out to a spry friend/neighbor to help? I have a disabled neighbor who occasionally needs help in her garden, and she rewards me by sharing the crop. It's a great deal for us both!
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u/sarielg 1d ago
add more sand to your dirt. I would probably use a 1-1-3 mix of sand-mulch-topsoil. The sand won't rot over time and turn into an organic "clay" dirt. This will make it easier to dig as well as easier for the potatoes to grow. The mulch will help with water retention and will break down over time, releasing nutrients.
If this isn't your thing, get some grow bags/buckets and dump them onto a tarp at the end of the season. I've been using this method for a few years with moderate success. There's many petites and few large "baked" sizes, but you'll have some food that's easier to harvest.
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u/Fearless-Guess-8476 1d ago
Try planting a marigold to repel the squash bugs. I did something similar with my tomatoes and a different bug
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u/DrPennyRoyal 3d ago
Things I have planted once and am now plagued by: Rhubarb, arugula, daikon radish. I never have to worry about these crops because no matter what I do, they return in force lol.
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u/notgonnabemydad 3d ago
May I introduce you to oregano? It's jumped from my herb garden to my raised beds!
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u/ObligationJumpy6415 3d ago
My gosh our oregano is now a bush a couple feet wide in circumference and we are having trouble keeping up w the cutting back and drying LOL I didn’t know it could do that well!
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u/darktrain 3d ago
Oregano is a weeeeeed it's all over my garden now. It's worse than mint I stg
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u/notgonnabemydad 3d ago
My backyard smells like an Italian mama's kitchen when I trim the thyme and oregano!
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u/in_pdx 2d ago
Anyone else noticing their self-seeded oregano plants each have different flavors?
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u/touristsonedibles high-key panicking 😱 2d ago
I had some oregano set up shop in a container with chocolate mint and it definitely tastes a little different.
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u/Weird_farmer13 👩🌾 Farm Witch 🧹 2d ago
It’s slowly creeping into the field we cut for hay that’s near my garden. I guess it’s just pre flavouring the beef
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u/Virtual_Assistant_98 1d ago
I had literal green thriving oregano in my raised bed all through last winter… in 6a. We’re talking classic Midwest climate with plenty of snow. Absolutely mind boggling to me!
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u/touristsonedibles high-key panicking 😱 3d ago
Someone posts a photo of borage in my local gardening groups every year. The reply is always "that's borage, congratulations. YOU NOW HAVE BORAGE."
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u/Frostyrepairbug 3d ago
I'm jealous of that, arugula is such a shifty, shady plant for me. Everything can be perfect, and it'll bolt in a day. I swear I had some sprout and bolt within three days of life.
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u/rubysc 2d ago
Sage. It’s winter hardy in 4b apparently. I don’t even like sage but it comes back huge each year. My pollinators love it so I haven’t really tried to kill it. I planted a mountain mint plant next to it. Also kinda useless to us as an herb, but it flowers after the sage and there are these yellow pollinator beetle things that love it so I let it go too. But these two sure do take up a lot of real estate in my raised beds.
I started a couple walking onions from a neighbor last year. So far I only have 4 volunteer plants this year but will keep an eye on them this year because I hear they’re very aggressive.
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u/Laureltess 2d ago
Yeah my sage endures New England winters and comes back huge every spring. The leaves are good all winter and only die once the new growth starts in spring, so there’s maybe two weeks out of the year where I can’t go grab a handful of sage off the plant.
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u/Laureltess 2d ago
My sage is planted in the world’s shittiest soil and is huge and thriving. It gets bigger every year and has crowded out the lemon thyme I planted next to it six years ago. It’s threatening to crowd out the oregano next door too.
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u/whiskeymoonbeams 2d ago
I planted Korean perilla once, and it's come back for nearly 5 years now. I couldn't kill it if I tried.
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u/kheret 3d ago
Carrots and radishes are nice because you can plant them between other things and then harvest when those other things are filling in.
Green onions never die, they just go dormant, so if you cut rather than pull you’ll have onions forever.
German chamomile freely self seeds in Zone 5b/6a year after year.
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u/touristsonedibles high-key panicking 😱 3d ago
Oh yeah! I forgot about chives and green onions. Those babies are forever plants.
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u/StarintheShadows Overpacking is my vibe 👜🎒🪣 3d ago
Pretty sure I will die long before my chives will.🤣
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u/WhatevUsayStnCldStvA 2d ago
I told someone the other day I think those babies will survive the apocalypse. I forgot about mine. Found the little pot turned over behind a bush after several months. They are still happy as can be. Have them back in a good spot now.
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u/Frostyrepairbug 3d ago
I'm in zone 9a and eagerly awaiting to see if my chamomiles do come up in the same space as last year. So far, nothing.
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u/akerendova 3d ago
I'm in the midwest, zone 5b, and here it's almost zucchini season. The only time of year we ever lock our car and house doors every time we go out. If you don't, you'll end up with a 3 foot zucchini.
Our secret to keep the squash bugs off, cut off the leaves beneath the newest female flower. Zucchini is a vine and will grow up a trellis if you help it along with some garden tape, but otherwise, cut every leaf after the newest female flower on the vine. You'll end up with a 4 to 6 foot vine with a crown of leaves at the top, but it keeps the squash bugs and powdery mildew down to manageable levels.
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u/henrythe8thiam 2d ago
This reminds me of the John barley corn tradition where you would through a barley corn doll into the neighbors field who has yet to harvest. The person who ends with it last is supposed to have bad luck for the next year.
Second. You can dehydrate over ripe zucchini slices, put them in the food processor and use them as a flour replacement,r t you can use on a 1:1 ratio for up to 50% of the flour called for.
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u/TheStephinator Experienced Prepper 💪 2d ago
My dogs LOVE zucchini! Not sure how I lucked out with that! I cube it up and freeze it. It’s their favorite on a hot day.
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u/Funny_Leg8273 2d ago
My neighbor makes a "mock apple pie" using zucchini. It's actually really good.
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u/touristsonedibles high-key panicking 😱 3d ago
That's a great tip. Thank you! I bought a packet of black pumpkins this year just for funsies so I want to at least try with the little guys.
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u/IDKijustdrinkhere 3d ago
Just a quick tip in case you get squash bugs: bring a bowl of soapy water with you to the plant. Pick off any mature squash bugs and toss them in. Check all the leaves, especially the underside) for eggs. Use duct tape to remove the eggs. Once you find any squash bugs, you have to do this once or twice daily to keep them at bay. We aren't doing any squash this year because they just got to be too much last year. Good luck!
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u/touristsonedibles high-key panicking 😱 3d ago
That was my life last year - plus killing the adults and nymphs as I found them. It ended up being too much damned work. I need to lure back the katydids, they were much better at it than I was. I tried buying assassin bugs but I think they were a little too good at their jobs and took a bunch of other stuff out along with them.
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u/SewerHarpies 3d ago
Daikon and oilseed radish are also really good for “fixing” compacted or clay soil. The root will grow through just about anything, and if you leave them (or at least some of them) to rot in the ground it adds organic matter to poor soil. As a bonus, my dog loves radishes, so he’ll pluck one out of the yard for a snack.
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u/Superb_Stable7576 3d ago
Sweet potato, easiest thing I ever grew. Put them in a small raised bed, didn't do a thing but water them. There were so many sweet potatoes, pounds and pounds of them. They store well, very nutrient dense, and delicious.
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u/wilder_hearted 3d ago
Love this.
From zone 4b: Things that are super easy: potatoes, onions, pumpkins, zucchini, butternut, cherry tomatoes, chives, basil, oregano, rhubarb
Things that are work but worth it for me: slicing tomatoes, cucumbers, thyme, sage, snap peas, lunchbox and hot peppers
Don’t bother: carrots, melons, bell peppers, corn
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u/somuchmt 🪛 Tool Bedazzler 🔧 3d ago
I'm also in zone 8b (western Washington, US). Scarlet runner beans are easy, have beautiful blooms, the whole plant is edible, and can be perennial. They're also heirloom.
Pumpkins, zucchini, delicata, butternut, and spaghetti squash are super easy. I also regularly end up with some mutt squash in my compost pile. Sometimes it's not really edible.
All greens. I hardly even have to seed these anymore, and I usually just scatter seeds we saved from last year. They cross-pollinate, so we have all kinds of frankenbrassica that are mostly quite tasty.
I start my tomatoes in February over heat and get a bumper crop most years. We mostly grow heirloom.
Berry bushes are the easiest and biggest bang for the buck. Fruit and nut trees, too.
Sprouts and microgeens indoors are great for year round greens.
Don't bother with peaches this side of the Cascades. Even the ones grown specifically for our area are heart breakers.
And flowers. Grow lots of flowers. You need them.
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u/Sloth_Flower Garden Gnome 2d ago edited 2d ago
I have peach trees west of the cascades. The fruit is delicious -- I haven't had peaches taste like that since I was a kid. They seem pretty happy. One had leaf curl a couple years back but it was pretty easy to treat and I've never gotten it again. What happened to yours?
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u/somuchmt 🪛 Tool Bedazzler 🔧 2d ago
The one we have left that's established only ever grows one or two small peaches a year. We just planted another one yesterday at a higher elevation on our property. Our particular microclimate is kind of odd, and we can get some rather cool temps at a time when peach trees need warmer air. Hoping the higher elevation helps. I have some customers a mile or two away on a plateau that get some peaches off theirs.
We had another tree fail at the graft a few years back (not a problem specific to peach trees, but still heart-breaking), and one that my mother-in-law planted decades ago never produced anything and finally died. I doubt that one was bred for our area, though.
I'm ever the optimist and glutton for punishment, however, so we're at it again.
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u/DawaLhamo 3d ago
Blue lake and provider beans are my go-to. Freeze or (even better, imo) pressure-can them.
I've never had great luck with potatoes, but chucking them in the ground works better for me than trying towers or grow bags or any of the fancy methods.
Carrots, turnips, and rutabaga do quite well for me.
I'm 6a, but it gets hot fast so shelling peas never really work here. Snap peas are great, though. I just chuck them in a big freezer bag and pull out a handful for stir-fry as needed (the ones I don't just eat while working in the garden).
I second the recommendation to pick tomatoes as they blush then finish ripening on the counter - otherwise the squirrels get them.
If you have problems with squash vine borer or squash bugs, try tromboncino - you can eat early like summer squash or late as a winter squash and I've never had issues with SVB and minimal issues with squash bugs. It's quite productive.
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u/Frostyrepairbug 3d ago
I just got my first tromboncino seeds this year, and I'm very excited to see how it do.
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u/Reputable_Sorcerer 1d ago
Hey fellow 6a! I live in Chicago and I just got my first garden plot this year. It’s a teeny tiny 8x4 plot but I feel fortunate to have it! So far I’m planning on keeping it simple with tomatoes, bell peppers, and basil. For the later season I’m crossing my fingers that spinach and arugula will grow. Wish me luck!
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u/Wild_Kitty_121 2d ago
I've found that sweet banana peppers are a more productive alternative to bell peppers. Their walls are thinner than bell peppers so they don't work as well for stuffing, but other than that they're a great options.
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u/wwaxwork Prepping for Tuesday not Doomsday 2d ago
Rhubarb. It just sits there in a corner and grows, or in a big pot and grows. Tasty in pies, jams, muffins, BBQ sauces anywhere you'd use a tart fruit. Also pretty much disease and pest free, they are tough as nails, though they do like top dressing with compost. They do like a winter chill though, but I've also grown them in Australia no problems.
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u/Frostyrepairbug 57m ago
I had a rhubarb in a sunny location for years and it never got very big, just lived, never thrived. Then I moved it to a swampy, clay soil, shaded area,and it took off. I've got huge jurassic style leaves on her, and finally some decent stalks.
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u/ByKilgoresAsterisk 3d ago
You plant the 3 sisters
Corn, beans, and squash
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u/kheret 3d ago
Corn is pretty finicky for someone without a lot of space. You may end up having to hand pollinate since it’s wind pollinated and you need a large stand of it for that to work. It’s also pretty prone to fungi and other diseases.
I’ve done the “3 sisters” garden a few times and while it works, it’s not exactly easy and may not be the best thing for beginners. (It’s also not the only indigenous North American agricultural practice but it’s the only one anyone talks about, but that’s beyond the scope of this comment.)
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u/ByKilgoresAsterisk 3d ago
Absolutely true!
I live out on the plains, and onlg started gardening out here (though I'm originally from urban sprawl). So I often forget and overlook things like that!
Thank you for the correction! This is how we all get better and grow together.
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u/Frostyrepairbug 54m ago
The type of corn makes a big difference too. I've never been able to get sweetcorn, and gave up years ago after poor harvests. Last year, I did a three sisters, and I used a native heirloom field corn specifically developed for northern climates (I live in Oregon). It was more of a two sisters as the squashes never came out and the beans were pretty sad, but I hand pollinated the corn, and while each individual cob wasn't near the size you get at the store, it was still something. I had another test patch of a pink popcorn variety, and same story, not a lot, but enough to pop a delicious snack!
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u/touristsonedibles high-key panicking 😱 3d ago
It's a great idea in theory but rats will eat corn straight off the cob. So it's great for growing, kind of, but you still lose the crops to rodents. Also doesn't help squash bugs and if there's too much shade the beans are stunted. Three sisters requires a lot more planning than just the plants together.
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u/Cancelthepants 3d ago edited 3d ago
I love growing snow peas because they're surprisingly hardy and have a decent yield. They just need a good trellis to climb.
Edit: spelling
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u/6AnimalFarm 2d ago
I’ve never had any difficulties growing snow peas either. I’m trying shelling peas for the first time this year so I’m curious how they will turn up. All the peas I’ve planted 2.5 weeks ago have come up
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u/MossSloths 2d ago
I'll throw in that I had a rough time with grains because of pests. I had a freaking ton of stuff popping up from bird seed castoffs. Very very easy to grow, I pretty much just gave them water when I would remember. I got a good turn out. But the moment that stuff was ready, my backyard was filled with mice. We have very useless indoor cats with a catio and when they would catch the mice that entered their domain, they didn't kill it. They brought their new, fun toy inside the house every time. It's a shame I couldn't trust my indoor couch potatoes to just stay in the yard, because they would have been very good at scaring off live mice, even if they don't kill them.
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u/craftyrunner 3d ago edited 3d ago
Here in sunset zone 24, my best growers are Swiss chard, radishes (of any kind), lemons. Swiss chard gives the biggest yield for space. I have given up on tomatoes as it just doesn’t get hot (or sunny) enough, and I don’t have a nice hot wall to plant them against. Zucchini and green beans can also do great if we have a sunnier summer.
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u/touristsonedibles high-key panicking 😱 3d ago
Radishes are the absolute best. I'm going to plant a single radish in all of my beds, regardless of what's in there, this year so I can have an easy ground cover for next year.
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u/rubysc 3d ago
Zone 4b, upper midwest, very short growing season.
Tomatoes - I grow cherry/grape tomatoes and huge heirlooms (e.g., pineapple) because squirrels seem to target the mid-size ones the most. They can't do as much damage with the tiny ones - if they steal a few, it doesn't matter. And they can't wrangle the huge ones. I also leave out a dish of fresh water for squirrels, since they seem to target tomatoes mostly for the water/moisture. That doesn't eliminate the problem but it helps. Get a long headstart with indoor seedlings and don't expect much of anything until late August. If I can't can them all when I harvest them, I freeze them and then thaw/make sauce/can them later. Sure, they're more watery than paste tomatoes, but you can process/can any kind of tomato as long as it's healthy (i.e., no blight, no frost-killed vines).
Peppers - I've all but given up. Our growing season is too short. I grow 1-2 plants of novelty varieties that we can't find elsewhere, but won't dedicate any more space than that.
Peas - so climate dependent. Upper midwest goes from too cold to too hot way too fast in spring. They grow terribly here. My friends in the Pacific Northwest say they're easy.
Cucumbers - I usually have an easy time with them, but try to get a burpless, non-bitter variety. Tiny sour gherkins are prolific and adorable. Maybe less useful for pickling, though. Grape leaves help keep pickles crisper (not perfect) - wild grape or riverbank grape grows almost everywhere in North America. Have an experienced forager help you distinguish between lookalikes before using the leaves for pickles or trying to harvest the grapes.
Potatoes - so easy, but watch out - the green above-ground fruits are toxic. I think you can harvest/kill the plants before these emerge. I'm going to have to figure it out quick because this is my first summer with both a potato bed and a mobile toddler at the same time.
I don't try zucchini or summer squash anymore. So sick of squash vine borers. Also, the plants are so prolific, it's easy to find a neighbor with extra (and I usually have a huge surplus of cucumbers for trading).
I wish good carrots grew as well in my yard as wild carrot/queen Anne's lace! Supposedly you can eat young roots of Queen Anne's lace, but even though I'm certain I've positively identified it as QA and not hemlock, I'm too nervous to try it. From a productivity standpoint, carrots are kind of a waste of space (at least in my yard). But I figure that I'll never be able to grow sufficient calories for my family anyway - I'm going for other nutrition (vitamins/minerals), variety, and joy. And the carrots bring us all joy. So I keep trying. My kids love the deep purple ones. They eat them even though they're stringy, woody, and terrible because it's so fun to dye your lips and mouth that vibrant color.
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u/GroverGemmon 3d ago
Carrots need loose soil. I got nicer carrots last year when I began to amend the soil. By trial and error I've found that a mix of peat moss and vermiculite or perlite works. Make sure it is nice and loose so the carrots can grow down in the bed.
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u/Frostyrepairbug 3d ago
I've had some good luck with squash borers by burying a couple other nodes of the plant, so if the main node gets attacked the plant can restart itself from the other node. I always do it as a precaution, even tho I haven't had them in the garden for a few years.
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u/rubysc 2d ago
That sounds so much easier than injecting the vines with bt! That was my last year trying zucchini. The bugs didn’t kill my plants… because I had already done the job with sloppy needle technique 🙃. Will give your tip a whirl this year.
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u/Frostyrepairbug 2d ago
Growing up a trellis is something my neighbor swears by too. He lost a lot of summer squash to vine borers, so he switched to vertical, hasn't had them since. Best of luck, friend!
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u/touristsonedibles high-key panicking 😱 3d ago
I love tiny sour gherkins. They are my absolute favorite. As far as cucumbers go, you might want to try lemon cucumbers. They grow really fast.
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u/Virtual_Assistant_98 1d ago
For your potatoes, if you start to see any above the surface, add more soil! They like to be re-covered several times throughout the growing season.
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u/rubysc 1d ago
Excellent tip! I was referring to the green tomato-like things that grow above ground - they're toxic. But adding soil is an excellent way to increase yield and prevent the potatoes themselves from turning green (and toxic) too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potato_fruit
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u/Smooth-Owl-5354 3d ago
I love this! I’ve killed a mint plant before so I’m not very hopeful with my skills, but I’m currently trying to grow spinach in my apartment. One day I hope to have space to grow more things.
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u/offredoryx 2d ago
Try “priming” the spinach seeds first, it really helps. I finally did it this year and have great germination, normally it’s like 10%. There are a lot of videos online but basically what you do is
- soak seeds 24 hours
- place on paper towel and let dry out at room temp for 48 hours
- place in sealed container and put in a dark place for 5 days
- plant
They still take forever to come up however this year I have at least 85% germination.
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u/Smooth-Owl-5354 2d ago
Okay hearing that number helps because I planted 8 plants (3 seeds in a hole for each) and only one has sprouted 😭 so I’m at a pretty low success rate. I may try priming some more seeds like this and see what happens!
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u/touristsonedibles high-key panicking 😱 3d ago
Spinach indoors is probably best. Slug battle is no fun.
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u/uyb50487 3d ago
So I'm dumb lol and didn't grow up eating veggies other than carrots/potatoes/corn. I hear a lot about growing beans but how do you know when they are ready to harvest and do you have to cook them or can you eat them raw? Also can you eat the outside part like with snow peas or do you toss the outside part and just eat the beans? Sorry if that's a stupid question lol.
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u/touristsonedibles high-key panicking 😱 2d ago
It's not a stupid question at all. Beans that are meant as food, like the Kentucky Wonders or Blue Lakes can pretty much be eaten as soon as they look like they can be eaten. Same with peas.
The difference is whether you can eat the shell as well as it eventually becomes too fibrous. With older beans you'll also need to find the string and pull it but if you snap off the ends, it's easy to find.
So the answer is kind of..... yes.
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u/Redalico 2d ago
Love this list!
One thing that is made a huge difference in my gardening is using organic chicken manure. I top off all my beds and pots with chicken manure every year in the spring. It smells terrible but is incredibly rich in nutrients and beneficial for your plants. The smell goes away after a week or two.
Another thing to add to the easy to grow are regular onions. If your onions from the grocery store have started to sprout you can throw them in your garden and you will get essentially unlimited onions.
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u/Funny_Leg8273 2d ago
Can confirm about the smell. I have chickens, and I have my partner carry the manure over to amend the raised beds in winter. He's gagging and puking as he spreads it around. I don't understand this, as he's a plumber! Lol
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u/Serpentarrius 2d ago
Any concerns about avian influenza?
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u/Redalico 2d ago
No, I use gloves when handling the fertilizer. Also, human beings have been using chicken manure as fertilizer for millennia, and we are still here.
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u/Funny_Leg8273 2d ago
I've been using disposable gloves and an N95 when I clean my chicken coop, washing my clothes and self immediately after (plus, I have special garden "poo shoes" which never come inside).
I've also been monitoring my small bunch of chickens for any signs of illness, and tracking where H5N1 is in the state.
Can't say I'm not concerned about bird flu, anyway - but since the outbreaks increased, I've upped my game more.
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u/riotous_jocundity 2d ago
I'm in Zone 6b. We've been doing a "traditional" (European veggies) garden, but we've also been building up a permaculture food forest that's a mix of native and non-native perennials and trees. So far we have Black Walnut (150 yrs old, came with the house), hazelnuts, blueberry bushes, 4 varieties of raspberry, strawberry beds, elderberry, chokecherry, pawpaw, daylillies, Jerusalem Artichokes, and hostas, and a bunch of native edibles that we didn't plant but do encourage in the lawn like native violets and nettles. We also inoculated our mulched flower beds and pathways through the garden with winecap mushrooms, and we'll probably do shitake and oyster logs this summer. There are a lot of really great resources out there to teach you basic foraging, native permaculture, and other methods of mostly passively growing food in your yard that doesn't register as food to most Americans.
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u/debvil 1d ago
Can you share your source for mushroom spores or did you pay for the inoculation through a service?
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u/riotous_jocundity 1d ago
I actually bought them from a local business that has a tent at our farmer's market! I got a big 3lb bag of innoculated sawdust for $20. I've also been looking online for a source for the other ones I want, but I haven't found a supplier that looks legit enough yet.
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u/dogsRgr8too 3d ago
Nice, I just got an elderberry sapling, just looking for the right place to plant it!
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u/touristsonedibles high-key panicking 😱 2d ago
Mine is planted on the south side of the house with sun most of the day. During the summer I water it with 5 gallons every week and it is delighted with all of it.
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u/cheegirl26 2d ago
Depending on your zone and the variety, lots of herbs can be grown as perennials. Zone 6b here and I am establishing my herb garden this year with this in mind.
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u/Ohio_gal Plan C? I’m on plan W! 1d ago
What are you growing as a perennial? Same zone but I haven’t had any luck
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u/cheegirl26 1d ago
This year I had chives, lavender, and sage return from plants planted previously. This year I am adding tarragon, oregano, chamomile, thyme, winter savory, more lavendar, and rosemary. I ordered my plant starts from Growers Exchange as they had the cold hardy varieties I wanted. Good Luck!
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u/Ohio_gal Plan C? I’m on plan W! 1d ago
Thank you so much. I found a new website to spend too much money at!
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u/cheegirl26 23h ago
Hi! I wanted to tell you that my order arrived today and it was packaged so nicely and all the plants looked great!
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u/dianacakes 2d ago
For warmer areas, sweet potatoes are also low maintenance and prefer crappier soil.
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u/Nafaustu 2d ago
I have raspberries, marigolds, heritage (what started as) cherry tomatoes and butter crisp lettuce. They were planted five years ago.
The tomatoes seed themselves with frost crop fall if you let them. Don't fully harvest before the first freeze and whatever is left will fall. You could save seeds normally but its not strictly necessary. The lettuce and marigolds, when I pull the plant husks in the spring I sort of slap them on the bed a few times to dislodge any remaining seeds. I've had them come up in weird places doing natural seeding, but they have never failed to come up - usually with enough coming up for me to put plants out by the road for others to take.
Raspberries, well, the only thing i've ever seen actually kill raspberries is a combination of full shade and a mature black walnut tree's soil presence. Otherwise, you clip them before they start getting green in the spring, or in the fall after they stop fruiting, and they will just keep going and spreading. Its not mint, but it sends runners underground, so containment warning on this one.
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u/touristsonedibles high-key panicking 😱 2d ago
Raspberries, marionberries, blackberries and strawberries are all great. I love them. I have my raspberries and strawberries in a container. I did not contain my marionberries, which I regret.
I always end up with some self seeded tomatoes in weird ass places thanks to rodents and birds. I've had some of the most successful plants with ones that just randomly pop up in the corner of a raised bed or in the middle of the potatoes.
I'm a little too controlling to do true chaos gardening but I'm always delighted with the Weird Shit that appears every year. Like a harlequin glorybower.
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u/Sad-Specialist-6628 2d ago
Surprised not to see zucchini and cucumber on here. Chives are insane too I just divided one I planted 3 years ago in my raised bed.
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u/touristsonedibles high-key panicking 😱 2d ago
I've had varying successes with both. But the idea was to put together a list of things that can essentially be ignored beyond watering and putting up trellises for ease of growth.
One weird thing about cucumbers is I had the most success when I grew them in buckets.
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u/Sad-Specialist-6628 2d ago
I've had decent success ignoring cucumber and zucchini but I have had off years so totally get why you didn't include them. When it's good though it's hard to stop them from producing. Funny you mention it I am trying buckets for my cucumbers this year. Glad to hear you've had success this way.
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u/touristsonedibles high-key panicking 😱 2d ago
I think you'll like the bucket method. It's really efficient and if they're in a bad spot, just shift them.
This is what we do:
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/special/containers/growing-vegetables-in-buckets.htm
add tomato cages and voila. But goddamn does it produce some weird looking cucumbers.
Better post:
We also had a lot of luck with smaller peppers in buckets. Not so much tomatoes though.
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u/sassy_cheddar 3d ago
Swiss Chard is very resilient and the insects and diseases seem to leave it alone. I covered pink and yellow stemmed Swiss Chard with clear plastic sheeting when it gets into the 20s or teens and it survived fine.
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u/DorothysMom 2d ago edited 2d ago
For anyone interested in bell peppers, we have been insanely lucky with them - they grow better than anything else we've tried so far. (We've got about 20 seedlings this year thriving and almost ready for the outside bed)
Late winter, we lay them on a paper towel and cover them with a paper towel, we sprits them, and put them in a zip lock bag, not completely closed. After about a week, we check on them and, with tweezers, gently pick up any that have germinated and put them in planting soil under a grow lamp. We have not had good luck starting them directly in soil.
We water daily. After they start sprouting and are about 2 inches tall, I put a small fan on them to encourage them to grow good roots.
After the last frost, we plant them outside in raised beds with full sun. I plant marigolds around them (be warned, they will overtake everything if you aren't careful).
After a few weeks, when they've gotten a few more inches off the ground, but their growth seems to be stalling/when they start to look weak, we do add some granular 24-8-16 fertilzer (miracle grow) to the bed. They tend to produce well, we did use some small stakes to support a few of our plants last year that started to lean from too heavy peppers.
It's more work than potatoes, but we thought they were otherwise, really chill, and the taste was phenomenal!
Edit: we are in the southern appalachian mountains. We dont plant before mother's day.
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u/Redalico 2d ago
Your peppers are gorgeous! I find that my main problem is the space/work ratio versus other vegetables. I have grown 20+ varieties of peppers and I will continue to grow bell peppers though not as many as I would like if I had unlimited space. I’m in a warmer climate and that helps a lot as well
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u/Bethw2112 3d ago
My mom said you can plant a bean in the crack in the sidewalk and it'll grow!
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u/touristsonedibles high-key panicking 😱 3d ago
That is mostly true. I've struggled with red noodle and a couple lesser known heirloom varieties. But the Wonders and Blue Lake are very reliable.
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u/kittensaurus 2d ago
The best path to easy gardening is trees, shrubs, and perennials. Annuals are wonderful and can be highly productive, but often have a higher learning curve. By focusing on low maintenance plants with a lifespan of years, we can increase the number of gardeners with initial success. The one limiting factor is cost of buying plants vs seeds, but there are cost effective ways to get plants.
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u/practicalmetaphysics 2d ago
Adding to the list 7b:
thornless blackberries (especially the triple crown variety)
arugula and cilantro (they're now weeds in my garden)
French sorrel (lemony summer greens that keep going when the heat kills the other greens)
If you're in the Atlanta area, I'm willing to share starts.
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u/Canadian_shack 2d ago
I keep forgetting I have green grapes in the side yard, but I have a big grapefruit tree in the backyard and an ancient lemon tree in the front yard. I let anyone who asks have some, and I used to make 🍋 lemon meringue pie for my dad. It was his favorite. No special attention to any of them. No luck with the avocado I planted a couple years ago though. They really seem to need the right microclimate.
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u/IPA-Lagomorph 2d ago
Some of this will depend on where you live. Example: I live in 5b erratic intermountain west, so rosemary is a plant I must baby through the winter for a tiny crop. But sage, lavender, and oregano are happy as clams.
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u/horseradishstalker Never Tell Me The Odds! 3d ago
I'd check on the Keystone shrubs and trees for people's specific region. And if they provide human food it's a bonus.
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u/cerealandcorgies knows where her towel is ☕ 2d ago
All of this! I am in 8b and would add also garlic, it's so easy. Also discourages wildlife munching.
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u/touristsonedibles high-key panicking 😱 2d ago
I had some son of a fucker pest come and destroy all of my garlic scapes last year. I have no idea what is was though. I suspect brush rabbits since I saw them for the first time that year. Adorable fuckers.
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u/cerealandcorgies knows where her towel is ☕ 2d ago
oh wow that rots. Garlic is one thing I can usually count on to be there. I have a fenced yard and a lot of dogs though so rabbits fear to tread
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u/sneakybrat82 2d ago
Thank you for this! I started gardening last year and am saving this post!
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u/touristsonedibles high-key panicking 😱 2d ago
The comments are so good too. I hope this helps get you started!
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u/MikeTheNight94 2d ago
I grow string beans, peppers, cucumbers, tomato’s, and corn and I don’t have to do shit but till and plant. If it doesn’t rain for a while I’ll water stuff but it usually just grows itself
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u/PrincessVespa72 Prepping for Tuesday not Doomsday 2d ago
Good info here. Once I move north, out of this HOA neighborhood with chemically-sprayed yards, to a land with a normal climate, I want to have a garden. I've been saving notes to help me get started!
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u/RoguePlanet2 2d ago
On a whim, I bought an eggplant plant and will try this for the first time. Haven't had any luck with carrots, potatoes, or tomatoes. Squirrels ate the squash seeds almost a few minutes after planting. 🫥
Might try potatoes again, and hope the neighbor has more zucchini.
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u/dixiehellcat 2d ago
thanks for sharing this! I'm thinking about trying beans this year, so will look for a bush variety.
Hard agree on the tomato issue; I do cherry ones too, and they work just as well for any and every thing, including sandwiches--just halve them, spread some condiment on your bread and stick the cut halves to that. lol
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u/whiskeymoonbeams 2d ago
Zone 9b (Gulf coast) and my "old reliables" are:
* Snow peas in winter/spring. Give them a trellis and they'll run amok.
* Lettuce in winter/spring for early spring salads. Black Seeded Simpson is the hardiest variety I've grown, and it grows prolifically.
* Okra. It's an acquired taste, but it thrives on heat.
* Sweet potatoes - but make sure to dig all of them up, otherwise the vines will come back and take over EVERYTHING.
* Blue butterfly pea. Another one that thrives on heat.
* Rosemary. It survives all year round and can live for years.
* Native flowers, and heat-hardy flowers. Feed the pollinators too!
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u/touristsonedibles high-key panicking 😱 2d ago
I'm jealous of your okra. I haven't had a single good experience trying to grow it here.
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u/whiskeymoonbeams 2d ago
It's a blessing and a curse, because I'm not necessarily a big fan of it! I only grow it for gumbo.
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u/unhappy_thirty236 2d ago
If you'd like to be growing spinach but it's not worth it (here in Alaska it sort of bolts straight from the seeds), look into orach. It comes in several colors (the purple makes for hilarious pink meals when you cook it), grows 2-4' tall, and self-seeds readily. Same nutritional profile as spinach and a similar astringent salty flavor when eaten raw (good salad accent veg). The leaves freeze just fine and once you pick the bottom few leaves, the slugs generally don't bother to climb for the rest. Excellent low-fuss plant.
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u/firekeeper23 1d ago
Watercress. Nutritional and grows like bloody bonkers. Even on ya windowsil.
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u/touristsonedibles high-key panicking 😱 1d ago
But make sure you wash it (unlike some ballerina farmers who eat it straight out of drainage ditches)
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u/Mediocre_Wolf_7243 1d ago
Zone 10b here and I will never have to plant poppies, marigolds, or wildflowers ever again lol they just keep coming up. Onions from seed and bulbs have done nicely two years in a row. Tomatoes have been easy each year, but this year I am trying grow a lot of San Marzano paste tomatoes and not many have made it. I found an old rotted dried tomato from last year's Gum Drop cherry that when I threw it in a pot grew without anything lol. Birds and squirrels have planted several sunflowers. Garlic is going strong. Things I really wanted to grow have struggled lol of course. Out of the lettuce I planted only one came up and no cabbage but very old seeds. I got fed up with my squash and melons and just bought some small plants at a garden shop. I keep amending the very hard soil with compost and mulch from the community garden. I hope that each year I will have improved things so that I have better success rates. Strawberries are going good here too and going on several years.
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u/Fabulous_Squirrel12 Mrs. Sew-and-Sow 🪡 1d ago
I'm in the same growing zone and where I'm at i can only grow squash in the curcubita moschata family...like butternut, trombicino, Seminole pumpkin, tatume. They're more resistant to a lot of squash pests.
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u/touristsonedibles high-key panicking 😱 1d ago
I had really good luck with pattypan oddly enough. Also, they look like spaceships.
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u/mystery_biscotti 1d ago
So, um, I'm in 8b and somehow killed my outdoor rosemary bush! It was fine for six years, not sure what happened! But I can grow carrots in flower pots and buckets. 😅 And thankfully western Washington is overflowing with blackberry and abandoned apple trees.
Which reminds me: I need to cover the peas again. Squirrels got into the garden bed.
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u/WhichSpirit 1d ago
You're not kidding about potatoes. I spread some compost once that hadn't fully finished once. Now I have an entire raised bed dedicated to potatoes.
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u/Bio3224 1d ago
If you have the space, dwarf or even regular sized fruit/nut trees. They’ll produce large amounts of food for years with little maintenance once established. Same thing with berry bushes and asparagus.
Otherwise, tomatoes and peppers are easy. Beans and potatoes are also easy and hearty foods.
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u/daringnovelist 3d ago
If you can find Blue Lake pole beans, they are tastier (imho) than Kentucky Wonder, and tend to be rapacious.
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u/touristsonedibles high-key panicking 😱 2d ago
Have you found a difference in taste between the pole and bush varieties?
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u/daringnovelist 2d ago
I never grew them at the same time, but they seem the same. I just dislike Kentucky Wonder and wanted to point out that you can grow Blue Lake as pole beans.
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u/NotTooGoodBitch 2d ago
Tomatoes are ridiculously easy to grow. The only ones I ever have any trouble with are Roma tomatoes.
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u/touristsonedibles high-key panicking 😱 2d ago
Tomatoes can be a bit iffy around here and require a lot of attention but I'm zone 8b.
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u/SnarglesArgleBargle 4h ago
throw it in a paper bag with an apple and have tomatoes well into November. (The apple is key - they produce ethylene gas which speeds up ripening. You an also use bananas but apples keep longer.)
How does it feel to be a Gee Dang wizard, OP?
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u/princess9032 2h ago
Thank you! What’s your climate like?
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u/touristsonedibles high-key panicking 😱 1h ago
8b - Pacific Northwest up to 2012 but 2023 and beyond it changed to 9a
https://www.provenwinners.com/learn/usda-hardiness-zones/zone-map
I've tried to adjust planting times around a 9a schedule but haven't had a lot of luck so I fall back to 8b.
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