Grow These Four Prolific Veggies!
If your garden plans look a little different this spring—maybe your arms are full with a newborn baby, or you’re adjusting to a temporary growing space at your rental home—and you’re not sure what your garden season will hold...
Let me give you this encouragement, you can still grow nourishing food for your family.
These are the four crops I’d choose to grow to make the most of your time, space, and energy.
1. Greens
2. Cherry Tomatoes
3. Summer Squash
4. Bush Beans
That’s it. And if that’s all you grow. Know that you will still be providing an abundance of healthy food for your family!
1. Greens
Greens, such as lettuce, kale, spinach and chard produce abundantly over a long season and offer a wide variety of flavors and types.
Many greens can be harvested over and over again for a long growing season by frequently harvesting the outer leaves.
You can grow a large amount of greens and a very small space. Greens grow well in containers, small garden plots, part shade and even in pots on balconies.
Greens are extremely versatile and can be used for salads, green smoothies, pizza toppings mixed with scrambled eggs and so much more. They also pack nutrition!
Most greens have very few pests and diseases and can thrive with just a little bit of care.
For best texture and freshness, soak your greens in cold water for 10-15 minutes after harvesting and buy yourself a lettuce spinner to dry the greens!
Transplant or direct sow greens from early spring to fall (we offer organically grown greens at our greenhouse for easy transplanting!)
Some of my favorite varieties:
· Heirloom Lettuce Mix
· Rainbow Chard
· Bloomsdale Spinach
· Lacinato Kale
2. Cherry tomatoes
Cherry tomatoes are by far the most prolific type of tomato you can grow. While they do take time to mature, once they start producing, they will often ripen faster than you can harvest and provide more tomatoes than you can eat on just one plant! Hundreds!
They offer a sweet summer snack and once you kids realize how good a ‘real’ tomato tastes they will be begging for tomato snacks!
They are also great on salads, toast, pasta salad, sandwiches, omelets, and more.
Start tomatoes indoors or purchase seedlings. Transplant after all danger of frost has passed (in Centre County, PA our average last frost date is May 15).
Some of my favorite varieties:
· Matt’s Wild Cherry (will need a trellis, but extremely prolific)
· Sunrise Bumblebee (will need a trellis, but extremely prolific)
· Cherry Falls (Dwarf, does not typically need a trellis, can be grown in a container)
· Geranium Kiss (Dwarf, does not typically need a trellis, can be grown in a container)
· Tiny Tim (Extra Dwarf, does not need a trellis, can be grown in a container)
One last note is the cost effectiveness of growing your own cherry tomatoes. One little container of organic cherry tomatoes at Wegmans is usually $7. Cherry tomato plants, organically grown at our greenhouse, are $5 and you can harvest hundreds of cherry tomatoes from one plant!
When you spend time growing seedlings, or money buying them from a local greenhouse, the last thing you want to do is accidentally kill them… so click here to get my guide “How to NOT Kill Your Garden Plants!”
3. Summer Squash
While summer squash (also known as Zucchini) does take up a bit of space, it is extremely prolific can be enjoyed in a multitude of recipes, so I find it worth the extra space
Summer squash recipes include sweet and savory options from well-known zucchini bread to other options like zucchini salad, zoodles, zucchini pizza and more. There are so many beautiful and nutritious options along with the occasional sweet treat.
If you’ve struggled to enjoy eating summer squash in the past, I recommend giving it one more try with this trick; harvest the squash extremely young (when they are only 5 to 6 inches long and no bigger than 1 inch diameter). The texture and flavor at this stage of growth is so much better than waiting until there are the size of a baseball bat!
If you have known pest problems like cucumber beetles or squash bugs, transplanting can give the plants a head start. Also consider using row covers until the plants are well established.
Transplant or direct sow after all danger of frost. If you choose to transplant, be careful not to disturbed the roots while transplanting.
Some of my favorite varieties:
· Black Beauty
· Golden Zucchini
· Grey Zucchini
4. Bush beans
Bush beans provide an abundance of beans in a small space, have very few pests and are very low-maintenance (they also improve your garden soil!).
Begin harvesting beans as soon as the bean pods start to firm up. Continue harvesting frequently to encourage more growth. The more frequently you harvest the more beans the bush will produce!
For best texture and flavor harvest the bean pods before you see the beans starting to form (they will look like lumps in the pod) and soak them in cold water for 10-15 minutes after harvesting. This will give you a crunchy and fresh bean!
Direct sow in warm soil (anytime from June through July is great in Central Pennsylvania)
Some of my favorite varieties:
· Calima
· Jade
· Provider
I hope that you enjoy an abundance of food from your garden this season!
I cannot wait to visit with you at our greenhouse, I’d love to help you choose plants and find joy in growing your garden, whatever this season holds for you!
