Nothing compares to the simple joy of harvesting vegetables directly from your home garden. Though maintaining them may require effort from time to time, the process doesn’t have to be as laborious as it appears when especially when you love doing it. By planting the right seeds at the perfect time, some garden veggies can pretty much grow by themselves.
Growing your vegetable garden is an excellent way of saving money and, at the same time, helping the environment. You can now choose organic produce for yourself without having to rely so much on supermarkets. To know what kind of vegetables to grow in your home garden, check the list below and learn some essential tips on maintaining them:
Nasturtiums
Nasturtiums are known for their fresh, peppery taste when served on a dinner plate. They also bring color and beauty to your dining table arrangement. Growing one in your home garden is a must! They are one of the easiest to grow edible tubers around South America. And when nasturtium flowers grow as a vine, they can altogether survive under poor conditions.
Broccoli
Like the vegetable’s bright green color, broccoli is known for its grassy flavor with a bit of a bitter aftertaste. Though its mild flavor may taste bland for some, broccoli is still one of the most versatile vegetables in the kitchen. It’s up to you how to turn it into an appealing dish on the dinner table.
When growing broccoli in your home garden, it is best to plant them early in the spring for a bountiful summer harvest. You also have to be wary of cabbage worms lurking around them; larvae of white butterflies love devouring on healthy cabbage heads. When you see one in your newly planted broccoli, you can just pick them off yourself.
Tomatoes
Organically produced tomatoes are the reason why most people started getting into home gardening in the first place. Tomatoes are regulars in the kitchen; with their sweet and tangy flavor, it may be impossible to find someone who doesn’t like them.
They may be known for being a fussy fruit in the garden but growing one on your own is guaranteed to be hassle-free. Tomatoes thrive well in warm to hot weather. But it will help if you watch out for unexpected cold spells; this may bring real damage to your homegrown tomatoes.
Bell Peppers
Bell peppers are popular for their sweet and mild flavor. They are available in different colors with distinct tastes. Red peppers are a bit more flavorful than the orange ones, while green peppers are famous for their grassy taste. Bell peppers, in general, have thicker flesh that is juicy and crunchy when served. They are often eaten raw, roasted, stuffed, or sauteed.
When planting bell peppers in your home garden, you need to plan for a long growing season carefully. They might be fussy at first, but bell peppers will eventually tame themselves once placed in the ground. But you need to watch out for insect pests that mainly attack peppers like flea beetles and aphids. You can control them using insecticidal soap.
Kale
A close relative of broccoli and cabbage, kales are leafy green vegetables with a strong, earthy taste. They can grow well under cool weather conditions and should be directly planted in garden soil as a seed.
Though kales can endure frost, where the flavors of their leaves are enhanced, they don’t thrive well under the summer heat. This can make the plant bitter, rendering itself less flavorful at the dinner table. During harvest season, you can just cut up the amount you only need and leave them to regrow.
Beets
Gardeners can get two for the price of one when growing beets: its greens and roots. They may taste a little bitter and earthy alone, but beets can be the best dish at the dinner table when paired with fresh and sweet flavors.
When growing them in your home garden, you should know that a beet seed is made up of seed clusters. It will be best if you thin the seedlings per cluster when they start sprouting. During harvest, they are best harvested small, around one to two inches across. This is when beets are at their sweetest. On the contrary, large beets can taste woody and less flavorful.
Carrots
Who doesn’t know carrots? Everyone likes carrots! With their sweet and fruity flavor, they are also regular in the kitchen. Growing one in your home garden can be a simple and straightforward process, as long as you’re up to a bit of a guessing game during harvest season.
When planting carrots, there are some rules you need to remember: cool weather, loose soil, and lots of water. After they are well-established in the soil, you may add mulch on top of it to conserve moisture. You will know if it’s already time for harvest when its roots start to rise, and the carrot tops are becoming more visible.
Takeaway
Growing your vegetable garden at home can really be fulfilling, especially when harvest season comes. You may add the list of vegetables suggested above to your collection and serve your loved ones the best produce in town!
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