Now that I have a house with a decent sized yard, my girlfriend wants to try her hand at gardening vegetables.
Gonna make about 80 sqft of raised garden beds.
Whats some easy shit for beginners to grow?
I'd like to do lettuce, radishes, potatoes, white onions, green onion, carrots.
@Drivesaitl You might be the posters brain I need to pick about this, me and the girlfriend both love garden salads for sides during the summer.
Everything you mentioned is easy to grow. For beginners to get started try seed tape rather than seed. Sold in the same packets but the seeds are glued to this paper tape that you just spread out. You can break the tape anywhere to the exact length of your rows.
For Carrots I like Nantes as they have uniform size and grow well here.
Lettuce, do anything but head lettuce. Any leaf lettuce will do well here. Again seed tape works fine.
Green onions are criminally easy. Just plant them in containers or on edges of garden beds. I say that because you want them to have less water and not get waterlogged. Canadian Tire has packs of 100 onion sets (yellow are decent) for 3.50 right now. Take or pinch off some of the green stalks as green onions while allowing enough left to continue to grow and feed the Onion which you will harvest in August or Sept. Plant all 100 of them. You'll use them. Just take each onion set in your hand and push it in soil to plant.
Try your hand as well at Swiss Chard. Its better than Spinach or Kake. Can be used as spinach type salad or to make cooked spinach. Swiss chard is like a wonder vegetable. So good for you and it grows well here and you can still harvest this stuff in October or November. I've taken some in after its snowed. Its amazingly resilient.
Plant a row of red beets if you like them at all. Its such a good beginner crop. They grow so easily.
Potatoes, I find it easier to just plant them in big containers. Have to be dark containers so no sun gets through the tubers and you have to add soil as summer goes on to make more room for more potatoes. Plant them 6inches deep. Drill holes in the container bottom so that its well drained.
Most seeding of other stuff above is as little as 1inch deep. I do that to keep birds eating the seeds. When doing rows make them about 4 inches deep with a hoe, then after planting that row tamp it down with the hoe all along. They say row separation of 18inches.
Make sure your garden plots are well dug (I dig twice throwing compost or something in on second dig and well leveled for watering. When garden is seated do light spray of water for the 1-2week period of germination. Do not use too much water, but don't let it all get too dry either. Light spray only until plants are sprouting out.
Have fun, and enjoy some gardening and always having produce right out back.
