5 easy things to grow in the garden

What are 5 easy things to grow in the garden?

Most people who want to start planting a garden but haven’t had one before need somewhere to start. Furthermore I guess the question you need to ask yourself is “What do you want to grow?” and an even better question “What are some easy things to grow in the garden?”. Perhaps you want to grow flowers to brighten the place up, or perhaps it’s vegetables so you can eat your rewards once they have come to fruition. I have heard many people say “I just don’t know where to begin” and “I don’t know how to garden”. Seriously.

1. Tomatoes are a great plant to start with in the veggie garden

To start with one of the easiest and most common things to grow in the vegetable garden is tomatoes. Tomatoes require the basics: soil, sun and water. You can give your tomato plants nutrients such as a seaweed fertilizer, but beware not to overfeed them or you can have long, leggy plants with lots of foliage and not lots of fruit. A great variety to start with is cherry tomatoes, because you can have lots of little tomatoes and once they start to ripen you have a good cycle of fruit.

2. Sunflowers are a big, bright and easy plant to grow

Sunflowers are another rewarding plant that is fairly easy to grow. Come Spring and Summer I always plant a handful of sunflower seeds. A real favourite with the kids, probably because the have such large, magnificent flowers that truly are spectacular to watch in full bloom. The bees seem to love them too and are happy buzzing around, which is another great reason to plant sunflowers. If you want to collect seeds from the flowers after blooming, beware that sunflowers are a favourite of birds as well, for their big tasty seeds. Either put a net over them or keep a watchful eye on spent flower heads, and as soon as they have dried enough (usually all the petals have fallen off) harvest the flowers and in turn seeds, ready to plant for next season.

3. Mint is a really hardy plant that just loves water

You can easily take cuttings from a mint plant and stick it in a pot and it will simply just grow. Of course you will need to water mint and make sure you put it in dappled sunlight. Don’t put mint in direct sun or there is a chance it will fry. One of the great things is you can never really over water mint. For those of us who love to stand and water the garden, mint just can’t get enough. I love the smell of fresh mint, it goes great in a potato salad or equally in a mojito.

4. Agave plants are a great structural plant

Agave plants are native to the hot and arid regions of Mexico and the Southwestern United States. In my experience I have found them extremely easy to grow and tolerant to all types of conditions, including full sun to shade in most soil types. Sometimes I forget to water them – not fazed. Sometimes I over water them – not fazed. Agave plants can grow really big and really anchor a garden. I have seen some with a giant flower spike but apparently they can take anywhere from 5 to 40 years to do this. I haven’t had one flower myself and I have had agaves for at least 5 years now (maybe they’re about due to flower – exciting!)

5. Geraniums come in so many colours and varieties

Another plant that is so easy to grow is the geranium. Growing up I considered them “an old person’s plant”, probably because I had only ever noticed them in old people’s gardens. Again you can easily grow geraniums from a cutting. They are very tolerant of all types of conditions as well. Geraniums will spread quite easily and the reward is the multitude of blooms you will receive. I have a variety of different geraniums growing and each one I like for it’s individual characteristics and colours.

This has been a very basic introduction to some easy things to grow in the garden and I hope to expand on each plant further in time. There are a lot of plants that are relatively easy to grow in the garden and equally rewarding.