There is no better satisfaction than growing, harvesting and eating your own vegetables, and you don’t need a green thumb to be successful at it.  Apart from being super fresh, they also taste much better.  To get started, all you need is a couple of pots or a patch of soil and you can make a contribution to your family’s five-a-day portions of fruit and vegetables.

Whether you’re a gardening novice or just want to start a vegetable garden with the least amount of time and effort, here are some of the most popular (and easiest) vegetables to grow for a delicious supply of fresh produce.

Courgettes
Courgettes, or Zucchini as it’s known in other parts of the world, can be planted in May after the late frosts.  Some varieties are perfect for patio containers – keep them well watered and pick the fruit regularly.  For a fantastic summer crop try Courgette F1. The flowers can also be eaten and taste great when stuffed and fried.

Tomatoes
Supermarket tomatoes are expensive and are often tasteless.  However, they are very easy to grow at home.  We sell lots of varieties of tomatoes at Coolings that produce reliable, heavy crops with lots of flavour which you wouldn’t find from a Supermarket tomato!

Beetroot
For an easy to grow root vegetable try beetroot.  Often used in salads but are also delicious when cooked or pickled.  Their leaves can also be cooked and enjoyed in the same way as spinach.  Beetroot can be sown directly into the ground from March to July.  As they grow, thin the seedlings to about 5cm apart.  You can look forward to harvesting your own colourful beetroot from May to September.  Our favourites are Beetroot ‘Darko’ and ‘Golden’.

Chilli Peppers

How about being adventurous and growing your own hot chilli peppers this year? They grow very well in containers on a window sill or outside in a sunny position and one plant will often give you a hundred chillies or more, brightening up your space as well as your meals!

Simple Salad Leaves
Lettuce grows very quickly, is easy to harvest (harvest while plants are mature or pick leaves as needed), and takes up very little space. They can even be grown in containers, perhaps accompanied by flowers.  Crunchy fresh leaves with a fantastic range of textures and flavours.  Try growing some of our ‘cut and come again’ salad leaves such as ‘Baby Leaf Mix’ throughout the summer months, and you’ll be cutting fresh leaves for your sandwiches and salads just 3 weeks later! Better still, they will continue growing so you can harvest them again and again.