by Patrick D

Created on: May 06, 2010

Starting a vegetable garden is a rewarding and relaxing hobby, many people use it as a form of stress relief and it's a great reason to get out of the house. Growing your own vegetables can help improve your health by increasing the fresh vegetables in your diet and keeping you active while weeding and working in the garden. Nearly all vegetable plants require some level of attention and just because they are easy to grow does not mean they are work free. You cannot expect to plant seeds in the spring to just come back in the fall and harvest successful crops. All vegetable plants will require some care in the form of weeding, watering, support, fertilizing and other cultural practices. Assuming that you are willing to take care of the plants and seeds you put in the ground this article will focus on vegetables which a beginner is likely to be most successful with.

Of all the colourful vegetables out there waiting to be grown in your garden the ones that are easiest to grow include: radishes, carrots, lettuce, potatoes, turnip, tomatoes, peas, beans, zucchini, green onions and garlic.

Radishes

The easiest of all vegetables to grow is the radish. Ask any gardener, anywhere "what is the easiest vegetable to grow?" and I'll bet you 9 out of 10 will answer radishes. No matter if you're germinating radish seeds to make sprouts for sandwiches or salads, growing them in a window box or in the garden, radishes are great for anyone looking for fast results. Radishes can be planted as soon as the ground is workable and than you can be harvesting in about 4 or 5 weeks. The only thing to remember about radishes is to thin them once they start to grow and don't let them get too big or they will develop cavities, get really strong tasting and the texture will become less desirable, so eat them up.

Carrots

Carrots are really easy to grow, the only trick for them is to not let the soil crust over the seeds during the germination period as the seeds aren't always strong enough to break through a soil crust. One of the easiest ways to deal with the crust is to use sand. Once the seeds are planted sprinkle a thin layer of sand over them, this will help prevent the soil from crusting over and will also help remind you where your row is until they start to sprout (which comes in handy when you are weeding later). A few other ways to deal with the crusting is to cover them with small strips of burlap which you would remove as they start to sprout. Yet another option is to plant

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