Vegetables That Grow Well in the Home Garden

Most vegetable varieties will grow well in a home garden. We are only limited by the length of our growing season and the size of our garden plot. When deciding on which vegetable varieties to grow, take your climate into consideration. Choose varieties that mature earlier for a northern climate. People in southern climates are able to grow varieties that take longer to mature.

If you don't know how to choose the best type of vegetables for your area, consult a seed catalog. They can be a wealth of information. They will tell you the number of days required for each type of vegetable to produce, as well as give you information on your area.

Tomatoes are a great choice for a home garden, and are planted in more home gardens than any other type of plant. Although tomatoes are actually a fruit, we often refer to them as vegetables. Tomatoes varieties come in all sorts of different types. There are red, yellow, cherry and pasta types for making sauces. Some hybrid tomatoes have been bred to do very well in northern climates. No matter where you live, you should have no trouble in selecting a tomato variety that will grow well in your area.

If you are limited in garden size, tomatoes can be staked or caged. If they sprawl, the plants will take up a good bit of room. Tomatoes will do well in container gardens. A large pot or an empty bucket will do well as a container for tomatoes. Even when planted in a container, the tomato plant requires staking to keep it from falling over.

Both bell peppers and hot peppers will flourish in a home garden. They don't usually require staking since they don't tend to sprawl, but if they are heavily loaded with peppers, you may find it useful. Otherwise the plants may break. All peppers do well in container gardens.

Beans, especially green beans do great in a home garden. Taking the amount of food they produce into account, they take very little space to grow well. Two or three short row of green beans will give you enough fresh beans for a whole family during the summer. Consider planting a few more rows to have extra to put up for the winter months.

Cucumbers are another favorite for the home garden. They are a vining plant and take up quite a bit of space. You can grow them on a fence or trellis to save on room. A couple of cucumber varieties are bush type and will take up less garden space. They can also be grown in containers.

Summer squash shine in a home garden. A couple of yellow squash or zucchini plants will give you a good supply of squash all summer long. They do take up quite a bit of space as the plants are quite large, but if kept picked, will produce again and again.

Leafy green vegetables are good choices for the home gardener. Lettuce, chard and spinach will grow quite well. When the weather gets hot spinach will turn to seed and bolt, but swiss chard continues to do well frost. Keep leaf lettuce picked close to the bottom of the stem and it will keep growing new leaves.

Beets, radishes and carrots are nice to grow with a salad garden. Add some onion sets as well and you can grow everything you need for a green salad.

Although very easy to grow, winter squash and pumpkins take up a lot of room. They will grow with very little attention being paid to them. If kept in a cool, dry place, they will last for months after the garden has been put to rest.

Broccoli is an easy to grow vegetable. A dozen broccoli plants will produce 12 large heads and plenty of side shoots after the head has been picked. Don't let the plants show signs of flowering before picking both the head and side shoots.

Sweet corn is a summer time favorite, but you need lots of room to grow corn. For best results, it requires a minimum of 4 rows of corn for proper pollination. As much as we love sweet corn, most home gardeners try to make room for it.

These are only a few of the vegetable varieties that do well in home gardens. There are lots of other vegetable that will grow just as well. If you haven't planted a vegetable garden before, try planting some of your favorites and find out just how satisfying gardening can be.