16 Must Grow Garden Vegetables for New Gardeners: Easy to Grow Spring, Summer & Fall Crops

Here are 16 staples I grow in my gardens every year. They are based on ease of growth, time to harvest, and general productivity. These are some of my favorite garden vegetables.

0:00 Introduction & Collard Greens
1:04 Swiss Chard
1:27 Kale
2:14 Tomatoes
3:39 Peppers
5:40 Lettuce
6:53 Endive (Love It)
9:29 Peas
10:35 Garlic
12:03 Turnips
13:11 Why I Picked These Vegetables
14:46 Potatoes (Love Them)
17:05 Radishes
18:12 Beets
19:40 Zucchini
21:12 Cucumbers
22:34 Beans
23:50 Conclusion

Thanks so much for your support! Cheers & Thanks, Gary!

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[Music] welcome to the rested Garden Homestead today I want to go over about 10 vegetables that are a must for any Gardener to grow these are standards in my garden and I think these are great for new gardeners it can be overwhelming trying to figure out what you want to grow so I’m going to show you growth examples talk a little bit about temperatures they like and why that I like them let’s just start right here with collared greens collards are really easy to grow beautiful leafy green one or two plants is all you need for two people you know maybe two or three for a family of for they love the cool weather they can get planted early in the spring I’m here in Maryland Zone 7 they grow well into the summer and some places they’ll flower you can eat the Buds and Flowers actually if they flower in the summer you can plant them again in the fall and some places they’ll just grow through the whole season so they’re truly a three season crop spring summer and fall and in some places if you have mild Winters they will grow through the winter so collards just absolutely delicious beautiful plant that is one plant that I planted about 60 days ago or so Swiss chard a lot of people don’t grow this it’s very similar to the uh collards it’s a great plant to plant in the spring and this will actually grow through spring summer and fall it doesn’t flower the first year you just get these beautiful leaves that really have a spinach like taste you can cut up the stems perfect in stir fries so we’ve got charred and collards and then right over here here next to it and you can see this is a small space I got other things growing like potatoes and such this is kale kale is a wonderful leafy green loves the cool temperatures of the spring and this will definitely grow here in Maryland spring summer and fall it will over winter the following year I let this flow produce blooms flowers Etc I eat those they’re delicious you know for two people probably two plants is plenty if you really like haale maybe three plants if you have a family of four three or four plants you don’t want to over plant these because they just grow so large and if you’re not eating them quick enough they’re going to get problems like white flies and such but if you plant the right amount you’re harvesting regularly you really keep the insects under control I love growing tomatoes couple of tips if you’re just getting started this is an 8ft bed so space your plants out something like this if it’s your first time really growing these are cherry tomatoes 1 2 3 more space in between that lets better air circulation through helps manage diseases a little bit better as you get more experience you can put four plants in an 8ft space these are beef steak types large Tomatoes right here these are cherry types that I’m going to let grow up this cattle panel and I’m going to have a cherry tomato tunnel so I have seven plants in this 8ft bed and that’s perfect you definitely want to stake your tomato plants these are teap poost they’re kind of expensive compared to to Wood however these are going to last you know a lifetime so it’s worth paying up I think for these metal posts these are 8 ft tall your indeterminate tomatoes are going to get really tall so you want to be tying them to something in this case I’m using the cattle panel spinning around this way I have this is a 4tx 4T uh bed and I have one tomato in each Corner posts same basic setup this is a great way to grow tomatoes you can focus your resources right in the bed you can tent to the tomatoes stake them upwards and it’s enough space to let that air circulation through so I highly recommend combination of Tomatoes The slicing type maybe some even big you know 2 lb tomatoes and the Cherry types I also recommend growing peppers they are really easy to grow here in Maryland they don’t get many diseases and don’t really have a lot of pest problems the vegetables are going to vary Zone to Zone Garden to Garden sometimes a unique pest to your area or disease can damage certain crops so you kind of sometimes plant a garden based on what your garden brings in in a way of diseases and insects Peppers do really well in Maryland and everything seems to leave them alone this is a 4ft x 4T space 12 peppers in this space you can plant them a lot more closely together than you think if you’re just getting started I might just do a row of peppers better air circulation a little bit easier to manage but with some practice you can grow 12 in a small space like this I’ve even grown up to 15 in the same space Peppers do really well these are shidos you can grow super Hots you know mildly hot like a jalapeno or sweet peppers let me show you another design um for a pepper bed we’ll come back we’ll talk about lettuce radishes Etc this is a setup of a mix of gypsy Peppers which are small sweet bell-like peppers U bell peppers and Anaheim chilies which are hot you know eight pepper plants actually that’s 10 pepper plants in this small space this is a great way to manage them when you have thinner rows it just helps with the air circulation a little bit better versus the square that I had them in there here’s another way to grow your pepper plants this is only about 12 in between each plant you really don’t have to put 18 in between plants you’ll see that often in some cases I even put two plants in a single planting hole but it’s one plant every 12 in and this is a perfect Row for beginners it’s going to be real easy to manage and it’s going to be really productive you know in this 8ft strip I’m going to have 1 2 3 4 5 six seven plants I don’t want to get too close to that sunflower plant but off seven pepper plants in just in this little strip again it’s going to be very very productive peppers and tomatoes or warm season crops you want to get them into the soil when the temperatures top 2 4 6 Ines of the soils you know getting into the 60s it’s really that transition from the colder spring into the warmer later spring you you know early summer I’m in transition so I have a lot of cool weather crops growing lettuce loves the cool weather if you plant lettuce in the summer it’s just get a flower and bolt so you want to plant it early on in the spring here in Maryland we can plant this again in the fall but look at the beautiful heads of Roma that are forming so I highly recommend lettuce I’m growing these for full siiz heads they’re probably 6 to 8 in apart one plant per space and in a couple of days these are going to be ready to harvest but they’re just forming you know beautiful heads of Roma they come in different colors you can grow loose leaf lettuce all kinds of different lettuce let me just show you what’s down here too that’s a red Romain and they’re doing really really well as we’re transitioning into the warmer season but we’re getting now again Lower I’m sorry upper 40° temperatures 50° nights the cool temperatures are really helping the lettuces in the same theme of lettuce this is a smaller heading Romain we have Endive most people don’t grow Endive it’s beautiful it’s nice thicker curly leaves a little bit of bitterness very slight holds dressing really well some of these I’ve cut down already leave the roots in and they’ve come back like this one is its second growth Endive is a great leafy green very hearty not a lot bothers it and when the warm soil comes that means as the temperatures go up during the day into the 70s the nights are in the 60s sometimes 80s the soil is going to warm up and your lettuce is going to bolt end dive lasts a little bit longer can take the heat better and you’re going to have your leafy greens as your lettuce and your spinach are going away because it’s just too warm for them but I highly recommend growing in dive there’s actually three 6 9 12 plants in here very close together if you want more space these are going to get 8 to 10 in wide you could plant them 8 10 in apart a little bit better again for air flow if you had snails and slugs that come and devastate your garden putting these closely together yes we’ll bring in more snails and slugs spacing them out the snails and slugs are still going to find them what you would have to do in this case is use a slug bait with iron phosphate or sulfur you sprinkle the baits down kills the snail and slugs if you have them in your garden they’re going to really devastate your Lett uses your leafy greens so you do have to manage them you can’t really plant differently with more spacing the snails and slugs find them they eat them they damage them why did why did I say snails and slugs so many times because if I didn’t treat them they’re the number one pest in my garden they would just wipe out all my crops so as a new Gardener you’re going to learn about diseases and problems as they show up you just don’t know about them yet so take notes about you know the time that they show up in your garden and then you’re going to use those notes to come up with a plan here’s another place that I’m growing some of the Endive and that’s four plants you can see how big they get you know I said maybe 10 or 12 in that’s a good 14 in across that’s one plant right there that’s one 2 3 4 harvested the one out of there and with the warm weather approaching you can see how the spinach has bolted and of course you could add that into you know 10 must grow plants I’m not going to add that one in I have some other ones that I have in mind I absolutely love peas I highly recommend them you plant these in the spring early spring they’re beautiful they are just starting to form they’re going to be ready soon probably have 40 PE plants in here spaced about 2 in apart big rectangle of them using Bamboo Steak to support them they have hollow stems highly recommend growing peas these have to be grown start them early in the spring they don’t do well in the hot summer you can plant them again in the fall have some peas over here that are a little bit easier to see this is just a fire ring that I’ve repurposed as a raised bed peas absolutely beautiful just planted on the outside I’m using ladder mesh and a tomato cage to Trellis them they’re going to be absolutely delicious in about 2 weeks you can actually also eat the stem by the way they’re delicious in salads but in about 2 weeks I’m going to have my first peas really really looking forward to that peas are a must grow coming over here is garlic I highly recommend that it’s not really that difficult to grow this is hardneck garlic most garlic you plant in the fall late fall even early winter in some places they need a cold period and then come spring they take off this is getting ready to finish up that’s why it’s starting to Brown out but this is my hard neck garlic you know planted maybe I don’t know what that is 2 in apart 3 in apart 4 in of space between the rows I tend to plant things more closely together my harvests are fine if you are just starting out with gardening sometimes it’s better again like I’ve been saying to space the plants out just gives you a better opportunity to manage pests and problems as you get more dense these problems can show up but garlic really doesn’t have any enemies here in in Maryland it can get wire worms and stuff like that but generally speaking I plant my garlic just like this every year I get more than I really need and I give it away to people but I really do recommend growing garlic there’s hard neck garlic there’s soft neck garlic if you want to subscribe and follow me I will show you how I harvest and take care of everything this year that you see in the garden but you can also search my 1500 videos and find specific videos on how to plant garlic or how to plant peas so there’s a lot of information there all right what’s next I’m in a process of mulching this area that’s outside my fence line I highly recommend purple top turnips you can eat the greens number one but you’re going to get beautiful turn-ups these aren’t quite forming yet but they’re going to be forming over the next week purple top turnips are great to grow in the spring you can grow them again in the fall they actually do okay here in the summer the high heat of July and early August can you know inhibit how they grow but I love growing the purple top turnips it’s a very easy to grow root crop some holes in there from snails and there perfect there’s a snail right there so even though that I’m treating them you know they still around but the devastation would be crazy if I wasn’t if I wasn’t using the slug baits as I was talking about earlier it makes a difference even with the slug baits you still get to get some damage but the idea is you don’t worry about the damage if you’re still getting a harvest you want to manage the problems down you want to manage the diseases down the pest damage down purple top turn-ups are a great addition to a garden really easy to grow I pick these 10 plus vegetables based on several things number one of course don’t grow what you don’t like so I’ve picked the things that I enjoy eating um that I like to grow I also pick things that really have fewer disease problems pest problems and that’s going to vary Garden to Garden they grow quickly they produce well so these are the top 10 plus based on those things you know they don’t really get a lot of problems they grow pretty quickly you get a good harvest I like to eat them hopefully you like to eat them so that’s what I’m basing it on yes you could grow spinach that’s one that you could add in there but it bolts really quickly here in Maryland you could also grow carrots which I love but they can take a long time to germinate take a long time to develop so I’m really looking at the speed of growth the amount of harvest you get and then the problems that they have so to help out other gardeners we’re all in different zones maybe throw out a couple vegetables that you find grow really well in your Zone let people know where you’re at I think that will help them out part of being a new Gardener is figuring out what you want to grow again what you like to eat but also what grows well in your Zone and you’re not going to know that right away so it’s going to take some time to figure it out so don’t get discouraged you know plant different things don’t over plant don’t plant too much of one thing don’t try and grow 40 50 different varieties of things just start with the basics and you’re going to have a lot of fun there’s a learning curve you’re going to learn as you go and certainly please just leave questions and comments when you watch my videos and I’ll try and help you out potatoes are one crop that I think every Gardener should grow they’re a lot easier than you think now these are all potatoes right there along the back got some lettuce in front of there you can see the ROM m a little bit growing in the ground plenty of videos again like I said if you want to subscribe um I’ll show you how I plant these in numerous videos if you don’t want to grow them in a ground or you don’t have the space potatoes grow really well in containers these are all Container potatoes this is a 20- gallon container I sell 20 Gall fabric pots and my seed in garden shop if you want to check that out at The Rusted Garden there are some damage to the leaves again it’s the snail and slugs but also the C potato beetle starts rolling in soon and as I was saying as a new Gardener you’re not necessarily going to know what problems show up in your garden but when you notice insects and diseases write them down and you can learn how to take care of them and the goal again is manage the problems down 20- gallon bag there’s probably six potatoes in there you can plant potatoes more often than you think a lot of times we plant the potatoes here in Maryland sometime in March early spring in general they go through through the growing process eventually these are going to Yellow out you know fall down die back we harvest the potatoes but I plant potatoes in March I plant some again in June I plant some in the beginning of August they are really a crop that you can continue to plant throughout the season the yield or the Harvest may not be you know super sized potatoes when you’re putting them in the ground in August harvesting in the later fall but you still get plenty of potatoes this is a 50-gallon grow bag right or 100 gallon grow bag lots of potatoes in there I do this every year I have more potatoes than I need I have plenty to give away to people potatoes just aren’t as hard to grow as we think I’m just taking a quick look I don’t see a Colorado potato beetle but I know that they’re going to be showing up soon but just look at how many potatoes I have growing and the cool thing about potatoes is the leaves can be damaged by like 30% 40% chewed back eaten by deer and you’re still going to get a beautiful Harvest they can really take a beating but in the ground you’re going to get beautiful potatoes another crop I highly recommend are radishes now it’s getting warm here again we’re in that transition from cool to warm crops they’re starting to bolt which means they send up their flower stocks flavor of the radish changes it gets spicy sometimes the bulb itself gets fibrous these are great crops to grow early spring late spring but once it starts to warm up you have to stop growing them but again we can plant these in the fall a lot of people forget in many places we have two cool Seasons spring late fall early winter but I highly recommend growing radishes and the trick to radishes is to plant them in succession meaning maybe you put down 25 plants just say March 15th uh what’s next April in April you put down another 25 seeds in May you put down another 25 seeds you’re spacing them out so that you’re not getting 100 15 50 radishes all at once you can plant them you know every 2 to 4 weeks get a continual Harvest of the radishes over a longer period of time rather than just getting that 200 at once that can be be hard to eat otherwise these are Beats these are the next root crop that I highly recommend I love turnips radishes and beets beets you can plant early on these are planted on March 13th if you have good eyes today is May 20th they really grow slowly then as it warms up they take off they can grow through the summer I have had plenty of beets that I’ve grown through the summer harvested later in August they’re going to start maturing really in June July August but they can take the heat the leaves are going to get beat up like heck they can even die back the beat itself is going to stay tender they really a crop here in Maryland that you can plant early in Spring plant again now like if I want to put in another round I could do that I had a rabbit come in and chew out some of the beets that were right there plant them again in session a little bit similar to um the radishes I can plant these again later in August to have a fall crop beets are just really hearty they’re delicious they’re good for you you can eat the leaves and they can take a lot of damage and looking around real quick those are turnips back there coming over here that’s celery that’s a little bit harder to grow lots of Roma you can see some of my Endive again and please subscribe I set my garden up as a teaching Garden so I have all these different Pockets to give you examples of different ways you can grow you know fruits and vegetables in your garden Some people prefer you know raised beds some people have small spaces so I set my Gardens up so you can kind of pick and choose for my videos what you might want to use in your Gardens zucchini I absolutely love zucchini you can pick it when it’s about this size you can let it get bigger it will keep growing it becomes huge you don’t want to get it too large but small zucchini perfect for salads and stir fries as it gets bigger you can make zucchini par I have two plants in here this is a 4tx 4T raised bed they’re going to hang over this way I really recommend especially for new gardeners is just start with two plants they tend to get different problems sometimes powdery mildew they get Vine bores they get um they get squash bugs two plants you can turn the leaves over you can look for eggs you can examine the stems if you put in more plants if you’re getting to four five six it’s real hard to manage them the trick to this is is let them start growing you know you can see how beautiful they are as of May 20th they’re starting to flower they’re going to get large they’re going to produce they’re probably going to get beat up and die off in June instead of getting discouraged pull out the plants that are damaged put in new seeds you can keep putting in seeds of zucchini through the summer here in Maryland so I can plant these again in June I can plant them again in July I can even plant them in August they’re going to mature from germination to producing in about 45 days so don’t feel like you have to do all of your squash at once or your zucchini at once plant them again in succession throughout the summer and remember your plants are going to get beat up they’re going to get damaged when they are beat up damaged get rid of them plant again in that same breath another must have I love tomatoes I love cucumbers or cucumbers so I’ve have my cucumber starting this is a these are planted as a seed on April 10th so today is May 20th they look beautiful they’re going to be trellising up this cattle panel I think I have two plants in there I usually put in two cucumber plants per space and sometimes well in some cases and last year I put two plants right here and I put two plants over there so I can have four growing up this cattle panel here this year I planted a grape which is is one of my goals this year I want to bring in more fruit to the inside of my gard Garden inside the fence line but cucumbers are really easy to grow over on the other side of the cattle panel I have the national pickling these are just a little bit smaller these are going to get beat up by cucumber beetles spider mites other problems are going to come in again I can drop seeds from my cucumber plants again in June and even in July and plant through the cycle of these Pest and diseases so don’t get discouraged if your plants die off sometimes we feel like we got to plant everything in uh May in June and then when they die we stop growing just keep growing the warm season here in Maryland in many places is pretty long and he’s warm where the crops mature extremely quickly beans are another great crop for new gardeners and they’re a staple in my garden they grow really well they’re warm with the crops the beans right here actually self-seeded from last year and when the temperatures got to the right temperature they all popped I’m growing them up at trellis I just use some paracord some jute two post these are going to get about six feet tall they’re tall they’re pole beans so I’m going to Trellis them up and then I’m going to Trellis them back down you don’t need six feet a six foot tall trellis you can just kind of move the vines up and down but I left three in here 1 2 three beans are really easy to grow you can plant them in May you can plant them in June you can plant them in July you can even plant them in August a lot of the warm season crops mature quickly like I’ve been saying so you can plant them multiple times throughout the year and the cool season crops ones that you plant in Spring and then they don’t really like the warm weather or summer you can plant again in August they roll into that fall cool temperature and you get another round of cool seasoned crops but I highly recommend growing beans either the bush type which you’ll get about this tall you plant them in rows usually two rows next to each other they get to a set height you harvest them that way or pole beans if you grow pole beans you’re going to need some sort of trellising thanks so much for watching now there are so many fruits and vegetables that you can plant I just wanted to highlight about 10 that I think are a must for every Garden these are great vegetables to get you started they will keep you busy gardening is a learning curve if you’re just getting started you’re going to make mistakes but you’re still going to get great production out of your garden take notes figure out the problems learn have some fun with it but again there are many more vegetables that you can grow get started with these and again thanks so much for watching please check out my seed shop at The Rusted garden.com and please subscribe I’ll show you how I grow and take care of this entire Garden for 2024 cheers