Growing a vegetable garden can be a heartbreaking process, because 501 things can go wrong all at once.
Therefore, I present to you my MUST GROW list!
These low maintenance garden vegetables will ensure that you have a successful harvest of SOME kind from your garden.
If you are just starting out…
Or if you have lost nearly an entire garden…
Do not give up. Do not give up hope.
You will be successful! I promise!
Check out this addicting post of sweet potato harvest videos for some renewed hope, and watch these people uncover jaw dropping harvests– some of these people are completely new, and still produced MASSIVE harvests! (Hence, the sweet potato being included in this list!)
Bacterial and viral disease, fungal infections, pests, the weather, natural disasters, local wildlife, your cats, stray dogs, and even your land’s layout and soil will probably be working against you.
Gardening isn’t just a skill. It is a constant battle of wits, a time investment, and a gamble with luck.
You must find the positive side to most everything while homesteading; even if you’re faced with a large loss.
The only way to win is to consider each failure a successful lesson: you tried, it failed, you learned, you apply.
This doesn’t include gardens that go the easy route with traditional herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides. Many of those gardens are quite successful the first time around.
I’m talking organic gardening, or even better: natural gardening.
Let’s check out these low maintenance garden vegetables, which I have chosen for prolific production, fast growth, disease or pest resistance, and vigorous recovery after damage.
The perfect plants for someone who is getting their feet wet, or for those who have met with disaster and feel defeated.
Cucumber Vines: My Favorite Low Maintenance Garden Vegetables (or Fruit!)
Cucumbers are incredibly prolific, they spread far and fast, and they love summer heat. They germinate well, transplant well, and are happy to take over your yard. You will need to watch for squash bugs, as they love cucumbers too. An abundance of healthy vines will give the cucumbers protection in numbers, but spraying the plants (above and below) with a gallon of water to 2 tablespoons of dawn will help to keep the bugs low in numbers. Spray twice a week with a low population, and spray daily with an infestation. There are other cucumber diseases to watch for, but most people have a very successful harvest with little effort. They enjoy heavy clay soil, they do not require watering (again, in my clay soil; sandy soil is an entirely different ball game), and they make an EXCELLENT ground cover around taller plants.
Sweet Corn, Dent Corn, Flint Corn: All Low Maintenance!
There are so many different varieties of corn that you can grow! Whether you want corn to grind or mill like the White Nighting Corn we grew and discussed, to store for animal feed, or for eating as sweet corn, you’ll be happy to know it’s easy to grow! Just ensure that you do not grow corn in the same place every year. It is a very heavy feeder. Always restore garden plots with cover crops that enrich the soil with nitrogen, that will add incredible organic matter once tilled in. A hefty helping of compost is a great way to prep before and after planting corn. Corn rarely needs irrigating, especially in heavier soils in areas with moderate rainfall. If you live in an arid area or an area with sandy soil, this won’t be true for your climate, of course. The corn will grow fairly easily, growing tall above the weeds; it won’t require weeding!
You will have to watch for corn ear worms though. Nothing will cause you to drop an ear of corn while shucking quicker than an ear worm! Those large, thick caterpillars will definitely take you by surprise… and they’ll destroy your corn kernels too. Bacillus thuringiensis is an all natural pesticide that is simply a bacterial culture; the bacteria is completely harmless for people, but it is lethal for caterpillars. It exists naturally in the environment, but it doesn’t within your corn, unfortunately. Spray the silks weekly or bi-weekly until they turn brown (after pollination), and you shouldn’t have a problem with these pests. Also, bacillus thuringiensis is effective against vine borers and other softbodied larval pests, so it is a gardener’s “right hand man.”
Okra: The Easiest Garden Veggie You’ll Ever Grow
If there is one plant that I stand by, it is the okra plant. Who doesn’t love tender, young okra pods… deep fried to a delicious golden brown? These plants are massive; they will tower over you, giving weeds no chance. I mulched my okra, and it never required watering once the transplants established.
Okra transplants quite well for me, but it is better to seed it in place. These plants produce the most beautiful flowers, and they seem to be a favorite among the wasps- so watch out when harvesting! The beauty of okra is that it just keeps on giving. You will likely enjoy a harvest all the way until the first cold night. These plants just grow taller, bushier, and more productive with each passing week. The amount of pods you’ll get from one okra plant is jaw dropping! I noticed aphids moving in about 2 weeks before the cold weather did; so this will be a concern for some gardeners. Corn earworms are known to attack, but they never harmed my okra. This could be due to the corn nearby; they probably preferred the corn for egg laying.
Salad Greens: Grow Them Outside of “Bug” Season!
Greens are very productive and fairly resilient; however, many bugs love them just as much as we do. Aphids, Cut Worms, Thrips, Leaf Miners, Cabbage Loopers, and many more insects (and those pesky rabbits) will destroy your tender greens if given the chance. They are also low growing, which makes them susceptible to weeds; unfortunately, many are known to bolt during heat. Once those flower stalks begin racing for the sun, you know the battle has been lost… the greens will be quite bitter. Heat, bugs, and weeds are all a big part of the frost-free growing season; and that’s where off-season gardening comes in with your greens!
Many greens are able to tolerate frosts and freezes; some of which surviving single digits without batting a leaf at them! You would be amazed at the temperatures that Spinach, Turnips, Carrots, and Kale can withstand! Therefore, they can outlast the bugs, heat, and weeds as the warmth of the growing season fades. Once the cool weather is in full swing, your delicious greens will THRIVE! If you are in colder zones, or would like to encourage quicker growth, try using a low growing tunnel, a cold frame, or a make-shift greenhouse. It is most important to protect the plants from winds and excessive winter precipitation over temperatures.
Sweet Potatoes: Dual Purpose Plant with High Production!
Nearly everyone has tried a sweet potato; but have you tried sweet potato greens??? Let me tell you something: they are absolutely delicious! If you love greens, you must try the leaves of the sweet potato vine!
Carrying on! Sweet potatoes seem to be fairly resilient, but they are a delicious delicacy for many insects as far as the leaves are concerned. I did have quite a few pests trying to take down my vines, but the sweet potato plant grows exceptionally fast! Therefore, many of the critters couldn’t keep up with the new growth. In addition, a dusting of diatomaceous earth after each rain shower (or once a week if you don’t get much rain) seemed to really take care of that problem!
The tubers developed quite well, even with the heavy clay. However, I strongly recommend loosening the soil or planted them in amended soil with compost; tubers are known to become disfigured and tangled in heavy soil. We did not have this issue, but it happens very often!
Of the plants I grew, this was definitely a “plant it and forget it” vegetable aside from the occasional dusting. I only dusted a maximum of 5 times during the growing season (only with the worst pest damage), which is VERY long. Speaking of which, give sweet potatoes at least 3 months, preferably 4, to grow. They are slow to mature, but they are one of the highest yielding plants you can grow on the homestead; not only does the tuber production rival the most productive plants in the garden, but the leaves seal the deal!
Carrots: Delicious, Nutritious, and Nearly Impossible to Mess Them Up!
I have yet to discover a pests for my carrots. Carrot flies could be a problem, but they haven’t been for me, so far! Sure, a rabbit could really do some damage; but the wild rabbits don’t dare mess with a guardian dog. Dogs are perfect for keeping rabbits away from your garden! With so few pests (none here), and still no sign of disease, carrots are one of my all time favorites. The seedlings send out deep taproots very quickly, making watering unnecessary after the first week. I don’t even water mine at all after the first three days! Then, you can just kind of forget about them until harvest, with minimal weeding here and there. If you have had issues growing carrots in the past, this post troubleshoots carrot growing problems that we may not have discussed here; trust me, you can do it!
I will say that carrots can be a pain to sow and sprout. You must plant them in very shallow trenches with a very fine soil (or sand!!!) covering them. This allows the tiny seedlings to emerge as easily as possible. Secondly, you have to have patience and dedication when sprouting. The seeds must be kept moist, which is a problem when germination takes 10+ days and the soil dries quickly on top. How to remedy this? It’s easy! Simply lay untreated boards or straw over the rows to hold in moisture. Check under the boards every day starting at day 6; once 60% of the seeds have sprouted, remove the boards! Otherwise, you risk killing the seedlings that have started to emerge.
During sowing, you’ll notice it is a pain to space those seeds properly. Try mixing the seeds with sand in order to distribute the seeds more evenly to reduce the need for thinning. Mix 120 parts sand to 2 parts carrot seed and pour it along the row. Watch the spacing of the seeds after laying a bit of sand mix in order to determine whether your line should be laid thinner or thicker. Plant the seeds in late winter after the worst of the cold snaps have gone, or in late summer for a fall and winter harvest. You’ll avoid a majority of weeds when planting this way!