Top 5 Healthy Vegetables You Can Grow at Home

Top 5 Vegetables You Can Grow at Home

Everyone can readily buy vegetables they love at their nearest grocery store, but do you know that there are so many vegetables you can easily grow at home in no time?

The good news is yes, because growing your vegetables at home can be a lot hassle-free than you think. You can completely control all the processes and make sure your vegetables are free from harmful chemicals. Check out the list below that recommends the top 5 healthy vegetables that can be grown right at your home with minimum efforts.

Top 5 healthy vegetables you can grow at home

#1: Broccoli

broccoliThe first one on our list is none other than broccoli. Ranked among the group of healthiest vegetables, broccoli is packed with plenty of nutrients, including calcium, iron, magnesium and many other vitamins.

To start growing broccoli in containers such as pots, you will need the following:

  • Containers: You will need a relatively large container to grow broccoli, so aim for pots that are at least three gallons in volume.
  • Broccoli seeds or plants: Both can be used to start growing broccoli, but whichever you choose, you should consider purchasing the fast maturing variety of broccoli which is more suitable for container gardening
  • Soil: This is one crucial factor that will determine the growth of any plant. You can usually buy readily prepared soil for broccoli, but remember to pick light yet highly nutritional soil with compost and good drainage
  • Environment: Broccoli does not need constant sunlight, so an estimated eight hours of sunlight a day is sufficient for this vegetable to grow. High heat is not a good friend of broccoli, so consider growing it during cool periods.

It is worth mentioning that once the broccoli seedling is put into the pot filled with appropriate soil, you should let your plant adapt to the sunlight by gradually increasing its exposure to sunlight daily.

Regular watering is strongly recommended as broccoli enjoys moist soil. Fertilizers are not a must if you already purchase store bought soil filled with compost for your plant. Wait for 3-4 weeks, and you can start harvesting your proudly self-grown broccoli.

#2: Peas

Garden Fresh Chicken Salad
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The next one on our list is one amazing type of vegetables that offer no fewer nutrients than broccoli: peas. There are a wide variety of peas, and most of them can be grown in pots at home effortlessly. In case you are not experienced in pot gardening, we would recommend you start with snap peas.

Snap peas are excellent choices for any healthy diet as they are rich in vitamin A, C, fiber, magnesium, iron, and potassium. They can be served as a snack or cooked into delicious dishes.

To grow snap peas at home, you will need to keep in mind the following:

  • Prepare soil with high nutritional values (store bought compost, manure or processed soil) and a pot that is around 9 or 10 inches deep
  • Pick the right kind of seeds: if you plan to grow peas during summer or late spring, choose the heat-tolerant type of seeds for the best result
  • Sow the pea seeds 3 inches apart from each other
  • Germination will happen after 10 to 20 days once the seed is sown, be prepared to trellis for the growing plant
  • Peas do not particularly enjoy high heat, so the favorable time to start your crop is around autumn

#3: Tomatoes

tomatoesApart from dark green vegetables above, you can opt for growing tomatoes in pots to diversify your homegrown menu. Who can resist the taste of sweet, tender homegrown tomatoes that have just been picked?

To grow your lovely tomatoes at home, keep in mind the following:

  • Find the best tomatoes for your need: There are two varieties of tomatoes – the determinate and indeterminate ones. Determinate tomatoes will stop growing once they reach a certain height while indeterminate will continue to grow nonetheless.
  • Pick the right pot and soil: Tomatoes will need a lot of space when they grow, so be generous in picking the container. The ideal soil should be light and fertile.
  • Prevent diseases: Tomatoes are not good at coping with diseases or pests, so it would be good to obtain some pest control knowledge to watch out for early symptoms of diseases or pests.

#4:  Carrots

Regarded as an abundant source of vitamin A and many other valuable nutrients, carrots are an integrated part of a healthy meal. And growing them can be no big deal at all if you take into account the following:

  • Pick the right type: To grow carrots in containers, you should aim for small varieties for better results
  • Prepare the right soil: Recommended soil for carrots should be composted, light and not too tight for carrots to push through the soil
  • Harvest at the right time: Overdue carrots will lose their sweetness, so watch out for the perfect timing to harvest your carrots. Also, don’t let the soil become too Otherwise, your carrots will develop a bitter taste.

#5: Kale

munching on kaleThe last one on our list is a super healthy kind of vegetables – kale. Kale is known as an extremely healthy vegetable, which contains loads of antioxidants, fiber, iron and multiple vitamins (A, K, C).

You can quickly grow kale in any container by taking note of the following:

  • Choose the suitable location: Sun exposure is a must when growing kale, but it should not be left under strong heat for too long (6 hours would be fine)
  • Prepare the right soil: The best soil for kale will be rich in nutrition and well-draining
  • Pest control: You should keep an eye on pest control, as kale is prone to lots of pests including slugs, snails or mites and bugs.

To Sum Up

As you can see, growing home grown vegetables is not as daunting as it seems. I hope that my post has been able to encourage you to start exploring gardening. The five vegetables above do not require much time or space at all, and what you will get are fresh and clean products for satisfying meals.

 

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Richard Clayton

Hi there! I’m Richard Clayton, an owner of a gardening  blog. I love taking care of my garden. My website (My Greenery Life)  is a place, where we can discuss everything about lawn care, DIY gardening and critter control topics.

See my other article on Pantry Paratus, “Indoor Planters for Your Indoor Herb Garden.”

3 thoughts on “Top 5 Healthy Vegetables You Can Grow at Home

  1. Thanks for what you have written! I have been playing with the magic of fermentation for 53 years now–starting with bread at the age of 13, then fruits/their juice (using a different kind of yeast!) after I met the boy whom I later married; and now for the last 5 years I have been happily fermenting malted barley. I don’t understand how it can be, but my home-brewed ales taste a great deal better than the commercial ales of the same name. Two days ago, wanting to make dilled bean pickles for my daughter who loves them, I decided to try the lacto-bacillus fermentation. I have a large vegetable garden; we are now in the major harvest season; so here is a promising new side-line in yeast activity.
    However–what really prompted me to write to you is your choice of name: what on earth prompted you to choose “Pantry PARATUS”? I am a middle school Latin teacher, always delighted by Latin in our daily life, and I “collect” evidence of Latin not being a “dead” language. Yes, I did read your explanation on your home page, but why did you choose Latin?
    Again–my thanks to you on several levels.

    1. Louise–

      Hello, lover of Latin! Your long history of fermentation is exciting to me. So many people are intimidated when they start, but once you do and get the hand of the basic “rules” of it, there is so much to create!

      “Preparo,” of course, means “I prepare” in Latin. I know we broke some rules with the way it is paired with “Pantry” and all 🙂 In some ways, choosing a Latin word for a name has been confusing to people and we regret that some find it difficult to remember for that reason. But it never fails that people asking about our name gives us the opportunity to explain the basic philosophy behind what we do!

      We’ve always classically educated our children, and we study Latin together (me having no other training in it). We find it beautiful and enriching, and even at very young ages, my children were able to make better sense of English because of it. I was nearly too intimidated to start Latin, but have been very grateful for the discipline and beauty of it.

  2. My grandma grows the tastiest tomatoes in her garden!

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