Plants for your vegetable garden and kitchen

7 must-have plants for your vegetable garden and kitchen

Make the most of your growing space by planting easy-to-grow vegetables that will give you a reliable harvest of delicious produce. Of course, the best vegetables to grow in your garden are the ones you enjoy eating. This collection of edible plants will fill your plate with fresh flavors and colors all season long.

1 Heirloom Tomatoes

No store-bought tomato can compare to a big, juicy heirloom tomato picked fresh from your garden. Heirloom varieties are more irregularly shaped and thinner-skinned than mass-market tomatoes. That means heirlooms don't ship and your product is hard to find in the aisle. Ensure your own supply by growing these delicious and tender tomatoes yourself. Choose from colorful heirloom, cherry, and sauce varieties to enjoy all the delicious flavors and textures this tomato has to offer.

2 Summer Squash

Prolific might be the best word to describe summer squash. Although plants can take up a lot of space, just one plant will give you enough harvest. There's a good reason to eat some zucchini on National Your Neighbor Day! And in the kitchen, few vegetables are as versatile as summer squash, which can be ground into baked goods, "zoodles," stuffed and roasted, pickled, roasted, stir-fried, and more.

3 Peppers

Pepper plants only take up a little space and can keep harvesting for weeks. Plus, by growing peppers in your own garden, you can enjoy more than just the group of plants you can find at the grocery store. Both sweet and hot peppers come in many shapes, sizes, and colors. Chili varieties come in Scoville units (used to measure their heat), so you can choose as wide hot varieties as you like.

4 Garlic

A healthy and flavor powerhouse, garlic is a must for chefs and growing in your garden. This bulbous plant takes up very little space and is easy to grow. And when you grow garlic yourself, you can enjoy the bonus of garlic scapes, which are edible flowering stems that appear before the heads are ready to harvest. These green stalks have a mild garlic flavor, perfect for stir-fries, egg dishes, and even pesto.

5 Cucumbers

A couple of cucumber plants will produce enough for a family of four. Maybe you have some extra goodness to share with friends and neighbors, cukes are one of the best vegetables to add to your garden. Easy to grow and vigorous, cucumber vines can spread throughout the garden, or train them up a sturdy trellis. Bush varieties such as 'Marketmore 76' or 'Salad Bush' are ideal for small-space vegetable gardens and containers. Try starting cucumber seeds indoors to get a jump on the growing season.

6 Peas

Garden-fresh peas are a springtime treat, and you can eat them right off the plant. Best eaten immediately after harvest, some peas convert 40 percent of their sugars to starch in just a few hours in the refrigerator. Snow peas (roasted here with Indian spices), and their close cousin the snap pea, can be eaten, pod, seeds, and all, with no time-consuming shelling required. This cool-season crop thrives in the cooler months of spring and fall but stops producing in warmer temperatures.

7 Mesclun Mix

The word "mèsclun" is French and originally referred to a blend of tender greens harvested wild in early spring. Today mesclun is grown in gardens and containers, making it easy to harvest perfectly tender baby salad greens. Many flavorful mixes are available that make a tasty addition to your vegetable garden. They mostly contain greens like arugula, chard, spinach, and kale. Mesclun is easy to grow from seeds sown in early spring.