Easiest Vegetable to Grow

it reminds me of Alexanders (Smyrnium olusatrum)

I planted alexanders a number of years ago. It has naturalized like gangbusters, to the point where I fear I have introduced a new invasive species.
If only my native umbellifers were as prolific.
Alexanders has a very wierd taste. It's useful for about two weeks a year, when the stalks are tender. The leaves are way too bitter to use. Maybe the seeds would be a decent spice, but I haven't bothered to try.
The anise swallowtail is the main (and most desired) insect I have seen on umbelliferae around here, and I don't see any on alexanders. So even though I eat it every year, I have started to remove it, and continue to try to establish natives like biscut root and yampah, as well as learning to eat native cow parsnip and my local angelica (hendersonii).

Ellen Lewis wrote:

it reminds me of Alexanders (Smyrnium olusatrum)

I planted alexanders a number of years ago. It has naturalized like gangbusters, to the point where I fear I have introduced a new invasive species.
If only my native umbellifers were as prolific.
Alexanders has a very wierd taste. It's useful for about two weeks a year, when the stalks are tender. The leaves are way too bitter to use. Maybe the seeds would be a decent spice, but I haven't bothered to try.
The anise swallowtail is the main (and most desired) insect I have seen on umbelliferae around here, and I don't see any on alexanders. So even though I eat it every year, I have started to remove it, and continue to try to establish natives like biscut root and yampah, as well as learning to eat native cow parsnip and my local angelica (hendersonii).

Maybe it has to do with the local climate, or maybe it has to do with 'taste'. I like the taste of Alexanders, do not consider the leaves too bitter.  
I'll see if it becomes invasive. It's now the third year it's in my back garden, it's doing well, but hasn't spread to other parts of the garden. Here in the Netherlands it is a native plant, but not very common. It has a strange Dutch name 'Zwartmoeskervel' ;-)

Where I live in the southeastern piedmont in NC any variety of cowpea does really well, particularly the heirloom ones adapted to the heat like red ripper or more recent ones like pinkeye purple hull, but also planting store bought blackeyed peas. What also does fantastic in the climate but also terribly, if you seed save, is squash. So many people grow squash and gourds and pumpkins that you can get some odd hybrids from cross pollination. Last year what should have been yellow crookneck squash turned out to be some sort of large green pumpkin type thing.  

Ben Crowley wrote:... So many people grow squash and gourds and pumpkins that you can get some odd hybrids from cross pollination. Last year what should have been yellow crookneck squash turned out to be some sort of large green pumpkin type thing.  

Yes, but did it taste good? Did it store well?

The gourds are an issue as they tend not to be human edible, so if they cross, you can get bitterness. I was given some small zucchini that I suspect were crossed with something nasty. In the past I could eat zuc raw, but not that year. It didn't occur to me at the time to try pealing them - it's quite possible that I could have eaten just the insides raw.

Ben Crowley wrote:Where I live in the southeastern piedmont in NC any variety of cowpea does really well, particularly the heirloom ones adapted to the heat like red ripper or more recent ones like pinkeye purple hull, but also planting store bought blackeyed peas. What also does fantastic in the climate but also terribly, if you seed save, is squash. So many people grow squash and gourds and pumpkins that you can get some odd hybrids from cross pollination. Last year what should have been yellow crookneck squash turned out to be some sort of large green pumpkin type thing.  

Yes, that's the problem with gourds/pumpkins/squash. And that's why for the Cucurbitaceae (I think that's the best name to use for them all together) now I buy seeds (from a good organic seeds company).  I don't use seeds anymore from home-grown pumpkins or from the ones I bought and ate.

Jay Angler wrote:

Ben Crowley wrote:... So many people grow squash and gourds and pumpkins that you can get some odd hybrids from cross pollination. Last year what should have been yellow crookneck squash turned out to be some sort of large green pumpkin type thing.  

Yes, but did it taste good? Did it store well?

The gourds are an issue as they tend not to be human edible, so if they cross, you can get bitterness. I was given some small zucchini that I suspect were crossed with something nasty. In the past I could eat zuc raw, but not that year. It didn't occur to me at the time to try pealing them - it's quite possible that I could have eaten just the insides raw.

I didn’t eat them as my kids and wife were a bit skeptical of them and folklore where I’m from is that hybrid squash might be a bit poisonous. I have no idea if that’s true or not or the probability but I can’t afford even a minor GI issue with my job so in the compost they went.

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:

Ben Crowley wrote:Where I live in the southeastern piedmont in NC any variety of cowpea does really well, particularly the heirloom ones adapted to the heat like red ripper or more recent ones like pinkeye purple hull, but also planting store bought blackeyed peas. What also does fantastic in the climate but also terribly, if you seed save, is squash. So many people grow squash and gourds and pumpkins that you can get some odd hybrids from cross pollination. Last year what should have been yellow crookneck squash turned out to be some sort of large green pumpkin type thing.  

Yes, that's the problem with gourds/pumpkins/squash. And that's why for the Cucurbitaceae (I think that's the best name to use for them all together) now I buy seeds (from a good organic seeds company).  I don't use seeds anymore from home-grown pumpkins or from the ones I bought and ate.

Yeah, I try to develop landraces by saving seed as much as possible but I don’t think squash can be part of that. Maybe if I lived further in the city or further out in the country where my garden isn’t close to other people’s gardens it would be doable.

I generally recommend to beginners to plant something they like to eat, and suggest pumpkins, potatoes, tomatoes, leafy greens (e.g., silverbeet), radish, zucchini, garlic, or herbs (e.g., rosemary, parsley, mint). I've also had a lot of success planting sprouting onions for their tops (although I work in an onion-packing factory I'm allowed to nab sprouting ones from the discards).

Oddly, my mother and I have very different success rates. She can't seem to get any underground vegetables to grow well, and I'm having trouble with pumpkins and tomatoes.

Estel Castle wrote:...
Oddly, my mother and I have very different success rates. She can't seem to get any underground vegetables to grow well, and I'm having trouble with pumpkins and tomatoes.

Does your mother live close by?
If she doesn't, the climate or the soil can be the cause of the difference.