Must grow plants

Just wondering what fruits/veggies everyone considers must grows for their own personal consumption. I'd love to see your lists! I'm expanding my garden and need ideas!

Plums are so easy, so fecund, and a fresh plum melts in your mouth in an explosion of flavor.
Radishes grow quickly, are tasty, give greens and seed pods in addition to roots.
Tomatoes, yes,but I prefer short days to maturity, 60 or less, and golf ball or smaller for maximum production.
Sweet potatoes, but only for the leaves...

Rose Family
Prunus sub-family (plum, apricot, cherry, peach, etc)
Apple sub-family (apple, pear, quince, aronia, etc)
Bramble sub-family (blackberry, raspberry, rose hip, strawberry)

Currant Family (jostaberry, currant, gooseberry, etc)
Misc (grape, akebia, kiwi, persimmon, jujube, pawpaw,  mulberry, etc)

Carrot family (lovage, dill, celery, carrot, etc)
Mint family (thyme, oregano, sage, savory, mint)
Onion family (garlic, chives, onion, etc)

Cabbage family (kale, cabbage, collard, etc)
Spinach family (chard, spinach, amaranth, beet)  
Sunflower family (lettuce, sunflower, dandelion, artichokes)

Tomato Family (eggplant, tomatoes, potatoes, pepper)
Squash Family (squash, cucumber, melon, etc)

Plums, Peaches, Pears, Figs, mulberries, grapes, muscadines, black berries.

Squashes; Butternut, zucchini, acorn.
Broccoli, Beans (rattlesnake, Cherokee purple).
Tomatoes; Roma, Cherokee purple, Early Girl.
Beets, carrots, lettuces, cantaloupe (true), muskmelon, watermelon.
Asparagus.

Wow lots of herbs both medicinal and culinary including Ginger, Turmeric, Lemon grass, sages, tarragon, three basils, thyme, oregano, cilantro, and many more.

Next year we are leaving out the broccoli from now on Wolf says.

Why no broccoli?
I find it hard to grow, too prone to pests.

My "must grow" list is very much slanted to what will grow with minimum fuss...

Blackcurrants
Cratageus schraderiana
Rhubarb
Potatoes
Field beans
Any sort of squash/courgettes
Salads - corn salad, mallow, rocket, land cress, sorrel, loose-leaf lettuces
Beetroot
Kale
Bay tree
Garlic

things I am still persevering with...
french and borlotti beans
globe artichoke - well I'm not sure I could physically uproot the thing now, I just haven't quite decided whether I like eating them or not...
sweetcorn
asparagus

Must haves include blackberries & Meyer lemons, squash (winter and summer), green beans, tomatoes, cauliflower, sugar snap peas, lots of herbs (sage, thyme, and rosemary are my favorites).

Galangal, chicory, tomatillo, lemongrass, fennel.
Mild chilli (less pests than capsicums).

S Bengi wrote:I feel like my list is boring.

Rose Family
Prunus sub-family (plum, apricot, cherry, peach, etc)
Apple sub-family (apple, pear, quince, aronia, etc)
Bramble sub-family (blackberry, raspberry, rose hip, strawberry)

Currant Family (jostaberry, currant, gooseberry, etc)
Misc (grape, akebia, kiwi, persimmon, jujube, pawpaw,  mulberry, etc)

Cabbage family (kale, cabbage, collard, etc)
Spinach family (chard, spinach, amaranth, beet)  
Carrot family (dill, celery, carrot, etc)
Mint family (thyme, oregano, sage, savory, mint)
Onion family (garlic, chives, onion, etc)

Tomato Family (eggplant, tomatoes, potatoes, pepper)
Squash Family (squash, cucumber, melon, etc)

How do you eat amaranth?

Jondo Almondo wrote:Galangal, chicory, tomatillo, lemongrass, fennel.
Mild chilli (less pests than capsicums).

Sadly I had to google that first one.

We eat these regularly so they're on my must grow list.....

Onions
Potatoes
Sweet potatoes
Boy choy and other Asian greens
Snow and snap peas
Kabocha squash
Tomatoes
Pipinola
Bananas
Tangelos
Pineapples
Papaya
Mint
Bay and other assorted herbs
Turmeric

Green Leaf Amaranth or any color


You cook it up just like kale or collard greens.
Mince/Chop it up
Add oil to a pot, heat, then onions, pepper, herbs, etc
Then add the amaranth to the pot
Stir Occasionally add salt and black pepper.

The trick is to get only the tender tips of the amaranth, before it all stringy and stiff.
It is really easy to create your own landrace, only save the seed from the ones that take the longest to go to seed and is not stiff/stringy.

S Bengi wrote:Green Leaf Amaranth or any color

You cook it up just like kale or collard greens.
Mince/Chop it up
Add oil to a pot, heat, then onions, pepper, herbs, etc
Then add the amaranth to the pot
Stir Occasionally add salt and black pepper.

The trick is to get only the tender tips of the amaranth, before it all stringy and stiff.
It is really easy to create your own landrace, only save the seed from the ones that take the longest to go to seed and is not stiff/stringy.

My husband cannot eat kale, spinach, etc because of his thyroid but chard is fine. I'm wondering if this would be another alternative. Thanks so much!

My family isn't big on squash. We eat zucchini and yellow squash but have barely eaten other varieties. I'm hoping to change that and have some squash seeds that will hopefully be a hit. Patty pan and sweet dumpling squash will be given space in the garden this year.

I'm also trying chinese noodle beans.  We eat a lot of green beans but I've not had much success growing a sufficient amount to can or keep before. So I decided to try some novelty varieties for fresh eating.

We enjoy peas but just the amount of space I'd have to give to them to get enough for us to eat a year isn't worth it. So I'll grow peas in the kid garden for them to pick and eat fresh and that's it. Same with radish, kid garden item.

I'd like to grow more garlic, onion and potato. Not huge success with them in the past but I do hope to change that and I'm willing to give them more space.

I'm not going to bother with most greens. I'll try cabbage again. I'll try chard again. I'll try amaranth for the first time. Otherwise I can't keep them from the bugs so don't even bother trying. Maybe I'll try doing a row of these with a net over the top. Not sure yet.

Going to devote a fair bit of space to tomatoes. I really enjoy canning tomatoes and we eat a fair bit of them.

Peppers will get some space. I'm planning spice varieties so I'll probably only need a couple successful plants to fulfill our needs.


so my big garden plan is to split our orchard space in half. Half of it will go to a new row crop garden and the other half has all the trees and berry bushes. I'm thinking I can plant the squash around the trees and such so I don't have to waste row crop space on them. Interested to see how that works out.

Elle, I grow peas densely seeded, so I get a lot from a bed. I sow seeds on a 2" grid, in a 18" wide row. That way I can easily straddle the row as I pick peas. Easier for me harvest them quickly that way. The dense sowing makes the short vined varieties self supporting. I get a lot of peas for this sort of a bed.

kale, chard, dandelion/bitter greens
spaghetti squash
fennel
celery
loofah
mulberries
passionfruit
sweet corn
snap beans
runner beans
fava beans
chinese noodle/aparagus beans (elle-- you're going to love them!)
hot peppers
green onions and korean/chinese scallions (nira)
collards
(in other words, mostly things I have a hard time finding in the store)

I would love to grow tomatoes but the pest problem is impossible to overcome and I haven't found anything that works against these crazy stem boring beetles we have. I did have a tomato come up under a covered area in my yard that is protected from the beasts, and it is HUGE and very prolific. Not sure I want to put up a greenhouse just for tomatoes but quite frankly I'm thinking about it.

My must-grows are cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, green beans, peas, greens in general, summer squash of several varieties, carrots, and especially kohlrabi. No one really grows it around here, so I have to grow it myself. I get winter squash and melons at the farmer's market. There's probably more staples I'm forgetting, since the garden has been asleep since September

After growing his landrace corn and squash this year I'm addicted to Joseph Lofthouse's landraces.  So much wonderous vigor and no pest problems (aside from the racoons).  Thank you again Joseph!

William Bronson wrote: Why no broccoli?
I find it hard to grow, too prone to pests.

It now gives her gas and with the ostomy that can be a very real problem.

Bugs are always an issue with Broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables for us, but DE does help if we get it started early enough.

Japanese wineberries- because they're an amazing colour and you can't buy them in the shops
Squash- interesting winter squash, because again you can't buy them and they come in so many amazing colours and shapes and flavours
Garlic- there are different flavours/heat of garlic that you can grow, but not buy!
Mange tout- best and sweetest when going straight from plant to plate, the ones from the store are soggy by comparasion

Well, whatever grows well with minimum fuss of course :)
Spinach, Fennel, Beet, Sweet potato, Pumpkins, Peas, Alfalfa, peppers, chili, aubergine, Black Krim tomatoes in the wormfarms, and amongst the roses my favourite self-seeding cherry tomato. Grows like a weed and I eat it like fruit. The Apricot tree is bending with ripe fruit and sending up root suckers which I am gradually spreading throughout the garden. Almonds. Lemons, oranges and clementines. Thyme, tarragon, basil, dill, celery  and parsley. Onion, garlic, field peas, rocket and all the radishes in winter, cauliflower and cabbage too though they do require some care.

I've discovered that watering with kombucha helps acidify my alkaline soil so doing better with stuff that used to hate this place: potatoes (still my number 1 homegrower's crop, the flavour is incomparable compared to what can be bought in shops), and sweet corn.

Some threads just make me too hungry to think and write, lol!
We had a grasshopper plague year before last and the year before that as well. Around the house and fields grasshoppers numbered in the millions, I would guess. They mowed everything down to the stems, including coniferous trees.
Yeah that was a little disheartening, but climate change actually worked in our favor this year, the drought we experienced last Winter continued into Spring and there was no food for the little bastards. No telling what this Spring will bring us. Prior to the grasshopper plague we had very good luck with Collards (my favorite), potatoes, squash, Zucchini, carrots, Scarlet  runners, Snap peas, actually way too many food plants to list.
I meant to get garlic in the ground before Winter hit, but this year is so different from last year, I missed it. This is one of the reasons I'm so encouraged by permaculture  practices. Now our cumbrance is budgetary. That is okay for now while I learn about permaculture I can plan what new planting beds will look like and where they'll go as I transform our gardens and yard into water harvesting and conservation designs.
Like I said, my mouth is watering just thinking about all the scrumptious veggies and hopefully even some fruiting shrubs and trees.
Thank you for these lists.
Brian  

Cherries and strawberries - they just taste so much better fresh from the garden and I never mind having gluts
Courgettes and winter squash - so easy to grow, so much variety, so productive and winter squash store really well
Rhubarb - doesn’t matter how much I neglect it it always produces well
Assorted salad leaves and herbs- again really easy , surprisingly expensive to buy and can whip up a quick tasty meal from them
And as of this year melons - I didn’t think I could grow them here but picking the right variety and a heatwave gave me a delicious crop

Tereza Okava wrote:kale, chard, dandelion/bitter greens
spaghetti squash
fennel
celery
loofah
mulberries
passionfruit
sweet corn
snap beans
runner beans
fava beans
chinese noodle/aparagus beans (elle-- you're going to love them!)
hot peppers
green onions and korean/chinese scallions (nira)
collards
(in other words, mostly things I have a hard time finding in the store)

I would love to grow tomatoes but the pest problem is impossible to overcome and I haven't found anything that works against these crazy stem boring beetles we have. I did have a tomato come up under a covered area in my yard that is protected from the beasts, and it is HUGE and very prolific. Not sure I want to put up a greenhouse just for tomatoes but quite frankly I'm thinking about it.

loofah! Now that's something I should try!!

Ya'll are giving me great ideas thanks so much!

ground cherries - super productive, low maintenance, and delicious

parsley - my favourite green.  I'll sit down and eat a big bowl of it straight up, but it also makes its way in large quantities into salads, dressings and sauces, smoothies, etc.  One of my all-time favourite salads is a head of romaine, a big bunch of parsley, and a couple sliced bananas.

MY dream plants for my new Homestead:
Mulberry
Garlic
Green Onion
Tomatoes
Cucumber
Sage
Peanuts
Cabbage
Carrots
Radish
Sweet Potato
Lemon
Lime
Mulberry
Apple
Walnut
Almond
Apricot
Soapberry

Dream plants my home already has:
Pecan(just have to find a way to keep the birds away!)
Tangerine
Avocado
Orange
Cherimoya (haven't tasted it, i'm just so excited I have one, should be ripe soon!!!)

If we can grow all these, my grocery/feed bill will be REMARKABLY reduced!