What to grow.
When deciding what to grow in our garden, we must consider the space and time we can realistically dedicate. If there’s only one piece of advice to remember, it’s this: start small.
Starting small allows you to learn and adapt as you go, reducing the risk of feeling overwhelmed and increasing the likelihood of success. It’s easy to get carried away with ambitious plans—dreaming of growing all your produce, stocking up for the winter, and never needing store-bought fruits or vegetables again. But it’s much better to build up to that gradually rather than dive headfirst into such a massive commitment.
Gardening and handling the harvest can be time-consuming and labor-intensive. If we set our initial goals too high, we risk burning out within weeks. Instead of bringing us joy, the garden can quickly become a source of frustration and a chore we dread.
I share these cautionary words not to discourage you but to help you foster a deep and lasting love for gardening. Remember, the joy of seeing your plants thrive and the satisfaction of harvesting your own produce far outweigh the challenges.
I know how it feels when you don’t have the energy to water the garden in the evening because you’re too tired. Or when you see the weeds taking over, you can’t find the time to pull them because life keeps getting in the way. Or even when your fruits get rotten because only the thought of hours spent making preserves makes you feel exhausted.
So, start with a small space, a few easy-to-grow plants, and see how it goes. You’ll be surprised at how much you can achieve; the sense of accomplishment will fuel your passion for gardening.
The amusing part is that every book or online resource has a slightly different opinion on what works best. Ultimately, it’s up to you to learn and understand what thrives in your unique garden setup.
Remember, gardening is as much an art as it is a science. So, trust your instincts, learn from your mistakes, and let your experience guide you. You’re more capable than you think.
Choosing Plants
It’s beneficial to have a balanced mix of plants: some for fresh consumption (like salad greens, cucumbers, radishes, and chives), others that store well without processing (such as pumpkins, potatoes, garlic, and onions), and a variety that can be preserved for later use (like fruits, tomatoes, peppers, carrots, celery, and herbs).
Additionally, aim for a combination of both annual and perennial varieties.
Ideally, include a range of vegetables and fruits for each season. This approach provides fresh produce throughout the year and helps spread the workload instead of overwhelming you with everything at once.
I won’t break down the tasks by months or detail specific harvest times because it depends on your unique location. Conditions can differ dramatically between continents, regions, cities, or even between neighboring plots in the same village.
If you want a good sense of what grows well in your area and which plants suit the current season, stroll around your neighborhood. Observe what’s flourishing in the wild and see what others cultivate in their gardens.
Afterward, explore the vegetable seedling section at your local garden center. Smaller stores often carry only what’s in season, making selecting plants suited to your area and time of year easier.
Types of Plants and Why They Matter
Before diving into specific plant families, look at the broader categories of plant lifespans and how understanding them can influence our garden planning.
Annuals vs. Perennials
- Annuals: These plants complete their entire life cycle—germinating, flowering, setting seed, and dying—in a single season. They will need to be replanted each year. Many annuals self-seed, meaning if the conditions are right, they can return on their own the following year.
- Biennials: These plants have a two-year lifecycle. They typically grow foliage in the first year, flower and produce seeds in the second year, and then die. You’ll need to replant them every couple of years.
- Perennials: Unlike annuals and biennials, perennials continue to grow year after year. They go through cycles of growth and dormancy, but they don’t need replanting each season. However, in colder climates, tender perennials may not survive the winter unless protected, meaning they might still need to be replaced.
Nasturtium is a great example, as it can be grown in both flower pots and directly in the ground throughout the year. However, when temperatures approach freezing, nasturtium will not survive the cold. At the end of each season, I take a few plants from the garden and transfer them to the greenhouse for the winter, either in pots or raised beds, and then I replant them outdoors in the spring.
Some perennials might appear to vanish after flowering—drying up and looking lifeless—but they’re merely dormant and will re-sprout when the conditions are right. Examples include bulbs, tuberous plants like tulips and daffodils, or even those with roots like the Sedum Blue Elf. In a vegetable garden, good examples are chives or tarragon.
Creating a Balanced Garden
For a thriving garden, it’s ideal to incorporate a mix of annuals, biennials, and perennials. Each type has its role and benefits, creating a more sustainable and visually appealing space. In vegetable gardens, perennial plants like raspberry and blueberry bushes, grapevines, rosemary, lavender, sage, and other herbs can provide consistent yields and structure year after year.
Blending these plant types will ensure a vibrant, stable garden and seasonal variety.
What’s hidden underground: bulbs, tubers, roots
Plants can also be categorized based on whether they have underground storage structures like bulbs, tubers, or specialized roots. These parts serve as the plant’s energy reserves, helping them survive harsh conditions and ensuring regrowth in the next season.
While detailed classifications and technical differences exist between bulbs and tubers, a basic understanding is needed unless you want to dive deeper into the subject.
The key takeaway is that bulbs and tubers act as the plant’s lifeline, enabling it to endure unfavorable conditions, propagate, and sprout again when the environment is right. Sometimes, they can remain dormant underground for years, waiting for the perfect moment to emerge.
How to Tell the Difference: Tubers vs. Bulbs
Tubers
Tubers have an elongated shape with a hard outer skin. They store nutrients and have “eyes” or nodes from which new shoots grow.
Edible tubers include potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes, and ginger. Nonedible tubers are often used in ornamental gardens, and the most common are dahlias, cyclamen, peonies, certain irises, and begonias.
Bulbs
Bulbs, on the other hand, are often round or onion-shaped with a series of overlapping layers, resembling a tightly wrapped structure.
The most well-known bulbs used in vegetable gardens are onions and garlic. Tulips, daffodils, crocuses, amaryllis, lilies, snowdrops, and narcissi are often used in ornamental gardens.
Taking care of tubers and bulbs
Tuberous plants, especially flowers, tend to spread and expand each year. This means they are ideal for areas in the garden that you want to fill quickly or for spots where you don’t plan to grow other plants. Over time, they can completely take over a space if not managed. There is no need (and it would be impossible) to remove tubers for the winter. It’s enough to cut leaves at the end of the season so the plant can conserve energy for the next season.
Plants with bulbs, on the other hand, reproduce less aggressively than tubers but still multiply on their own. Many gardeners dig up bulbs after the flowering season and store them in a cool, dry place until the next planting. Storing them like this prevents them from sprouting prematurely (if stored in a warm place, they would start to grow even without soil) and helps protect them from harsh winters. These “dry” bulbs can last up to two years without soil.
When we decide to leave bulbs in the ground, we must consider that after they bloom, the plant often goes dormant, leaving a bare patch in the garden. The bulb occupies this seemingly empty space, meaning you can’t dig there without risking damage to those underground bulbs.
To avoid this, we have two options:
Designated Bulb Areas: Plant bulbs in a specific spot where you don’t plan to grow other plants. You can even layer different bulb varieties that bloom at various times, creating a continuous display of flowers throughout the growing season.
Rotational Planting: After the bulbs have bloomed, dig them up and store them. Then, plant an annual crop in their place, making better use of the space until the bulbs are ready to be replanted in the next season.
Plant pollination
Plant pollination is a vital aspect of gardening. Understanding how plants reproduce and get pollinated helps us create an optimal environment.
Plants can be classified into three main categories based on how they are pollinated:
Single-Plant Pollination (Monoecious Plants)
Some plants have both male and female flowers on the same plant. Pollinators can transfer pollen between flowers on the same plant, ensuring fertilization. Examples include pumpkins and zucchinis. In these cases, male flowers are purely ornamental, while the female flowers produce fruit.
Tip: You can remove some of the male flowers (which are edible) to direct the plant’s energy toward developing the fruit. Just be careful not to remove too many, and don’t remove them too early; otherwise, you may prevent fertilization altogether and end up with no fruit.
Self-Pollinating Plants (Hermaphroditic Flowers)
These plants have male and female parts within a single flower, allowing them to self-pollinate without needing external agents like bees. They rely on wind or rain to spread pollen and do not need help from pollinators.
Self-pollinating plants include commonly grown vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and peas. They are characterized by small, simple flowers (they don’t need to attract pollinators) capable of producing fruits. Exceptions include roses and tulips, which are self-pollinating but still have showy flowers.
Note: Growing these plants in the greenhouse can be a good option, but we must still consider pollination. Due to the significant reduction of natural pollinating conditions, we should pollinate them by ourselves using cotton swabs.
Cross-Pollination (Dioecious Plants)
Some plants require separate male and female plants for pollination. Pollinators, such as bees or butterflies, transfer pollen from male to female flowers on a different plant. These plants typically have large, fragrant flowers that attract pollinators with nectar.
Examples of cross-pollination plants include fruit trees such as kiwi, apple, pear, peach, and almond trees.
Fruit tree pollination
When buying fruit trees, you might see varieties labeled “self-fertile” or “self-pollinating.” These types don’t require another plant for cross-pollination. If you only have space for one tree, look for this label.
On the other hand, if you have a fruit tree in your garden that blooms beautifully but never produces fruit, consider whether it might need a counterpart of the opposite sex nearby. A lack of fruit could indicate an absence of the opposite sex or an insufficient number of pollinators in the area. Other reasons why it does not bear fruit can be unsuitable conditions for growth – light, water, and nutrients. Some varieties of tree fruits are only ornamental, so they produce beautiful flowers but never fruits.
Choosing the right tree based on pollination
Before planting new trees, walk around your neighborhood to see what fruit trees are growing. If your neighbors’ trees produce fruit, you have a good chance that yours will, too, thanks to shared pollinators. However, if your goal is a substantial harvest, it’s best to plant a few trees of the same species with both male and female varieties. Ensure that they are of the same variety if you have both, with matching names. Having two plants of the same type, like two pears, doesn’t necessarily mean they will be compatible.
As mentioned above, if space is limited, choose self-fertile trees to ensure you get fruit even with a single tree. Look for this information on the label or simply ask the staff for advice. The disadvantage is that they usually produce less or smaller fruit.