Easy fruit and veg.

[Thingsthatgo]

Last year I grew runner beans and potatoes and they were fab. This year I've added in strawberries and they are surprisingly successful!
I am a lazy gardener and I don't have a greenhouse or potting shed, but would love some more ideas of reasonable fool proof fruit and veg to grow. The kids love picking them and eating them.
Thank you.

I genuinely find brassicas (cabbage, brussels, kale) very easy to grow so long as they are netted with an insect net.

I have a cultivated bramble (blackberries) that is thornless and well behaved but fruits reliably and with absolutely no effort from me, except some basic end of year pruning.

As a slight variation to runners, climbing french beans - they just need to be planted a little bit later when the weather is reliably warm - but are otherwise not hassle.

Rhubarb - a perenial so needs a permanent spot but is very easy to grow.

Sweetcorn is really easy if you have the space as you need several plants in a grid.

I also grow carrots, raspberries, blueberries, courgettes, lettuce all of which are very easy to grow.

Tomatoes! I’ve never grown them before this year but they’ve been easy as pie.

Second the suggestion for blackberries - Loch Ness is a good variety, thornless.

We have raspberry and blueberry bushes in big pots. Planted years ago with minimal care since and every year there's berries the kids can pick and eat straight away while playing out.

Radishes, beetroot, lettuce and chard are all very easy and can be planted straight into wherever you want them.
Radishes give a pleasingly quick harvest.

Blueberries in pots are very easy - use the right soil; feed if you remember & light pruning is all you need.
Our raspberry bed is finally getting going - have a mix of summer & autumn canes. Again need a bit of pruning but not too difficult.
We have a blackberry hybrid - it's a monster but is very reliable & resilient; it does need keeping in check otherwise it would attempt world domination; but maintaining its boundaries; pulling up runners, pruning out the old stems etc & you'll get tons of fruit in a few years. Ours has vicious thorns though!

Rocket grows like a weed, as does spinach. Chard is easy and if you buy a rainbow packet of seeds, very pretty.

There are a lot of blackberry-raspberry crosses (loganberry, tayberry, boysenberry, sunberry etc) which are vigorous and just require cutting down the fruited canes and tying in the new canes, sometime between August and March . They don’t sucker like raspberries, and are generally pest and disease free. And they freeze well.

There are some thornless varieties too

As a slight variation to runners, climbing french beans - they just need to be planted a little bit later when the weather is reliably warm - but are otherwise not hassle. That’s interesting - I always plant my French before my runners.

I find the runners do better in wetter seasons and the French in dry

We always do runners first and tend to end up with far more of both than we can eat There is just something so satisfying about poles of climbing beans it seems hard to resist doing loads of them.

But maybe we'll try them the other way round next year and see if your way is better - I suspect it will be!

Courgettes and cucumbers are quite easy. Once they're planted and established, they need little care except for watering, and are very prolific. Cover the baby cucumber plant at first with an upturned coffee jar to keep the slugs off. The courgettes have slightly prickly leaves so the slugs don't bother with them (not prickly enough to hurt humans, but enough to be uncomfortable for slugs.

Maybe just try a few?

I grow in pots (my garden is too shady), and I don’t put them out into Slug-world until they have flower buds. So things may be different for me.

Interested in this thread, we have a patio only and grow things in pots, north facing too

Any advice about what is possible? We have 7 tomato plants, some are doing better than others

Leaves are always going to be better than things depending on flowers if you’re in the shade. So swiss chard, beetroot, purple sprouting, cavalo nero for example. My pots are in the sun, so I also do Climbing French, runner and broad beans, and sugar snap peas, and courgettes. Tomatoes, cucumbers in the greenhouse, and lettuce, for slug protection

That’s a magnificent beast @APurpleSquirrel . Is it in the sun or shade? Do you prune it each year? Do you get bored of picking fruit?

Like the idea of cavelo nero and chard

Raspberries are the vey easiest thing IME. The other thing that you can't go wrong with is Chinese mustard red giant, really big leaves that are great for salads or sandwiches.

What about watercress?

Oh no! I want to grow them alll. I don't reco

Recognise myself - I used to party all night and I now I just want to grow raspberries
Thank you. I assumed that I would need a greenhouse for some of these, but I am going to make some plans.

Thank you!
It's on a south facing fence.
Yes, we prune it every year, taking out the old fruited canes & tying in the new ones. If we were more organised we'd tie the new canes one side & the fruiting canes the other, but we're not! In the past we've let it grow along the full length of the fence, but I've reclaimed the beds either side & it needs to be confined now.
Yes, we do get bored of picking the fruit! There's only so much jam any family needs, but it does make excellent jam. So we're happy to leave a lot of the fruit for the wildlife like birds & mice.
Tbh we don't even know what variety it is - it was sold as a tayberry or loganberry (we bought both & planted them next to each other); but one had furry fruit like a large raspberry which never tasted nice, so we took that one out & left the other which resembles large blackberries, but the closest I've found is a boysenberry? Anyway, it's a blackberry hybrid of some kind.

There’s a thing called American landcress which looks and tastes the same but doesn’t need the running water.

If we were more organised we'd tie the new canes one side & the fruiting canes the other, but we're not! I tie the fruiting canes into both sides, and the non fruiting canes into a loose bundle vertically. Then each year chop out all the fruiting canes, release the non-fruiting canes and choose the 4 best, getting rid of all the rest.

mine is less vigorous than yours but it’s shaded by trees on all four sides.

The furry one will have been the loganberry. Surprised you didn’t enjoy the fruit, ours is lovely, although a different variety I presume because it is thornless - I developed an allergy but am OK with thornless varieties.

I’ve just started the picking season, with strawberries, alpine strawberries and now loganberries. Soon the tayberries and raspberries will join in, and before they’ve finished, the mulberries will start, and the figs. It’s quite a relief when we get on to apples then quinces and medlars, and an end is in sight. Although I always anjoy the first couple of weeks, appeals to my self sufficiency instincts.

I freeze a lot, and we have raspberries and other berries on our cereal all winter. I make medlar jelly, and quince jelly as a byproduct of marmelada (membrillo), and that fills our jam-eating quota, so all other surpluses go into the deepfreeze.

One courgette plant will give more than enough for any family. More than one and you'll be feeding your entire district. Raspberries are very satisfying as are blackcurrants (lovely for the jam of your childhood and cordial). We (I really mean my husband) also grow broccoli and cauliflower outside and tomatoes and cucumbers in the polytunnel. Garlic and onions, early potatoes and enough mange tout for the people in your village that haven't been over supplied with courgettes.