Ten Best Fruits, Vegetables, and Herbs Families Can Grow at Home

Growing your own fruits and vegetables at home can be a very rewarding experience. First, you’ll save money on your monthly grocery bill. Second, you’ll experience the pride that comes from growing your own food for your family. Third, and most important of all, you’ll be able to keep your family safer from harmful chemicals that can contaminate your food. Check out these top ten best fruits and veggies to grow at home. Enlist your kids to help you start an indoor or outdoor garden, and you could be serving up your own tasty home–grown food to your family in no time!

Tomatoes

Tomatoes don’t need a lot of care to produce a lot of fruit. They love sun, so keep them in a sunny spot. Water as needed and avoid over–watering. Tomatoes are climbers, so provide them with a means to climb and they’ll quickly take it over. Grow beef steaks for sandwiches, pizzas, and sauces and Roma tomatoes for salads, garnishes, and more. If you don’t have a backyard, tomatoes can be grown on a sunny porch, patio, or balcony.

Blueberries

With even just a small space to grow, blueberries can yield enough fruit to make tasty snacks and desserts for your whole family. Be sure to select a variety that is known to grow well in your area. Grow them in full sun and water them around twice a week (depending on the weather conditions in your area of the country.) The berries will taste best if picked about seven days after turning blue.

Chives

This spunky herb is commonly used as a flavor additive in tons of different main courses, salads, and sauces. Chives also contain numerous vitamins and minerals, including vitamin C, Iron, and Potassium. Chives can be grown indoors and outdoors and in almost any climate, as long as the proper adjustments are made.

Strawberries

Excellent in desserts and on their own, your kids will have fun helping you grow and eat your own strawberries. This versatile plant can be grown in the ground or in a pot fairly easily. Buy young plants in the spring and water them often as they are getting established. You could have fruit in just a few weeks. Once the fruits appear to be ripe, they can be picked and eaten right off the plant if grown organically.

Greens

Spinach, collards, chard, lettuce and more –greens are an obvious choice for any family garden, because they’re easy to grow and full of the vitamins and minerals that promote health. You can grow them from seed or buy the young plants at your local home improvement store or nursery. Grow them in the ground once they’re established, or keep them in a well–drained pot or other container. Greens can be harvested at many different stages depending on the grower’s wants and needs.

Pumpkins

Surprise your family next autumn with pumpkin pie or custard made from home–grown pumpkins. You can also harvest your pumpkins in time to have some very special Jack–O–Lanterns. Pumpkins need an area that gets lots of sun. Pumpkins also grow on vines and the vines can really travel! So be sure your pumpkin patch is large enough for them to grow in.

Peppers

Peppers are notoriously easy to grow and with so many different kinds to choose from, they’re a must–have for any back–yard vegetable grower! Peppers generally need a good deal of sun, so be sure to pick a sunny spot for your containers. Popular choices are bell, banana, and jalapeños.

Basil

Basil loves warmth and sunshine. It will grow easily in a well–drained pot and makes a fabulous addition to an indoor or an outdoor herb garden. If growing it inside, be sure to place it in a spot that gets lots of sunlight. Basil produces tasty leaves to be used in salads and sauces and for seasoning many different types of dishes.

Avocado

Provided you have the room, an avocado tree makes a wonderful addition to any backyard. For one, it will provide lots of shade. Also, once it reaches the stage in which it yields fruit (which can take up to seven years if you grow the tree from seed,) it will yield delicious fruit that is high in healthy Omega–3 fatty acids.

Cucumber

Cucumbers come in a variety of different sizes and shapes. The most commonly grown type for backyards or containers is the American slicing cucumber. These deliciously crisp veggies do best when planted after the danger of a frost has passed. Give them lots of room to grow and provide a trellis if possible, as cucumbers are climbing plants.