- Artichokes
- Asparagus
- Baby Leaf
- Beans
- Beets
- Broccoli
- Brussels Sprouts
- Burdock
- Cabbage
- Carrots
- Cauliflower
- Celery & Celeriac
- Chicory
- Chinese Cabbage
- Collards
- Corn
- Cucumbers
- Eggplant
- Fennel
- Garlic
- Gourds
- Greens
- Horseradish
- Husk Cherry
- Kale
- Kalettes
- Kohlrabi
- Leeks
- Lettuce
- Melons
- Microgreens
- Mushrooms
- Okra
- Onions
- Parsnips
- Peas
- Peppers
- Potatoes
- Pumpkins
- Radishes
- Rutabagas
- Scorzonera & Salsify
- Shallots
- Shoots
- Spinach
- Sprouts
- Summer Squash
- Sweet Potatoes
- Swiss Chard
- Tomatillos
- Tomatoes
- Turnips
- Watermelons
- Winter Squash
8 Great Vegetables for Beginner Gardeners • from Seed to Harvest
June view of Niki Jabbour's raised-bed gardens in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Photo courtesy of Niki Jabbour. All rights reserved.
Guidance from Johnny's four-season friend to the north, Niki Jabbour
ABOUT NIKI JABBOUR
Niki Jabbour is the award-winning author of The Year-Round Vegetable Gardener (American Horticultural Society Book Award), Groundbreaking Food Gardens, and Niki Jabbour's Veggie Garden Remix (American Horticultural Society Book Award). Her latest book is Growing Under Cover (2020), in which she explores how simple garden covers can be used to grow more food and protect crops from bad weather, frost, and pests such as insects, deer, and rabbits.
Niki is a passionate, year-round vegetable gardener who grows food in over 20 raised beds in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She uses simple cold frames, deep mulching, and mini hoop tunnels to stretch her season into winter.
Niki is a passionate, year-round vegetable gardener who grows food in over 20 raised beds in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She uses simple cold frames, deep mulching, and mini hoop tunnels to stretch her season into winter.
Growing your own vegetables is a great way to connect with the natural world, relax the mind while engaging the body, and gain self-sufficiency in the form of fresh, flavorful produce.
If gardening is new to you or seems complicated, here's some encouragement from Johnny's with Niki Jabbour, award-winning author and year-round gardener in Nova Scotia, Canada.
Niki has a gift for simplifying the path to success in gardening: Combine Niki's into easy-to-follow steps with Johnny's Key Growing Information for these 8 vegetables, and you're off to a solid start.
Follow along and give it a try — you may be surprised by how rewarding growing your own vegetables can be.
8 GREAT VEGETABLES to GET YOU GROWING
- How to Grow BUSH BEANS • from Seed to Harvest
- How to Grow CARROTS • from Seed to Harvest
- How to Grow CHERRY TOMATOES • from Seed to Harvest
- How to Grow CUCUMBERS • from Seed to Harvest
- How to Grow LETTUCE • from Seed to Harvest
- How to Grow PEAS • from Seed to Harvest
- How to Grow PEPPERS • from Seed to Harvest
- How to Grow SUMMER SQUASH • from Seed to Harvest
1 • How to Grow Bush Beans • from Seed to Harvest
Bush Beans • Key Growing Information
How to Grow Bush Beans • VIDEO
Here are some recommendations and guidance for growing 'Affirmed' and 'Cosmos' green bush bean varieties. Bush beans are one of the easiest vegetables to grow. 'Affirmed' and 'Cosmos' both have disease resistance and produce a delicious crop of green beans in about 56 days, from seed to harvest. Watch…
Easy Choice Bush Bean Varieties
2 • How to Grow Carrots • from Seed to Harvest
Carrots • Key Growing Information
Pelleted Carrots • Key Growing Information
How to Grow Carrots • VIDEO
Niki Jabbour lends Johnny's home gardening community her expertise on how to grow 'Bolero' carrot, a crisp and delicious, easy-choice variety that's great for fresh eating or storage. Seed is available in both raw form and as pelleted seed, for easier sowing. Watch…
Easy Choice Carrot Varieties
3 • How to Grow Cherry Tomatoes • from Seed to Harvest
Tomatoes • Key Growing Information
How to Grow Cherry Tomatoes • VIDEO
Learn how to grow 'Jasper' cherry tomato, an organic, award-winning Johnny's-Bred variety with high resistance to late blight. Summer is the sweetest season for the tomato lover, and with a variety like 'Jasper,' the plants produce a non-stop crop of cherry-sized, bright-red fruits until frost. Watch…
Easy Choice Tomato Varieties
4 • How to Grow Cucumbers • from Seed to Harvest
Cucumbers • Key Growing Information
How to Grow Cucumbers • VIDEO
Niki lends our home gardening community her expertise on how to grow our Easy-Choice 'Corinto' slicing cucumber. This is a variety with remarkably vigorous, disease-resistant plants that produce fruits averaging 7–8 inches in length in approximately 48 days. Watch…
Easy Choice Cucumber Varieties
5 • How to Grow Lettuce • from Seed to Harvest
Lettuce • Key Growing Information
Pelleted Lettuce • Key Growing Information
How to Grow Lettuce • VIDEO
Get Niki's expertise on how to grow our exclusive 'Adriana' lettuce. This is a heat-tolerant, disease-resistant butterhead (Boston) type variety with dark green, flavorful leaves. 'Adriana' forms its full, dense, and deliciously buttery heads in about 48 days. Watch…
Easy Choice Lettuce Varieties
6 • How to Grow Peas • from Seed to Harvest
Peas • Key Growing Information
How to Grow Peas • VIDEO
Learn how to grow 'Super Sugar Snap' pea, an earlier, somewhat shorter-vined version of the award-winning 'Sugar Snap' — with the important addition of resistance to powdery mildew. Watch…
Easy Choice Pea Varieties
7 • How to Grow Peppers • from Seed to Harvest
Peppers • Key Growing Information
How to Grow Peppers • VIDEO
Niki lends Johnny's home gardening community her expertise on how to grow 'Ace,' an extra early, very productive, Easy Choice bell peppers that's perfect for short-season gardens like hers, along with 'Jedi,' our most popular jalapeño pepper, and 'Red Ember,' an award-winning, Johnny's-Bred organic cayenne pepper. Watch…
Easy Choice Pepper Varieties
8 • How to Grow Summer Squash • from Seed to Harvest
Yellow Summer Squash • Key Growing Information
Specialty Summer Squash • Key Growing Information
Zucchini • Key Growing Information
How to Grow Summer Squash • VIDEO
Learn how to to grow summer squash, featuring 'Zephyr,' the vigorous, productive Johnny's-Bred variety with signature coloration and deliciously mild flavor. Watch…