Top Seeds Easy-to-grow vegetables.

Growing vegies is not always simple, especially when you’re starting out. has picked five of the easiest to build up your home harvest Helen Young skills and, as a bonus, they’re some of the most productive in small spaces.

1 SALAD LEAVES

Lettuces, mizuna, mustard greens, endive and corn salad (also known as lamb’s lettuce) are easy to grow, even in pots, and don’t need full sun. Choose loose-leaf lettuces – mignonette, butter, oakleaf, even cos – that you can pick as you need, harvesting the outer leaves first. Start with seeds or seedlings. The secret to sweet, tender leaves is to grow them quickly, with ample water and soluble fertiliser, and to plant a new batch every four weeks or so. They don’t like harsh heat or drying out.

2 SNOW PEAS

Peas like growing in cooler weather and grow best from seed. The seeds are large and therefore easy to handle. Snow peas can be eaten straight off the vine, which makes them great for children. They need something to climb up, but other than that they’re fast-growing and relatively problem-free. Their pretty white flowers turn into pickable pods within days, so once they’re in production, harvest every day or two to keep them coming. The new leaf shoots are also edible.

3 BEANS

Beans thrive in the warmer months and, like peas, are best grown by sowing their large seeds. This allows you to sow a second crop a few weeks after the first. Dwarf or French beans produce full-size beans on short plants rather than climbing, and you can get a head start with these from a punnet of seedlings. They’re great for growing in pots and produce beans within weeks. Climbing beans crop over a longer time and give bigger harvests.

4 SPRING ONIONS

Instead of throwing out limp, leftover spring onions (also called shallots), trim the tops and plant them so they start growing again. Better still, buy a punnet and grow your own continuous supply. Punnets can contain dozens of tiny seedlings. Separate them gently and lay sideways in a shallow furrow. Cover the roots with soil and then water. They’ll stand upright by themselves within a day or so. Seed tapes, with seeds embedded in paper tape at regular intervals, are also easy to plant. Spring onions take sun or part shade.

5 SILVERBEET

You can grow nutritious and space-saving silverbeet all year in frost-free climates. Rainbow chard is virtually the same plant, but has gorgeous yellow or crimson-coloured stems that look vibrant in the garden. The more fertiliser and water you use, the bigger the leaves will be. In hot weather, give the plants some shade. When you harvest the outer leaves, always leave four to five leaves on the plant. Use young leaves in salads and mature leaves in cooked dishes. #