11 of the Easiest, Fastest Vegetables to Grow

Whether you're a newbie or an avid gardener, everyone likes having a few easier vegetables to grow in their garden. Here are just a few vegetables that, with minimal amounts of effort, you can grow yourself and enjoy the fruits—well, vegetables—of your labor.

1. Lettuce

Lettuce is an incredibly easy—and useful—vegetable to grow. It can be planted directly in your garden or indoors and then moved.

One thing that makes lettuce an easy plant for novice gardeners to grow is that it can grow all year long in certain climates. Lettuce needs sun to grow quickly but in shade, it will still grow, just slower.

By growing your own lettuce, you will be able to enjoy delicious salads all year round.

2. Kale

Like lettuce, kale can also grow across many different temperatures. One thing people may not know is kale actually produces flowers that are edible and beautiful.

3. Potatoes

Once potatoes are planted, they require very little work—just make sure you keep unwanted pests away. Potatoes require very little water and can be planted on hills, in bags, containers, or even planters.

4. Swiss Chard

Swiss chard is a staple in Southern-style cooking and is actually a vegetable you can grow yourself. One thing that makes it an easy plant to grow is that it does well in both cold and hot weather.

5. Carrots

Carrots have to be planted in sandy soil when it is cool out, so in most areas of the country either the spring or fall. The plants can withstand winter frosts, which makes them a great plant to grow year-round.

6. Radishes

Radishes are a great plant for impatient gardeners to grow. The vegetable can be harvested in under 30 days. This also makes radishes a great plant to intersperse with slower-growing vegetables. They work really well with carrots.

Radishes should be planted in the spring, 2 inches or more apart from each other. All you need to do is cover the seeds with soil.

7. Zucchini

Zucchini is an incredibly easy vegetable to grow in your garden as well. The vegetable needs to be planted before the cold winter months. Zucchini reproduces quickly, so don't plant too many at once.

8. Beans

Beans are an easy vegetable for a newbie gardener to grow because they can grow in soils that are less desirable to other plants. Beans release nitrogen as they grow, meaning they actually help to improve the quality of the soil for other plants as well.

Different types of beans grow better in different climates and at different temperatures, so contact your local gardening supply store to ask which variety will work best for you.

Beans also grow pretty quickly so they are a great option if you don't want to wait years to eat your homegrown vegetables.

9. Cucumbers

Cucumbers are incredibly low maintenance. As long as they get water, the plant will continue to grow.

These plants can get big, so if you have a lot of cucumbers, consider pickling some of them. This way they will be preserved for a much longer time and available for you to eat in multiple ways.

10. Onions

Not all onions rank among the simplest vegetables to grow but some, like green onions, aren't that difficult to grow yourself. Onions can be squeezed in pretty much anywhere within your garden and are a great companion vegetable to other plants.

11. Peas

Who doesn't love peas? They're great in summer salads, on their own, or in stews and pot pies. Trellising will make peas easier to pick.

One of the best things about peas is you can get a lot of vegetables from a single plant since the plants produce a lot of peas.

They prefer warm but not hot weather.

12. Beets

Beets will need some thinning but are incredibly easy to plant and harvest. The seeds are bigger than other root vegetables and should be planted further apart.