If there was a chart of this kind of thing or a solid non-SEO-spam resource, that would be helpful, too.
I agree mint is very cool, and there are a surprising number of varieties, and when it decides to bolt, the flower clusters are beautiful
tomatoes are easy to grow and usually kinda expensive.. they just need lots of light and water.
if you can fight off the slugs and snails.
How do you go about doing that, by the way? I tried growing lettuce once. Completely, absolutely RIDDLED with pests. There wasn't any edible result
i put rings of salt around my containers like I'm warding off demons
I go out every night with a salt shaker and a spade. They’re nocturnal and live near drains and gutters, and also on the underside of pots and such. It helps to be consistent, but I also have a very small plot to work with, so YMMV.
be me
grow radishes on a balcony
slugs somehow fucking know they're up there???
I just don't know how they know they're there! How do they know it's worth climbing, at the rate of a gott dang slug, up to the second story of this building?? There's so much plant matter they could be eating downstairs! They're fuckin' obsessed I tell you hwut
I get that they can smell it but it just seems like an awful long way to go especially when there's stuff they could eat downstairs that doesn't require the equivalent of a hundred mile journey and crawling over concrete
If you really just want to plant and forget, potatoes require next to no effort and grow like weeds. They are however, the cheapest fucking vegetable in the grocery store. Might be a consideration depending on how much land you personally can and are willing to cultivate for food
Potatoes like it when you mistreat them I swear. I can lovingly care for a potato, plant it, water it and have it die but the chunks I cut off with an eye haphazardly sprout in the grass and so do the ones I leave in the pantry??
if you've never grown anything before, do (non-Asian) radishes
it's idiotproof and also more satisfying than growing leaves
it’s idiotproof and also more satisfying than growing leaves
be me
try grow radishes
radishes are as thin as hairs
the thickest radish maybe a pinky finger, but with big huge leaves
all I'm growing is leaves for the slugs to eat
did you do anything special to the soil? That seems like high nitrogen soil
I just planted them and barely even watered them and they were perfect, harvest in 1 month after seeding
I think the problems are manifold here
started growing too hot, it's been in the 90s all summer
put too many in the same container because I'm not Container Rich
soil probably isn't nitrogen rich because I errrr uhhhh have been re-using soil, but I do occasionally give it a bit of that Miracle Grow (tm)
the most Radishy Radish I'm growing has been growing for probably two months now, and I destroyed all the others in its container. It's still not getting much thicker though. Every single one of them seems to be growing root tissue above the soil which I feel like might contribute to them not thickening up
I figure I'll just keep watering them until they either seed or die
I've had good luck putting minimal effort into dark leafy greens (specifically chard and bok choy), but idk if it will save you a ton of money.
a fruit tree eventually yields much low effort but getting to that take a while
but yeah spinach, peppers, tomatoes are the sorta thing that go in any meal and probably the best for money saving
This is always the answer. If you have access to sunny land, fruit trees and herbs. Annuals take much more effort and energy than perennials. Rosemary, Thyme, Oregano, mint grow on their own and make cooking so much better. Add a sour citrus tree like Key limes, meyer lemons, and you can really accomplish a lot.
Winter squash is a good one when you have more space than time to tend it, and it keeps pretty well
Beans beans beans beans beans. Peas too. Well, they might not save that much money because they're already dirt cheap, but they absolutely rock fresh from the garden.
Seconding herbs; most of them grow like weeds and are way overpriced in stores. Throw down some lovage and parcel and they get real real big and are tasty and green.
Microgreens are fun and don't take much effort. I recommend trying out mung beans, alfalfa sprouts, and radish sprouts, many different kinds of "fancy" mushrooms can be grown for pretty low effort and you will end up with pounds upon pounds of them. Both of these can be easily grown indoors during winter months (assuming you have that where you live, and you're going into them).
Out of doors, peas and squash, and depending on time scale we're talking about fruit trees maybe? The nice thing about squash is they store for months and who doesn't like squash?
Dandelions are very edible and take zero effort to grow. You can make the roots into a tea that tastes kinda sorta like coffee. It's better than coffee I've had at some gas stations at least. The greens are a little bitter, but if you pick the big ones early in the year they can be really tasty. In spring I often make a saag aloo-ish dish with dandelion greens instead of spinach. If you uproot the whole thing then hold it by the root you can shake out the blades of grass. That's the easiest method I've found.
Maybe this list is of use to you?
https://www.growgreatvegetables.com/fertilizers/fertilizer-needs-of-vegetables/
Personally, I really like Kohlrabi. Tastes great, requires next to no effort, can grow in all kinds of environmental conditions.
I grow a lot of peppers but this year has been very annoying with ants farming aphids on them, it's a constant battle. Eggplants, on the other hand, just grow here without any effort. Put them in the ground or a good sized pot, make sure they're watered daily, and eat those beautiful purple bastards. I usually do Chinese eggplant or fairy eggplant.
Edit: they're also really pretty with giant rich green leaves and the iridescent purple fruit
Seasoning herbs like mint, sage, parsley, cilantro, lemongrass, green onions (you can cut off the green parts a couple times and even replant store bought green onion after using the greens). All of these can be grown in medium to large pots and mint and sage in particular grow like weeds (mainly cuss they are descended from weed like plants). Pumpkins and squash are another good one, especially butternut squash which can be cooked in a variety of ways. Homegrown tomatoes are also awesome to have and experience compared to supermarket ones (grew several varieties this year and they were great especially cherry tomato varieties).
