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Just like asking if a tomato is a fruit, this question can also spark a pretty lively debate. So what do you think? Is a pepper a fruit?

Unfortunately, the answer isn't super clear cut and it can be answered in three different ways. We can answer from a botanical/scientific perspective, we can give the horticultural point of view, or we can answer according to culinary standards.

Well go into a little more detail below. Keep in mind that this information applies to all types of peppers.

Is a pepper a fruit or vegetable?

Very technically, by scientific or botanical definition a pepper is a fruit. However, if following culinary or horticulture definitions, peppers are considered to be vegetables.

We all have our preconceived notions and ideas on what the difference is between fruits and vegetables. When in fact, there are a whole host of plants people think are vegetables that are actually fruits.

Scientific/botanical Reasoning

So without getting into too much detail, according to Britannica, the scientific definition of a fruit is an edible portion of the flower that contains seeds. Basically, the plant will flower and then from that flower a seed bearing piece of fruit will develop.

So since a pepper plant will produce flowers and then those flowers will eventually produce a colorful pod full of seeds, it is safe to say that the pepper is a fruit.

Easy peasy, next question, right? But not so fast, there are other points of view.

Horticultural Reasoning

The definition of horticulture is basically the art or practice of cultivating a garden and managing that garden. So according to the International Society for Horticultural Science, the definition of a vegetable includes fruits and flowers of edible and mainly annual plants. They also typically consider fruits to be crops that come from trees, bushes, and perennial vines.

Essentially, if it comes from a traditional, stalky, green, more fragile plant, it would be considered a vegetable. But if it comes from something a bit sturdier and thicker, like a tree or a bush, it would be considered a fruit.

Using the definition above, it would seem, from a horticultural view, that a pepper is a vegetable. Since it does not grow on a tree or a bush, and instead grows on a leafy, green, stalk type of plant. Either way, growing peppers is really quite easy.

So far we're 1 to 1 in the debate of whether a pepper is a fruit or vegetable.

Culinary Reasoning

The final perspective and whether or not a pepper is a fruit or vegetable is from the culinary world. And honestly, this is probably the perspective that most of us are familiar with and the perspective that we use when determining in our own minds whether something is a fruit or vegetable.

The culinary perspective kind of falls in line with the horticultural view. The key difference with the culinary view is that fruits are typically considered to have a higher fructose content and are thus sweeter. Whereas other plants that are more savory than sweet are considered vegetables.

So from a culinary perspective, going strictly on taste, alone, the pepper would be considered a vegetable. Even sweeter, bell peppers are not quite as sweet as something like an apple and thus are considered a vegetable.

Results

So, is a pepper a fruit or vegetable? There are strong arguments that it can be either or it can be both. The commonly accepted answer is that it is a vegetable, however the botanical or scientific definition places it firmly in the camp of being a fruit.

We love pretty much any kind of berry in this house and blackberries are no exception. Since high quality organic produce is sometimes expensive, we thought it would be important for us to learn how to grow blackberries.

How to grow blackberries?

Growing blackberries, just like growing blueberries or growing strawberries, was an inevitable thing for us. There's only so long you can stand looking at high prices of good produce before you think, "I can grow that myself".

There are a ton of different varieties of blackberries. When we decided what kind of blackberries we were going to grow, we really weren't concerned with anything other than whether or not they were thornless.

We tried a few different varieties of blackberries and they're all pretty similar in how quickly they grow, the way in which you plant them, and how prolific their production is. And trust us when we say you will get a lot of blackberries; so many in fact you will probably want to learn how to freeze blackberries so you don't have to throw any out.

BlackBerry plants are also pretty versatile. Following the same techniques as container vegetable gardening, you can also grow blackberries pretty easily.

If you're new to gardening, check out this Ultimate Beginner Gardening Bundle it has you covered for all you need to know to get started including planting dates, building compost and more!

How to plant blackberries

Similar to growing blueberries, blackberry plants can take a while to mature. Typically it will take about two years for your blackberry plant to reach maturity and show fruit. But once they do, they will produce very heavily and will live up to 15 years.

You can purchase seeds online if you like. We did not want to wait the full two years for the blackberry plant to start producing, so we purchased already started plants.

As we mentioned, we didn't want to wait the full maturity time for our plant to start producing, but we also wanted to make sure that we had a healthy plant that was coming from a reputable, high quality source.

Where is the best place to plant blackberries?

As soon as we got our plants, we started them in food grade 5 gallon plastic buckets.We used a mixture of organic potting soil, organic compost, and peat moss. This mixture is similar to what you would use in square foot gardening.

Make sure to drill plenty of holes in the bottom of your bucket. If you do decide to go that route. This will allow plenty of drainage for any water so it does not get trapped.

Need some help getting your garden crops planned? Check out the Ultimate Gardening Calculators for a system that will auto-calculate for you.

If you like, you can leave your blackberry plants in these buckets. You need to prune them as they grow to make sure that they do not outgrow the container. Also be aware that as they grow they can become restrained and root bound within that bucket.

If your blackberry plant becomes root bound within the bucket, it's not difficult to fix. All you need to do is remove the plant from the bucket, carefully trim the root ball, shake free any loose soil, and replant in the same container with fresh soil.

If you decide that you do not want to leave them in buckets permanently, you'll want to choose a space outside that has a lot of sun. You also want to make sure that they have soil that has a pH of at least 5.5 to 6.5. The peat moss in your soil mixture should take care of the acidity for you.

When we are ready to plant our started blackberries, we prepare a raised bed with a organic potting soil and organic compost mixture with a bit of peat moss added as well. You'll notice this is the same mixture we use in our containers.

When transplanting from your bucket into your raised bed, you'll need to dig a hole that is about a foot wider and six inches deeper than the root ball of the blackberry plant. Then remove your plant from its container, use your hand to break up the soil around the root ball, and place it into that hole. Gently pack dirt around and water.

We made sure to plant our blackberries approximately 2 to 3 feet apart. This allows them to spread out and have some room and to stay healthy.

Do I need a trellis for my blackberries?

It really depends on what kind of blackberries you have. Typically, you'll find blackberries either trailing or erect/semi-erect. Trailing should be fine. They will grow on their own and do not need support.

However, erect and semi-erect blackberries do need some sort of trellising system. If you decide to go this route, you will need a couple of DIY trellis ideas.

When to pick blackberries

You'll know that your blackberries are ready to harvest when they are firm, and a bit shiny. This is typically later in the season, usually late summer or early fall.

Do blackberries have worms in them?

It is not uncommon for wild blackberries or blackberries growing in your own garden to have small worms in them. These worms are the larva of fruit flies.

You will likely never notice that they are there. However, to be on the safe side and to keep things sanitary, it is always best to wash your berries before consuming them.

You can do this by giving them an ice water bath. Place your blackberries in a bowl of ice water and let them sit there for awhile. If you want to be extra prudent and get rid of all of the worms, you can add some salt in the water as well.

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There are a ton of vegetables that we grew up eating that are not actually vegetables at all. They are in fact fruits. So, what vegetables are actually fruits?

In order to answer this question, we will review what the actual differences between vegetables and fruits are. And, then, we will review 16 of the most common plants that are called vegetables when they should actually be classified as fruits.

What is the Difference Between Vegetables and Fruits?

We are going to answer this question by the botanical definition. This is important to note because there is also a culinary and horticultural definition of what is a fruit or vegetable and sometimes that definition is in opposition to the botanical definition.

Essentially a fruit is a mature ovary of the plant that contains it's ovules or seeds. It is a separate part of a plant that is seed bearing. So this part will separate itself from a plant in order to spread the plant seed. Typically, you will see these "fruits" formed from flowers on the main part of the plant.

While a vegetable is actually a part of the plan, so the things we eat like stems, roots, and leaves.

Now that you know how to tell the difference between a fruit and a vegetable (botanically speaking), keep reading below to find out about 16 of the most common vegetables that should actually be classified as plants.

Tomatoes

Now this one you might have already known. In fact, we wrote our own blog called are tomatoes a fruit? This one does have a twist to it though.

While the tomato is technically a fruit. In the culinary world, it is actually considered a vegetable due to its low fructose content. This answer applies to all types of tomatoes.

And, according to the Supreme Court, tomatoes are vegetables - for customs purposes anyway.

Yellow squash

Yellow squash is just one of many types of summer squash. One thing that's very interesting about growing yellow squash and pretty much any kind of summer squash is you'll notice a large, very beautiful flower blossom before the squash grows.

In fact, sometimes the blossom will not even fall off before the fruit is finished growing. So you will see a wilted flower on the end of your yellow squash.

Zucchini

Like yellow squash above, zucchini is also in the summer squash family, thus, a fruit. The reason we include zucchini in this list directly under yellow squash is because zucchini looks very different than yellow squash.

Oftentimes people will see something that is green and just assume that it's a vegetable. But, again, just like the yellow squash above, when growing zucchini it will show the same type of flower blossom and sometimes even have that blossom on the end of the zucchini fruit.

Butternut squash

I know what you're thinking, another summer squash? You couldn't be more wrong.

The Butternut Squash is a type of winter squash. But just like summer squash, the winter squash is also a fruit. The difference between the two is summer squash has a thin skin and winter squash has a hard, shell-like husk.

So the Butternut Squash, alongside, the acorn squash, and spaghetti squash, among others, all fall into the fruit category.

Need some help getting your garden crops planned? Check out the Ultimate Gardening Calculators for a system that will auto-calculate for you.

Tomatillo

The tomatillo plant is in the same nightshade family as the tomato. So it should come as no surprise that the tomatillo is also a fruit.

The tomatillo plant grows similarly to a tomato plant, in that it grows as long stalks. They're often even grown in tomato cages.

Peas

Most often you'll see these growing on a bush or some kind of Vine. But all peas are also part of the fruit category. This includes sweet peas, sugar peas, snap peas, snow peas, and everything in between.

Chickpeas

Chickpeas grow on bushes. Similar to beans or peas, they grow in small pods. Contrary to what the name may say, chickpeas are not actually peas. They belong to the same legume family as many other beans. Which is why they also have the name 'Garbanzo bean'.

Beans

Beans might be a little bit tricky in this area. I never personally really thought of beans as a vegetable or a fruit. But that assumption is often made.

Because beans are the seed themselves for the plant, and they grow most often in pods that detach themselves from the plant, they do, in fact, fit the criteria for fruit.

Eggplant

Eggplants grow hanging from stalks similar to tomato plants. The leaves are large and lush and provide plenty of shade for the fruit. They, like summer squash develop out of a flower and have seeds inside, thus making them a fruit.

Okra

Okra is honestly the one that we are most shocked about. I've always lumped okra into the same category as maybe celery or broccoli.

I've always just thought that it was a stalk kind of vegetable that I personally only really liked if it was battered and fried.

But if you look at the way okra grows, it is actually more like a pepper plant than broccoli or celery. The okra grows in little pods, and not stalks at all.

Cucumbers

Learning how to grow cucumbers is super easy and they are therefore popular in vegetable gardens.

I think it's the association with salads that earns cucumbers the reputation of being a vegetable. That and, as I mentioned before, the fact that it's green.

But cucumbers (all types of cucumbers) are in fact fruit. Here is a whole list of reasons that a cucumber is considered a fruit.

Olives

Olives may not seem as surprising to you if you realize that they grow on trees. They're definitely not vegetables, and grow more like cherries versus something like a grapes on a vine.

Avocados

Avocados, like olives, also grow on trees. If you were to find them in the wild or grow them on your own, you would notice that they bear fruit similar to a pear tree or an apple tree.

Corn

Corn is probably one of the more surprising entries in this list. Once knowing the definition of a fruit, it makes sense. But, typically, we consider fruit to have a fleshy inside. Corn is anything but a large, single, juicy treat. It is several small kernels packed into one big ear.

Are there any other vegetables that are really fruits in disguise that we didn't mention? Let us know in the comments below.

We switched over to square foot gardening a couple of years ago and have never looked back. Honestly, it made our gardening experience so much simpler by using less space, being quicker to weed, and much easier to harvest that we love it.

Does square foot gardening really work? In a word, yes.

We have found that square foot gardening makes planning our garden a lot easier. It saves us a ton of space. And it generally keeps your back and knees in a whole lot better shape because you don't have to work as hard to get your plants to produce like you want them to.

What is Square Foot Gardening?

Square foot gardening is a method designed originally by Mel Bartholomew. He wrote a book called Square Foot Gardening. The intention behind square foot gardening is to use less space, less water, and require less work. In our experience, we can confirm that to be true.

To follow Mel Bartholomew's method, he requires three key components; raised beds, a specific soil blend that he calls Mel's mix, and a 4 x 4 foot grid.

In our experience, found success using only one of the three. Can you do square foot gardening without raised beds? We were able to have pretty positive results without raised beds and without using Mel's mix.

If you do use raised beds but want a cheap way to fill your raised garden beds there are many different materials you can use.

Why you should give it a try

We really can't recommend square foot gardening enough. If you don't have a lot of land or you just have a small area in which you can garden, square foot gardening will help you maximize your space so that you can get the most gardening bang for your gardening buck.

Since you will be spending less time waiting and more time being able to tend to your plants, you will almost always experience a bigger yield. Typically, you can expect to feed one person for an entire season on 100 square feet.

Our favorite part of square foot gardening? The ease in which you can harvest. Since each planting box is only 4 x 4 feet, you will never have to reach further than two feet from any point of the box to reach your crops. Trust us, if you have a stool from our gardening supplies list your knees and back will thank you for not having to dig further into a garden just to harvest.

Potential cons

So if you read around online for reviews on square foot gardening, the one consistent negative is that it can be a bit pricey to get started. This is true if you are building your own raised beds and using a very specific soil mix.

However, we have found that if you want to just get started cheaply and see if you enjoy square foot gardening you don't need raised beds. And you can use your own soil and compost pile.

Need some help getting your garden crops planned? Check out the Ultimate Gardening Calculators for a system that will auto-calculate for you.

How to start a Square Foot Garden

The first thing you want to do is get a gardening planner and figure out what exactly you want to grow this season. With a planner you can plot what plants are going to go where, what you're going to grow next to each other, and if you're into it, you can even plan out further seasons on how you will rotate your crops.

If you're not sure when to start your plants, this Ultimate Gardening for Beginners will help you out!

Next, you'll want to set up your garden area. If you are following Mel Bartholomew's method and building raised beds, you will plot out where everything is going to go. You will also want to start building your raised beds. Remember, you do not want to use treated wood as those chemicals can leach into your soil and your plants will then absorb those chemicals.

You can use bricks, cinder blocks, galvanized steel, or food grade plastic to build your raised beds. However, as we mentioned, you can also use this method directly on the ground in your existing garden area.

When preparing the soil for your garden, you can use Mel's mix. This soil mixture is just peat Moss, vermiculite and compost. It's a really easy ratio. You just use equal amounts of each.

If you're using raised beds, you will need to figure out how deep you want your soil to be. We used a wheelbarrow to make our mixture and then just dump the right amount and depth into each of our garden squares.

Next, you'll need a grid. You can purchase a grid that you can just assemble from a local hardware store, gardening center, or online. Some people will purchase a grid for each of their raised beds or gardening squares.

We used the same DIY grid for each of our boxes and just moved it after planting. More details below for making your own grid.

Finally, just plant your plants. You follow the same spacing directions as you would follow in normal row gardening. You just plot them in your single square foot blocks.

How to make a square foot gardening grid

As we said above, you can make your very own Square foot gardening grid. You can make your grid out of a couple of stakes and some string. You can also use PVC pipe to make a pretty sturdy grid.

We made our grid out of wood. Go to your local hardware store into their lumber department and find their 1 x 2 strips of wood. If you can find the ones that are 8 feet long, grab three of them and cut them in half.

Next, arrange the six pieces into a grid. You can use 1 ½ inch wood nails or screws and secure them at each cross section. Viola! You have your own Square foot gardening grid.

What can you grow using this method?

Anything! Seriously though, you can grow pretty much anything using this method. We've grown tomatoes in cages. We've trellised vining cucumbers (there are lots of trellis ideas that work in this method). We've grown Bush beans. We've even grown zucchini and squash.

Best plants for square foot gardening

Growing tomatoes in a square foot gardening box is really easy. How many tomatoes can you plant in a square foot? We will usually plant one plant per square foot.

You can easily grow cucumbers in a trellis in a square foot panting box. How many cucumbers can you plant in a square foot? We are able to plant 4 to 6 in each box.

You can grow a lot of strawberries. In a full 4 x 4 planting box you can grow as many as 32 plants!

How many lettuces are in a square foot garden? Depending on what type of lettuce you can grow lettuce 2 to 4 in each square.

When growing yellow squash and growing zucchini the plants can get pretty large. We tend to plant 1 plant every other space.

Spinach is pretty prolific. You can grow up to 9 in each square!

Let us know about your square foot gardening experiences in the comments below.

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This is one of those seemingly harmless questions that can split a group in half in no time. In fact, you might be at one of those gatherings right now when somebody asks are tomatoes a fruit?

Well, the answer is obvious, right? They grow in a garden, on a vine, go in salads. They are most definitely a vegetable.

But they're also kind of brightly colored, juicy, have seeds, a little sweet. So maybe they are a fruit.

Just like when considering if peppers are fruits, you need to take into account a few different areas of information when answering this question.

So, are tomatoes a fruit?

Tomatoes really are a pretty versatile plant. You can eat them raw or cooked. They go great in just about any kind of dish, from soups, sauces, toppings, and salads. You can even use them as an ingredient and drinks.

Like with types of cucumbers, there are several different types of tomatoes that you can use for things like slicing, puree, or snacking.

And if you're into gardening, growing tomatoes is pretty easy, and they're one of the fastest growing crops.

Uses for tomatoes

A nice tomato based soup is almost synonymous with chilly weather. You can't go wrong with a good tomato and white bean soup.

If you have a garden, you have likely been surprised by the sheer volume of tomatoes you have harvested. A terrific use for those tomatoes is a delicious tomato sauce for pasta.

Pasta and sauce is good, but we're a bit partial to something a bit spicier. Nothing can beat a bag of tortilla chips and some homemade, restaurant style salsa!

Tomatoes can also be entrees on their own. Take for example, Baked Tomatoes.

Need some help getting your garden crops planned? Check out the Ultimate Gardening Calculators for a system that will auto-calculate for you.

Fruit or vegetable?

The fact is there are actually a lot of foods that people consider vegetables that are actually fruits.

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, from a scientific perspective, tomatoes are considered a fruit since they contain seeds and develop from the flower of a plant.

However, from a nutritionist perspective, fruits are typically considered to have a higher fructose level and thus are sweeter. This is likely why a lot of people call tomatoes vegetables.

So technically, tomatoes should be considered a fruit. However, there is enough of an argument for them to be called in vegetable that you're annoying uncle will probably insist he's right anyway. Sorry.

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So, technically, all you need for gardening is some dirt and some seeds, and you can really grow anything. However, it'll be much, much easier if you have these gardening supplies to help you out along the way.

As with pretty much anything in life, if you have the correct tools to do it, it will be a lot easier. Not only will having the right supplies make things easier, but you can also be sure that you are doing a more efficient, thorough, and subsequently, higher quality job.

What Gardening Supplies Do I Need?

So you really use your gardening supplies in different stages. These stages are soil preparation, planting, nurturing, and harvesting.

What tools do I need to garden?

For soil preparation, you'll need things like a tiller or a shovel. Planting you'll need something like a trowel and obviously seeds. Nurturing, you'll need a hose, water, and pruners. In harvesting, you'll need things like gloves and a harvesting basket.

Where can I buy gardening supplies?

Fortunately, you can find gardening supplies almost anywhere. Most of these supplies are widely available at Department stores like Walmart or Target, hardware stores like Lowe's or Home Depot, your local farm store, online through Craigslist or Amazon. You can often times find great deals on gardening supplies just driving around and shopping local yard sales.

The supplies list (with links)

Here's a full list of gardening supplies that will make your job so much easier. We've also included links in case you want to grab them.

Preparation

So obviously you need to have soil to start out with. We recommend using a good organic planting soil. If you are following the traditional square foot gardening method, you can also use a combination of peat Moss, vermiculite, and compost.

Once you've planned out your garden and you know what area you'll be using, you'll want to use a tiller to break that soil up and make it really easy to work with.

A shovel is just a handy tool to have anytime you're doing any kind of soil work. You will inevitably come across a stone or rock or something that your Tiller just can't get out of the way. A shovel will make removing that much easier.

This is, of course, optional, but raised beds make weeding your garden a breeze. You'll want to use a high quality untreated wood to build your boxes and make sure that you have gardening fabric under it to keep the weeds from growing up through your box.

If you're skipping the full garden altogether and you are just trying your hand at container vegetable gardening, you'll obviously need containers. Containers range in quality from Super Fancy and ornate all the way down to food grade 5 gallon plastic buckets. The buckets aren't pretty, but they're cheap and get the job done.

Need some help getting your garden crops planned? Check out the Ultimate Gardening Calculators for a system that will auto-calculate for you.

Planting

The whole purpose of having a garden is to grow crops. So you are going to definitely need seeds.

You'll use a trowel to dig up a little bit of a hole so you can plant your crops. As a recommendation, spend a little bit of extra to get the trial with the comfortable handle. You will thank us later.

To go along with the slightly more expensive trowel. You'll want to get yourself a nice high quality pair of gloves. Gloves will one keep your hands from getting filthy, which is always nice. But they will also keep your hands from getting torn up and calloused from constantly working with them.

Just about anything you plant as a seed will need to be watered a bit. We recommend using a watering can. That way you don't have to lug out your hose and sprinkler just for the planting phase.

Nurturing

When it comes time to nurturing your plants, the one thing all plants have in common is they need water. You'll want to get yourself a nice high quality hose that preferably is kink resistant.

Sprinklers make watering your garden a breeze. You can set it up to gently water your plants instead of a heavy or high pressure stream hitting them. It's even easier if you can have it set to a timer.

A lot of plants will put off vines or tendrils that you'll need to cut back in order for them to stay healthy. You can use pruners to cut these plants back safely and not harm the plant. With some plants, like when growing strawberries, you can actually cut the runners, replant theme, and grow even more strawberries.

We prefer to avoid commercial pesticides. If you do too, you are probably wondering what a spray can is doing on this list. You can actually mix your own pest deterrents. You can find many different recipes online for things that pests won't like but are safe for you and your family.

Harvest

There is not enough that can be said about how nice it is to have a stool to sit on while harvesting your garden. You can get down on your hands and knees and work, but your back will thank you if you have a stool to sit on.

And last but not least, you're going to need a nice high quality harvest basket to put all of your fruits and vegetables in once you have successfully grown a harvest.

Are there any gardening supplies that you like that you don't see on this list? Let us know in the comments below.

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Did you know there a multiple types of cucumbers for a variety of different uses? Let's go over them so you know what kinds and when to use them.

Choosing what types of cucumbers to grow can be a little confusing. If you don't know what you want when growing cucumbers it is difficult to decide what variety to plant.

Fortunately, it is not too difficult to figure out what each type of cucumber can be used for. Similar to the different types of tomatoes, cucumbers can be split into three categories; slicing, pickling, and burpless/mostly seedless.

Also, similarly to tomatoes, all types of cucumbers are actually fruits. There are many foods that are commonly called vegetables which are actually fruits.

Sometimes a specific cucumber can be used for multiple purposes, but there are three categories, none the less. All these cucumbers can be frozen and saved for later.

Types of cucumbers

Slicing

Typically, if you're thinking about eating cucumbers, you are thinking of slicing cucumbers. They're the ones you're most likely to find in the grocery store because they are ready to eat. They generally have smooth, tough, dark Green skin.

However, English cucumbers are typically thin, have more delicate skin, mostly seedless, and you'll find them wrapped in plastic at the store.

Straight Eight cucumber

One of the more common types of slicing cucumbers that you'll find are straight eight cucumbers. You'll recognize them by the fact that they are perfectly straight. They have a smooth, dark green skin and usually grow around 6 to 8 inches long. In the grocery store, they will almost all look identical.

When growing cucumbers, you will want to train the vine to a trellis so that they can grow vertically. There are tons of different trellis ideas that you can use.

And believe it or not, we harvest them when they are unripe in a green state. If they ripen all the way to being yellow, they become bitter and sour.

Straight eight cucumbers are most often used as slicing cucumbers, but they are pretty versatile in that they can pull double duty as a pickling cucumber as well.

Need some help getting your garden crops planned? Check out the Ultimate Gardening Calculators for a system that will auto-calculate for you.

Pickling

Technically, any cucumber can be pickled. The major difference between pickling cucumbers and slicing cucumbers is size. Pickling cucumbers are usually shorter, ranging 3 to 4 inches long and only one inch wide.

They don't typically have the same uniformity of shape that slicing cucumbers have and their skin is generally bumpy and not smooth. The color will also vary from yellow all the way to dark green.

Bush Pickle

Similar to the straight 8 cucumbers, Bush Pickles will also grow straight. they are however a good bit shorter, usually in the 4 to 5 inch range. They have a sweet flavor and typically have a dark green bumpy skin.

They are one of the fastest growing vegetables. It is not uncommon for a Bush Pickle plant to reach maturity in as few as 45 days!

Burpless or Seedless

Burpless/seedless, or rather mostly seedless, cucumbers have a thinner skin than most other cucumbers and have a sweeter taste. They get the name Burpless because it is reported that the seeds in cucumbers will give the eater gas.

Since these cucumbers typically do not have seeds. Then they do not give the eater gas. Again, due to the lack of seeds, they are easier to digest.

You'll most commonly find these grown in green houses. Because they are a mostly seedless variety they are more of a hobby cucumber plant. You can find some that will grow up to two feet in length.

Lebanese cucumbers

Lebanese cucumbers are one of the more popular types of burpless cucumbers. Named after the part of the world from which they come, Lebanese cucumbers are known for their distinct flavor and aroma. They are typically thin and recognizable by their smooth, dark green skin.

What are your favorite types of cucumbers? Let us know in the comments below.

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When we started gardening we found you could utilize much more space by having your plants grow up instead of out. Once we realized this, we started thinking of all sorts of trellis ideas.

Your trellis doesn't need to be fancy. If you like, you can go to the store and buy a really nice pretty trellis. That way everything in your garden will match and you'll have nice aesthetic.

But if you know anything about us, you know we like to go the DIY route most of the time. Our first trellises consisted of some old sticks with old fencing zip tied to them. While growing cucumbers, they provided more than enough support.

What are some trellis ideas I can use?

There are a lot of different ways you can make a trellis. Honestly, if a vine can grab it and hold itself up it can work as a trellis.

If you too would like to go the DIY route, you can make your own trellis out of a couple of wooden stakes, stuck straight into the ground on either side of your box. Then, just run some other pieces of wood width wise across the box. 

One of our cheaper DIY ideas, besides the old fence with old sticks, was made of t-posts and cattle panel. Now, if you don't have cattle panel readily available on your homestead, that's not exactly a cheap option.

But if you do have cattle panel that you've used for something else, and you have scrap pieces laying around, it is a perfect upcycle for those spare pieces. The cattle panel trellis worked great when we were growing spaghetti squash.

We prefer to have the traditional one long row of trellis that the plant can grow up. There are other forms of Trellising where you have the trellises on either side of the plant leaning into the center and meeting in a triangle type shape.

This method will work, but we find it much more difficult to harvest anything that's growing towards the center of those Plants.

You can make other trellises specific to the type of plant you are growing. This tomatoes trellis, for example, makes a perfect archway so you can easily access its low hanging fruit.

What kind of trellis do you prefer? Let us know your trellis ideas. In the comments below.

There are almost as many types of peppers as there are people in the world. Well, maybe that's an exaggeration, but there certainly are a lot of pepper varieties.

How Many Types of Peppers Are There?

When you are thinking about the different types of peppers, first, you can break them into two general pepper types:  hot and sweet.  Both hot peppers and sweet peppers can be delicious, it will really depend on what you are using them for as to which general type of pepper you will want to use.

Then, within, each of those general types of peppers you have specific pepper varieties.  A quick look online will tell you that there are upwards of 50,000 different pepper varieties!

Peppers are one of the easiest vegetables to grow. (Or, peppers actually a fruit that easy to grow?)  Since they are so easy, we usually add several types when we learn how to grow peppers in our garden each year.

That means we get a LOT of peppers.  We usually freeze peppers so that we can use them all year round.

With at least 50,000 types of peppers to choose from, it may seem a little overwhelming when you try to decide which peppers would be best to add to your garden. We always try to add a few sweet peppers and a few hot peppers since they are used in different foods.

Most of the types of peppers that we usually plant are pretty common - that way they can be used in multiple ways and multiple dishes over the year.

Scoville Heat Unit

The most common way to rank the heat or spiciness of peppers is through the Scoville Heat Unit (SHU) method. SHU measures the level of capsaicinoids, the chemical that burns in peppers. The SHU ranking goes from 0 (bell peppers) to over 3,000,000 (military grade pepper spray).

The Big List Of Peppers

You should consider adding one or multiple of these types of peppers to your garden plans this season.

Chocolate Bell Peppers

Chocolate bell peppers are one of the more unusual vegetables you can grow.  They are a type of sweet pepper.  They are, as the name would suggest, a bell pepper variation.  Chocolate bell peppers will turn a beautiful chocolate color upon ripening.

Despite behind categorized as a sweet pepper, they, unfortunately, do not actually taste like chocolate. They are however, delicious in their own right and will make a fun and colorful addition to any garden.

Scoville heat units: 0

Shishito Peppers

Scoville heat units: 50 to 100

Need some help getting your garden crops planned? Check out the Ultimate Gardening Calculators for a system that will auto-calculate for you.

Banana Peppers

Here is my personal favorite of all the peppers; the banana pepper.

Banana peppers are considered to be a sweet type of pepper. They are called banana peppers because they are long and yellow and look, well, kind of like little bananas.

Banana peppers have a mild flavor so they make great toppings for things like sandwiches, salads, or pizza.  Again, like poblanos, banana peppers are one of the most versatile types of peppers.

One common use for banana peppers is to pickle them. So, that makes these a great pepper to grow a bumper crop of and then preserve for later.

Pickled banana peppers are even great just to snack on.  You can eat them alone or with a cheese and cracker platter - which makes a great, cheap and easy snack tray if you have guests over

You can also add banana peppers into things like salsa to give it just a little hint of sweet.  YUM!

Scoville heat units: 0 to 500

Pepperoncini

You probably recognize Pepperoncinis from your salad at Olive Garden. They are pretty similar to banana peppers in shape and color but can be a tad bit spicier at times. They are also a little smaller than banana peppers.

Scoville heat units: 100 to 500

Cherry Peppers

These peppers are also known as pimento peppers.

Scoville heat units: 100 to 500

Piquillo Peppers

Scoville heat units: 500 to 1,000

Cubanelle Peppers

Scoville heat units: 1,000

Anaheim

Anaheims are some of our favorite types of peppers. They are comparable to poblano peppers in size, shape, and flavor. They can have a little more kick depending on the strain you find.

They are typically harvested when green but are still good once they've turned red. They are best around 6 inches long.

Scoville heat units: 500 to 2,500

Poblano Peppers

Poblano peppers are considered to be hot peppers, but are on the lower end of the spiciness scale. Therefore, they are good for those of us who aren't into the super spicy peppers.  They provide a little spicy kick to your food without burning your mouth off.

Poblano peppers are a decent sized pepper; only slightly smaller than a bell pepper. We like to use them to make stuffed peppers.

They are spicy enough to add a little flavor, but not so spicy that they overwhelm a dish if they are a main ingredient.  Given this, poblano peppers are really one of the more versatile types of peppers.

Poblano peppers can be frozen whole (just wash and chop off the top) for use later.  Or, if you are planning to make stuffed peppers like we do, you can go ahead and make them and then freeze the stuffed peppers for an easy ready made meal later on.

Since we use these as the main part of a dish, we usually plant several poblano pepper plants.  This allows us to make stuffed peppers several times over the course of the year.

Scoville heat units: 1,000 to 1,500

Fresno Peppers

Scoville heat units: 1,000 to 1,500

Pasilla Peppers

Scoville heat units: 1,000 to 2,500

Jalapeño Peppers

Jalapeño peppers may well be one of the most popular types of peppers.  When most people think of peppers, the jalapeño is THE pepper they think of.

Jalapeño peppers are also in the family of hot peppers.  They are also super easy to grow crop.  We planted them one year and then forgot about them. Despite the neglect, they flourished and we brought in a TON of Jalapeño peppers to spice up our meals.

You can get quite a few peppers off of a single plant, and as you pick, they will keep on producing.  These are great to grow for use in salsa and they also freeze well.  Since they can be used in several different foods, we usually plant several Jalapeño pepper plants.

Scoville heat units: 2,500 to 8,000

Yellow Chili Peppers

Scoville heat units: up to 15,000

Serrano Peppers

Scoville heat units: 8,000 to 22,000

Guajillo Pepper

Scoville heat units: 2,500 to 30,000

Need some help getting your garden crops planned? Check out the Ultimate Gardening Calculators for a system that will auto-calculate for you.

Cayenne Pepper

For a small pepper, cayenne can pack quite the punch. You will usually find them in the 2 to 5 inch range and ranging in color from green to red. Most people are familiar with cayenne peppers in their selection of spices. It is not uncommon for people to use dried cayenne pepper as a spice for certain recipes or as a pizza topping.

Scoville heat units: 30,000 to 50,000

Tabasco Peppers

If for nothing else, you've likely heard of Tabasco peppers from the hot sauce. They are a very small pepper, usually growing no longer than 2 inches. You can find them growing in multiple colors from yellow, green, orange, and red.

Scoville heat units: 30,000 to 60,000

Rocoto Peppers

Scoville heat units: 30,000 to 100,000

Bird's Eye Peppers

Scoville heat units: 50,000 to 100,000

Piri Piri Peppers

Scoville heat units: 50,000 to 100,000

Habañero Peppers

Scoville heat units: 150,000 to 350,000

Scotch Bonnet Peppers

Scoville heat units: 80,000 to 400,000

Ghost Peppers

These are a type of hot pepper.  And hot they are!  In fact, hot may be considered an under statement when it comes to ghost peppers.  They are actually on record as one of the hottest types of peppers in the world.  So, don't grow these unless you REALLY, REALLY like hot peppers.

Justin is a big fan of super hot, but a little goes a long way when it comes to ghost peppers.  So, we usually only plant one plant worth for this type of pepper.

They can be used fresh, dry, as a food or spice so they're really are versatile....as long as you can handle the heat.

Scoville heat units: 1,000,000

Naga Viper Peppers

The Naga Viper pepper is a hybrid pepper. It was crossed with three of the hottest peppers available at it's time of creation; the Naga Morich, Bhut jolokia, and the Trinidad Scorpion.

Scoville heat units: 1,382,118

Trinidad Scorpion Butch T Peppers

Was once considered by the Guinness Book of World Records to be the hottest pepper in the world with an official SHU of 1,463,700! This pepper gets it's name because of it's shape. It is said to have a point like a scorpion tail.

Scoville heat units: 1,463,700

Komodo Dragon Peppers

The Komodo Dragon pepper, while not as hot as some of later chilis on this list, packs a sneaky punch. It takes about 10 seconds for the full heat to sink in. This evil pepper will lull you into a false sense of security and then utterly destroy your hopes and dreams.

Scoville heat units: 1,400,000 to 2,200,000

Carolina Reaper

If these peppers are comic book villains, then the super villain lair is a place called (I'm not kidding) PuckerButt Pepper Company and is run by super villain and pepper breeder himself, "Smokin'" Ed Currie. This lair…er…farm is located in Rock Hill, South Carolina, hence the name.

This pepper is bright red, has a bumpy texture, and practically screams, "Eat me and you will die." While no clinical tests have been performed, there has been speculation that this pepper can be dangerous to eat. It is suspected, at the very least, your body can have a stress response to the heat and cause headaches.

By the way, this pepper was certified in 2017 as the hottest pepper in the world with a SHU of 1,641,183 by the Guinness Book of World Records.

Scoville heat units: 1,000,000 to 2,000,000

Dragon's Breath

The Dragon's Breath pepper has the ability to numb skin upon contact. This phenomenon has led researchers to believe it's oils could be used as an alternative anaesthetic for those that may be intolerant to traditional anaesthetics.

While this pepper has not officially been tested for entry as a world record it claims to have 2.48 million scoville heat units. Sadly, we may never get an official ruling on it's SHU due to our next entry.

Scoville heat units: 2,480,000 SHU (unofficial)

Pepper X

As if the Carolina Reaper wasn't enough, Ed Currie took 10 years to create this monstrosity of a hot pepper. This pepper is claimed to be twice as hot as the Carolina Reaper measuring with a SHU over 3 million (3.18, to be exact)!

Scoville heat units: 3,180,000 SHU (unofficial)

As you can see, there is a huge variety of peppers out there. This is just a small list of them ranging from sweet and mild to "possibly end up in the ER" hot.

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If your home doesn't have a very big yard or you live in an apartment where you have no yard at all then container vegetable gardening is perfect for you.

So, what exactly is container gardening? It's exactly what it sounds like. It is growing vegetables that you would normally plant in a garden and a container such as a pot, raised bed, or a planting box.

Why should somebody consider container vegetable gardening instead of planting a traditional garden? There are several reasons why somebody might want to do container gardening.

Why should you try container vegetable gardening?

As we mentioned above, you might not have enough room for a full garden. A full garden for a family of four is probably going to be at least 25 by 15 feet, and that's a lot of space. You may not have that much space available or you might not want to use that space just for gardening.

You may also live in a large city or in an apartment where you have no yard space at all. If this is the case, you may still want to try growing your own food, but you don't have the space to do it. In these circumstances, container vegetable gardening is the perfect solution for just about anybody.

Of course, if you are limited on space there are other gardening methods you can try like square foot gardening or creating a victory garden.

One of the other benefits of container gardening, and possibly my favorite reason, is there is a lot less weeding involved. When your container is separate from the ground and raised above the typical soil level. It is very difficult for weeds and grass to get into the container.

What would normally be hours on your knees crawling around the ground in your garden turns into just a couple of minutes a week pulling small plants that sprout up in your container. If nothing else, your knees will thank you for container gardening.

Unlike a traditional garden where you work the soil for a long time and you break your back, making it perfect, if you ever decide to move, that garden stays there and can't go with you.

With some types of container gardening, if you move you can take your plants that you have cared for anywhere you want to go.

Need some help getting your garden crops planned? Check out the Ultimate Gardening Calculators for a system that will auto-calculate for you.

How do you start a container vegetable garden?

The process is really easy. Figure out what you want to grow, get the seeds, and get your containers. You can use anything that can support the weight of soil and water. We've built raised beds and also used food grade plastic buckets.

Find out what soil requirements your plants need, pickup a bag of organic potting soil, and just start planting. Its that easy!

We love our container gardens because we can grow pretty much anything we want in them. Pretty much anything that you can trellis or cage, like growing tomatoes or growing cucumbers, are great space savers with container gardening.

Growing peppers in your window is not only an easy thing to do but will also give your house a nice pop of color. Growing lettuce is not quite as colorful, but nothing beats having a fresh salad that you grew yourself.

So, are you convinced? Let us know what plants you're growing in containers in the comments below.

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Who knew there were so many types of lettuce. Some are good for sandwiches, others for salads. But they are all delicious and healthy.

4 Major Types of Lettuce

There are 4 major types of lettuce from which you can choose. They are almost all sensitive to heat, other than romaine. But all of them fall into our fastest growing vegetables category. Growing lettuce is an easy way to add to your vegetable garden.

Butterhead

Butterhead lettuce can be split into two types of lettuce; Boston and Bibb.

Boston

The major difference between Boston and Bibb lettuce is their size. Both are round with loose leaves. Boston is a bit larger and fluffier.

Bibb

Bibb lettuce is one of the more expensive types of lettuce you will find out there. Like Boston, it has soft, loose leaves. They are very tender and have a sweet flavor to them.

Bibb lettuce are much smaller than most other types of lettuce. A typical head of Bibb lettuce is about the size of a baseball.

Iceberg

If you've ever had a salad at a steakhouse, you have had iceberg lettuce. It is, by far, the most popular lettuce in the US. It has a higher water content, and therefore, lower nutritional value.

It is recognizable by it's crisp and refreshing texture. It goes great with creamy dressings. Unlike butterhead lettuce, it's leaves are packed tightly, almost like a cabbage.

Need some help getting your garden crops planned? Check out the Ultimate Gardening Calculators for a system that will auto-calculate for you.

Leaf or Looseleaf

Leaf lettuce is recognizable by the way they grow. The leaves extend from one stalk. They are also mostly used for salads like baby salads and spring mixes.

They also come in three varieties; red, green, and oak.

Red, Green, and Oak

Red and green are pretty similar. Both have a mild flavor, perfect for salads. They major difference is their color. Green leaf is, obviously, green in color. Red has a darker red around the edges of the leaves.

Oak leaf lettuce is the oddball out in this group. Like red leaf it has a dark, almost magenta, color around it's edges with green toward the center. It is a bit more crinkled in texture.

The flavor is the biggest difference though. While green and red are both mild in flavor, oak leaf has a nutty, almost spicy flavor to it.

Romaine

And now to our favorite type of lettuce. Romaine is easy to grow, prolific, and resistant to heat. It is distinct in it's hard spines that develop as the stalks grow upright.

Romaine has a sweet center and the leaves become more bitter as you reach the edges. This contrast makes them taste great when paired with a tasty strong cheese and a cream or vinegar based dressing.

What is your favorite lettuce? Let us know in the comments below.

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There are so many different types of tomatoes it can get a little overwhelming. With so many tomato varieties, how do you know which ones to choose?

Picking a tomato can be a little confusing. What are the best tasting tomatoes, what are heirloom tomatoes, do I want green, red, or orange tomatoes? How do I know which tomato I should grow? The list of questions can go on and on.

To make life a little easier, we have selected our top 15 tomatoes based on slicing for sandwiches, tomatoes for sauces or tomatoes for salsa, and tomatoes for snacking. No matter which you choose, it is easy to learn how to grow tomatoes.

Quick tomato fact: Did you know, tomatoes are actually fruits?

Type of tomatoes for every occasion

Best Tomatoes for Slicing

Slicing tomatoes are perfect for sandwiches and salads. Here are some of our favorties.

Beefsteak

Beefsteak, aside from maybe cherry or Roma, is probably the most well known variety of tomato. Technically, beefsteak is a classification of tomatoes, but if you're looking in the store, you will likely just see the beefsteak label.

If you're looking for the most bang for your buck in gardening, try the Steakhouse hybrid out. They can get up to 48 ounces in size!

Brandywine

Brandywine tomatoes are a specific type of beefsteak tomato. They are perfect for sandwiches. If you grow them in your garden, they are relatively easy to care for and can be quite productive.

They will generally get to be in the 1 to 2 pound range.

Porterhouse

The porterhouse variety of beefsteak tomatoes are HUGE. Their mature size starts at 2 pounds and just goes up from there.

Need some help getting your garden crops planned? Check out the Ultimate Gardening Calculators for a system that will auto-calculate for you.

Big Beef

If you just want tomatoes for your sandwiches without having too much extra to store, Big Beef are perfect for you. They grow to around 10 to 12 ounces so you can slice one up and not have to toss the rest and waste it.

Cherokee Purple

Cherokee purple get their name from their deep color. They are similar in taste and texture to a Brandywine and will grow up to 13 ounces.

Best Tomatoes for Sauce or Salsa

I don't know about you but I love a nice spicy salsa with my chips. And nobody can argue how good a nice, rich, flavorful sauce can enhance a pasta dish.

Fortunately, there are several tomatoes that work for making either sauce or salsa. They are what is referred to as a paste variety of tomatoes. That just means, they are best used for mashing in things like salsa or sauces.

Amish Paste

Amish paste tomatoes get their name because they are reported to have originated in Amish colonies in the late 1800s. Amish paste are one of the larger types of paste tomatoes, growing up to ¾ pound.

Fresh Salsa

Fresh salsa tomatoes are a hybrid tomato. They are either deep red or golden in color. They are pretty small, around 4 to 5 ounces in size.

Roma

Roma tomatoes are another one of those types that you will always see in the grocery store just labeled as Roma. Roma tomatoes are plum shaped and wildly popular in most canning projects. If you arent sure what tomato you want to use in your sauce or salsa, you ca not go wrong with Romas.

Viva Italia

If you love pickles, you have to try growing cucumbers. Watching them climb a trellis is really exciting. They will mature in about 56 days but will regenerate as you pick them throughout the season.

Again, they make great pickles but are also perfect for your salads and sandwiches. They are also resilient to mildew and appreciate full exposure to the sun.

Big Mama & Little Mama

Technically these are two different tomatoes but we thought they should both be mentioned. They are both plum shaped and similar to Roma's. The major difference between these two, as their names indicate, is their size.

Little Mama tomatoes grow to be in the 3 to 4 ounce range. Big Mama tomatoes can get up to 10 ounces!

Tomatoes for Snacking

If you're looking for some nice, healthy snack types of tomatoes, you can't go wrong with a good small tomato. Here are some of our favorite grape and cherry tomato varieties for snacking.

Tomaccio

Tomaccios were developed in a very specific breeding program. They are small in size and fruit early in the season. They are perfect if you are looking for sun dried snacking tomatoes.

Sun Sugar

Sun Sugar tomatoes are unique in both color and flavor. They are extremely sweet and almost fruity in flavor. They are also bright orange in color, instead of the more traditional tomato red.

Fantastico

Ill be honest, we picked these next two varieties because they have the greatest names of the list. Tomato Fantastico are unique in they way they grow. They grow in what almost looks like a tomato bush and in clusters, like grapes.

Favorita

Favorita tomatoes are a specific favorite for greenhouse growers. In the right type of climate, they can grow a continuous harvest. They grow in an almost vine type of plant. They are small in size and perfect for bite sized snacking.

Matts Wild Cherry

Named after Dr Matt Liebman who cultivated these in Maine based on seeds from Mexican wild tomatoes. They are small in size, sugary in flavor, and grow in midseason clusters.

What are some of your favorite tomatoes? Let us know in the comments below.

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We love pasta but it isn't always the healthiest option. If you haven't tried it before, you have GOT to start growing spaghetti squash. It is an awesome alternative to pasta.

Spaghetti squash is a winter squash. They are different than growing zucchini or growing yellow squash, which are both type of summer squash.

The main difference between summer and winter squash is the skin of the fruit. You will notice yellow squash and zucchini skin will come right off even if you barely scrape them. Whereas, spaghetti squash, and other winter squash have a hard, almost shell like rind; similar to that of a coconut.

How to grow spaghetti squash

We prefer to only plant non-GMO and organic seeds. We don't use pesticides, so we like to have confidence that our seed suppliers are doing the same. So we always get our organic seeds online.

How to plant spaghetti squash

You can almost always get specific plant instructions on the back of the seed packet. If they are not on yours, you can always come back here and use this handy guide.

Need some help getting your garden crops planned? Check out the Ultimate Gardening Calculators for a system that will auto-calculate for you.

When to plant spaghetti squash

Spaghetti squash is best when the seedlings are started inside and then you transplant the started plants into your garden later. You will want them to be large enough to go out once the last frost has passed.

Figure out your gardening zone. Then you can figure out when the last frost date will be and start your plants inside accordingly. All you need to start your plants is a light source, organic potting soil and starting trays.

If you do not want to start them inside, you can sow directly into soil that is between 75 and 95 degrees. Obviously, this will also be after the last frost.

Spacing for spaghetti squash

When we garden, we like to maximize our space so we utilize the square foot gardening method. Basically, we use boxed grids instead of rows. Each box is 4 feet by 4 feet with single square foot planting pods.

Whether you are transplanting or sowing directly, you will want to create mounds for your plants or seeds. If you are planting seeds, put 4 or 5 seeds ½ to 1 inch deep. Space them out every 6 to 8 inches.

If you are transplanting, keep the same mounds and just plant every 6 to 8 inches. We will sometimes use a trellis with our spaghetti squash as well.

They like to vine and will grow up if you train them appropriately. Unfortunately, the squash can sometimes get too large and heavy to support themselves. When this happens, you can use strips of fabric, old pantyhose, or any kind of material to help support them as they grow.

How long does it take for spaghetti squash to grow?

Spaghetti squash has a pretty quick germination time. You should start season the first signs of your new plant in about 8 and 10 days.

When to pick spaghetti squash

Spaghetti Squash will reach it's maturity in about 90 days, or 3 months. At this point, your fruit should be ready to pick and enjoy.

How to tell if spaghetti squash is ripe is to keep an eye on the color of it's rind. While growing, it will be a cream color. When it is ready to pick it will be a more yellowish buff color.

Can you store spaghetti squash?

Storing spaghetti squash is easy. All you have to do is make sure it is in a cool dry space and it will keep for up to 2 months.

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There is nothing better than wanting a nice, refreshing, healthy meal and being able to walk into your own backyard garden and pluck your meal from there. If for no other reason than that satisfaction, we highly recommend growing lettuce in your garden.

Like we mentioned above, lettuce is one of the most convenient crops you can grow. All you need to do to get a great meal is walk outside, pull a handful of leaves from the plant, wash them off, and eat them. That is literally all you have to do. Its great!

Obviously, you might want to put mix some more stuff in with your lettuce and make a salad, or maybe stick it on a sandwich. But lettuce is so easy and its one of the fastest growing vegetables. You really cant go wrong with adding it to your garden planning.

How to grow lettuce

Pick out the type of lettuce you would like to grow. You can get your seeds locally or online. We prefer to grow organic and non-GMO crops so we usually buy our organic seeds online.

When we grow lettuce, we usually stick with something like Romaine. In particular, this season we grew a strain called Little Gems.

How to plant lettuce

Your seeds will almost always have planting and care instructions on the back of the package. If not, you can always use this guide to help you through the process.

When to plant lettuce

We always start our lettuce inside. It is recommended to do so 4 weeks before you then transplant them to your garden.

You can also stick them directly into the soil in your garden. Just make sure your soil is workable and not too hard. Lettuce is very cold hardy so colder soil temps are not an issue. They can handle temps between 40 - 65 degrees.

If you want to continue having lettuce throughout the season, it is recommended that you do successive plantings every 10 to 14 days. Give your plants access to full sunlight unless you live in an area with excess heat. Then just make sure they have some shade during the heat of the day.

Need some help getting your garden crops planned? Check out the Ultimate Gardening Calculators for a system that will auto-calculate for you.

Growing lettuce indoors

If you like, once you start your plants inside, you can just grow your lettuce in containers and never move them outdoors. All you need is a light source, organic potting soil, starting trays, and eventually a larger pot.

Your lettuce prefers full sunlight but with a decent light source, sun from your window should be fine.

How far apart to plant lettuce

We prefer to use square foot gardening. Basically we use planting box grids instead of rows. Each grid square is a square foot and we use a 4 x 4 grid.

Lettuce should be planted 10 inches apart. Since our boxes are 12 inches, we usually just plant one set per box. We will sow a few extra seeds to make sure we have something in each box. Then we just cull as necessary to make sure each plant has enough space and nutrients.

If you are sowing directly, you will just want to work the soil a bit for it to loosen up. Then you will plant each seed ¼ to ½ of an inch. Or, your somewhere between your fingertip and the first knuckle past your fingernail.

How long does it take for lettuce to grow?

Like we said earlier, lettuce grows super fast. Your lettuce will start to germinate with a week or 2.

How to harvest lettuce

Your plants will reach maturity around 45 to 80 days. You can actually harvest though as soon as the leaves are big enough to be usable.

We like to just pull leaves off as we need them and let the plant continue to grow.

Is it safe to eat bolted lettuce?

Bolting is basically when lettuce will reach the later stages of it's reproduction cycle. It will send up a flowery stalk in an attempt to seed.

Unfortunately, once they bolt the leaves start to taste bitter and are no longer a tasty meal.

You can keep bolting at bay by keeping your plants trimmed and cut low. You can also plant them earlier in the year so it is cooler and they will be less likely to reach the bolting stage.

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During both World Wars, people were encouraged to plant fruits, vegetables, and herbs on their properties. The public was also encouraged to plant similar gardens in public parks. These types of gardens were coined "Victory Gardens" by George Washington Carver and have been grown throughout the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, and Germany.

The intention was two-fold. One, these gardens were able to help supplement the nutrition of the public during times of war when rationing was not uncommon. The second, and arguably more important reason, was to help give people a purpose and keep their morale up during such uncertain times.

What is a Victory Garden Now?

In more modern times, Victory Gardens are still popular especially during times of uncertainty. They allow people to grow fresh and healthy food for themselves and their family.

Growing your own food to provide for your family certainly doesn't go out of style. Being self sufficient and learning how to use everything on your homestead are great skills to have at any time.

If you're ready to start your own, let's look at how you can get started.

How to Plan

Victory garden plans can be done the same as any other normal garden planning. The main thing to keep in mind when planning a Victory Garden is that it will likely be in a small areas, such as a front or back yard.

Because Victory Gardens use small spaces it's important that their plans maximize the use of every inch or foot of the garden area.

A few ways to do this are with square foot gardening or container gardening. Both of these methods allow maximum planting in minimal space.

What to plant?

What is in a Victory Garden? Anything that you want, it is up to you. However, you want to keep in mind, as we discussed above, your space limitations.

Making sure to plant easy to grow vegetables is important so that you can put in a small amount of work and get a decent harvest. Also including fast growing vegetables, so you can grow zucchini, grow yellow squash, grow lettuce, grow radishes, and grow cucumbers, and start harvesting food for your family as soon as possible.

Also make sure when figuring out what to put in your Victory Garden, that you include any vegetables that are favorites for your family. Don't waste space with vegetables that your family will not eat.

If you're interested in a few commonly grown fruits and vegetables for Victory Gardens, check out how to grow tomatoes, how to grow peppers, and how to grow blueberries.

How big is a victory garden?

The size of a Victory Garden really depends on how many people you need to feed, what plants you would like to grow, and how much space you have available.

Some things to think about are how much your family will eat vegetables, if you're planning on freezing or preserving vegetables for later use, and also the average harvest of the plants you are planting.

For example, it is possible to get up to 10 pounds of zucchini from a single plant! make sure to do your research on each type of plant you will be growing and make sure you have the capacity for them.

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I don't know about you but patience is not one of our virtues. That's why when we plant a garden we look for the fastest growing vegetables we can find.

After a few years, we decided to compile a list of some the crops with the quickest turnaround time from planting to harvest. We split our list into timelines of 20 to 30 days and 30 to 60 days.

The fastest growing vegetables you can plant

20 to 30 Days until Harvest

These veggies have a super fast turnaround time. You can expect to eat these within a month of planting. ONE MONTH! That's crazy. You may as well install a drive-thru window directly into your garden.

Green onions

Green onions may truly be THE fastest of the fastest growing vegetables. They are great because they are quick to grow AND are so versatile. You can harvest after growing them in between 20 and 30 days of planting.

They have a variety of uses and go great on things like soup, roasts, salads, potatoes. You can also cook them or just eat them raw.

Radishes

Like, green onions, radishes are in the 20 to 30 day range from planting to harvest. You will want to plant Spring Radishes if you are looking for the quickest turnaround time.

You can usually have them fresh in your salad in 3 to 4 weeks. When growing radishes, they love a lot of sunlight and a lot of moisture.

30 to 60 Days until Harvest

This next group of vegetables take a little bit longer but are still pretty quick. You can expect a harvest time of about a month or two.

Kale

Growing kale is maybe one of the healthiest crops you can grow. You can expect a yield anywhere from 30 to 65 days with the White Russian variety. They have a sweet flavor which makes them perfect for salads and as a base for your smoothies.

You can directly sow them into your garden. They also prefer wet soil and partial sunlight.

Arugula

Another leafy type of veggie for your garden. Growing Arugula is different than other types of leafy crops. They have a more peppery flavor which makes them perfect for an extra oomph in your salad or on a sandwich. You can also eat their flowers as an extra snack.

They are ready to harvest in 35 - 50 days. Cool weather is not a problem for them. In fact, they will thrive without a lot of heat. Make sure the have access to partial sunlight and you're good to go.

Lettuce

You'll notice, many leafy variety plants are some of the fastest growing vegetables you can plant. Growing Romaine lettuce is probably one of our favorite types of lettuce. You can grow it in as little as 28 days, but no more than 58. It's sweet taste is what give Caesar salads their signature flavor.

Romaine lettuce is also super resistant to heat and some mildews that can harm your garden. They like partial sunlight but can handle full sun.

Cucumbers

If you love pickles, you have to try growing cucumbers. Watching them climb a trellis is really exciting. They will mature in about 56 days but will regenerate as you pick them throughout the season.

Again, they make great pickles but are also perfect for your salads and sandwiches. They are also resilient to mildew and appreciate full exposure to the sun.

Green Beans

We prefer blue lake bush beans when we grow green beans. You can plant them throughout the season and almost always have a full harvest basket when you go inside.

These bush beans also have a really fast maturity time. You can go from plant to harvest in just under 60 days.

Baby Carrots

So, the baby carrots that we are all used to seeing in the store don't typically grow in the way we see them. A lot of times they are just large carrots cut down to a smaller size. If you want to grow baby carrots, there a few different methods.

The first method, is to harvest full size carrots early; in the 50 to 60 day range. They will be small in size and will serve the purpose of baby carrot for your snacking needs.

The second method is to plant miniature varieties of carrots. Some of the more popular strains are mega mini carrots, broccoli carrots, little divas, and turnip carrots.

Yellow Squash

Here at the MrAnimal Farm we love growing yellow squash. In particular, the straightneck variety. They plants are big and lush. The blossoms are beautiful, in their own right. And you can harvest them as quickly as 42 to 56 days.

They are pretty sensitive to frost so you will plant them accordingly. But, they really like warm soil and you can grow a ton and you can freeze yellow squash that you don't use to eat in the off season. Interesting fact, that yellow squash are actually fruits.

Peas

We promise, these are fast growing peas and not a protest song from the 60's. Progress #9 peas will be on your table for dinner in 58 to 65 days. Sure 65 is technically over the 60 day criteria we set, but they are just too sweet to leave off.

Growing these peas will produce early and will give you high yield all through the season. They love sunlight so you don't have to worry about shade. And they will support themselves so you don't even have to stake them.

Beets

Skip your trip to Schrute Farms and grow your own beets in your own garden. Aside from their gorgeous deep red and violet color, these beets are high in folic acid.

The Bull's Blood variety of beets will mature in 35 to 60 days. Make sure they have full sunlight.

Zucchini

It is well documented that we can not get enough out of growing zucchini on our farm. We especially love the black beauty strain of zucchini. A full plant will grow and mature in 50 to 60 days.

Black beauty zucchini has a wide variety of uses. You can make zucchini bread, zucchini noodles, zucchini nachos, zucchini lasagna, and a whole host of other zucchini based recipes. You can even eat the blossoms from the male plants in your salad. And, if you grow too much, you can freeze zucchini for the off season.

Spinach

Wanna grow up strong like Popeye? While our childhood forearms never quite got to those proportions (in retrospect, that's a good thing) we do still love our spinach.

The verdil type of growing spinach will mature in 50 days. They are an excellent over winter or early sping crop. They are very hardy in cold weather and are resistant to bolt. Once you harvest you can use them in salads, steaming, or a number of other great dishes.

Turnips

Turnips seem to get a bad rep as being a bad tasting vegetable. We are not sure who is running the anti turnip agenda, but we want to put a stop to it.

Try out growing turnips yourself. They will mature in 45 to 65 days, so it isn't a huge time investment. The purple top variety is beautiful. They are purple above ground and white underground. You will produce a large turnip but it will also stay sweet and tender. Trust us, you will not be disappointed.

Turnips are easy to freeze so you can grow a crop that will last you for the whole year if you want even.

What are some of your favorite fastest growing vegetables? Let us know in the comments below.

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By Aurelien Guichard (Flickr: Borough Market) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

8 Unusual Vegetables for Your Garden:

1. Glass Gem Corn

This is really the most beautiful corn.  It has a multitude of bright colorful kernels.  Each ear of corn is different and unique with a different rainbow and pattern of colors.

You see the pictures online and ask yourself, "Can you eat glass gem corn?". Glass gem corn is not a regular eating corn (for things like corn on the cob).  It is a flint corn and can be ground into meal or used as popcorn.

2. Lemon Cucumbers

These are a really fun addition for your garden, especially if you are used to huge bumper crops of plain 'ol pickling cucumbers.

By Jamain (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

3. Moon and Stars Watermelon

What, you say?  These cool smaller watermelons are a very dark green in color.  They also have various sized bright yellow spots (hence the moon and stars name).  These melons are great for snacking!

By Nadiatalent (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

4. Casper Pumpkins

Again, a very descriptive name that probably is a give away to what this unusual vegetable looks like.  These pumpkins are ghostly white.  They are a very striking addition to a garden.  They can be used in pies.

5. Romanesco

I bet (unlike the others on our list) you have no real clue what this vegetable may be from it's name.  Romanesco is a cauliflower variation.

By Aurelien Guichard (Flickr: Borough Market) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

6. Rainbow Carrots

Rainbow carrots get their name, obviously, because they are a wide variety of colors. Typically, a bunch of Rainbow Carrots is actually made up of several types of carrots, each with their own health benefits; Atomic Red, Bambino, Cosmic Purple, Lunar White and Solar Yellow.

7. Chocolate Bell Peppers

The chocolate bell pepper is a more rare vegetable. They get their name from their dark chocolate brown exterior color. Like other bell peppers, they are a sweeter than they are hot. They make an interesting twist on any of your traditional pepper recipes.

8. Rosa Bianca Eggplant

Unlike your typical long and deep purple eggplants you are used to seeing in the store, these eggplants are more round. They are not as dark in color and have a bit of white striping on them. These differences make it one of the more interesting vegetables to just look at.

They almost look like little purple peaches combined with a pumpkin. They also are delicious when sauteed and mixed with other vegetables.

There you have it!

After you try these 8 unusual vegetables you can start on the fastest growing vegetables.

Our first year gardening there was a fear we were going to do all this garden planning, starting plants inside and then nothing would grow.  Some plants are tricky, but there are also some of the easiest vegetables to grow. 

When we say something is easy to grow, we mean that it meets a few criteria.

That criteria is:

They are how prolific they may be.

How resilient they are to weeds, disease, and pests.

How long can they produce and stay healthy with as little of our interference as possible.

These 4 crops meet and exceed those expectations by a country mile. If you are a new gardener (or just a gardener looking for some easy crops), then you should try these!

Top 4 Easiest Vegetables To Grow:

If you are new to gardening, want to create a quick harvest in your victory garden, or just don't have a green thumb, you definitely want to try these out.

However, don't limit yourself to vegetables, in fact, some of these commonly thought of vegetables might actually be fruits!  You can also grow these edible flowers!

1. Peppers

How to grow peppers is the poster child for easy to grow vegetables. We have talked about how easy peppers are before. They are one of our favorite crops to grow simply because they are easy, prolific, and really colorful and nice to look at.

They have very few, if any, real pests.  They can withstand some significant neglect.  And they don't go bad if they are left on the plants for a long time, they just get hotter!

2. Tomatoes

Tomatoes are not quite as hardy as peppers.  Too much water can cause rot and other issues.  And tomatoes can have some pest issues.  However, overall, tomatoes can be a quite hardy plant. 

They will also produce a TON of fruit as long as you keep it picked.  Additionally, getting new plants going is easy as you can take off suckers from your main plant and plant them for new plants.

You can learn everything you need to know about how to grow tomatoes in one easy guide. Add a few plants to your garden this season and see for yourself how easy they can be to grow.

3. Green Beans

Green beans can be a bit of a pain to harvest if you don't have them separated enough.  However, growing green beans can get you a lot of harvest in a small area.  This is a very easy and productive crop to get started with as they don't take too much in the way of care.

Also, green beans mature relatively quickly, so you can often times plant two times in one season. That means double the veggies for you and your family. Plus, you can freeze green beans for the off season.

4. Summer Squash

Summer squash (like growing yellow squash and growing zucchini) can be a little tricky in terms of pests.  It is quite common to have squash bugs or squash vine borers come in and decimate all of your lovely plants.

However, if you plant a little early in the season (or use pest control method) you can keep your squash plants going.  And, you can freeze yellow squash for the off season.

Squash plants produce so much fruit (and there are many types of summer squash).  Just a few plants can produce pounds and pounds of squash.  You can never have too much squash - if you start to get overrun, try this zucchini nacho recipe!

What do you think are the easiest vegetables to grow?  Have you mastered these and ready to try out some more unusual vegetables or the fastest growing vegetables? Let us know in the comments below.

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When we realized we could make our very own pickles we immediately decided we needed to start growing cucumbers.

Growing cucumbers is not exactly the same as growing zucchini or growing yellow squash. For instance, instead of smaller, free standing plants, cucumbers are trained to vine and grow up a trellis.

Is growing cucumbers easy?

Aside from the initial effort of tilling and planting your crops, cucumbers are a really low effort plant. The most effort we had to put out for cucumbers is to remember to turn our sprinkler on and carrying in the heavy harvest basket from the HUGE loads of cucumbers we got almost every day.

In fact, I would say cucumbers are so easy, they should get an honorable mention on our list of easy & productive crops. The only reason they are not on there is we had not grown them at the time of writing.

Since they are so productive, you'll need to preserve them via canning like pickles. Or, you can freeze your cucumbers.

Like with any crop, we did have to deal a bit with various cucumber pests. However, we do not use any pesticides and they were never a big enough issue that our harvest noticeably suffered. We went with a live and let live pest strategy.

How to grow cucumbers

Like any crop, cucumbers come from seeds. You need to figure out what types of cucumbers you want. We went with Sumters because they are good for pickling and snacking. But there are many varieties; some that may fall into the unusual vegetables category.

Once you know what kind of cucumbers you want, check out your local farm store and pick up some seeds. You can also find some reputable distributors online. We like organic and non-GMO crops so we usually get our organic seeds online.

How to plant cucumbers

Your seed packet will likely have instructions on the back. But if not, this guide should be able to give you all of the information you need.

We like to start our cucumbers inside with organic potting soil and starting trays. We usually do this about a week and a half to 2 weeks before the last frost of the season.

You can figure out around when your last frost will be by checking your gardening zone. In fact, knowing what zone you live in will better help you make your entire gardening plan.

You can also directly sow these seeds into your garden. You just want to make sure that your soil temperature is between 70 and 95 degrees.

How far apart to plant cucumbers

We like to use the square foot gardening method. All that means is we plant in grid based boxes instead of your more traditional rows. We find that it saves us a lot of space and allows us to grow a larger garden with less effort.

When you are ready to either plant or transplant your cucumbers, you will want to decide on whether you will be using a trellis or not. If you do not want a trellis, your cucumber plant spacing is around every 36 inches. Push the seeds gently into the ground about ½ inch.

Growing cucumbers on a trellis

If you plan to train them to a trellis, which we HIGHLY recommend, you can plant every 18 inches. You will notice once your cucumber plants get going, they will start to put out thin little vines. These allow them to "climb" up a trellis.

When you start noticing them, you can pick the plant up from the ground and literally wrap those vines around your trellis. It also helps to weave your cucumber plant upright through the trellis.

The more you do this, the more your cucumber plant will be trained to grow up and not out. This, again, will allow you to plant much more in a much smaller space.

How long does it take for cucumbers to grow?

Cucumbers grow really quickly. After planting you will see germination as quickly as 3 days but can take as long as 10 days. They will reach maturity around 56 days. Cucumbers are actually one of the fastest growing vegetables we grow.

When to harvest cucumbers

You can pick your cucumbers when they are still small to medium sized. The way we would usually tell is they would usually have lost the blossom on the end and they would no longer be prickly.

The cucumber as it grows will be covered in small stiff hairs, like a tiny green porcupine you can eat (maybe that's a bad example). They will almost feel like small cacti (better example). Once they are ripe, the needles will mostly just brush off.

You will want to cut the cucumber off at the stem to allow more cucumbers to grow in it's place.

And, finally, in case you wanted to ask if cucumber is a fruit. Yes, they are a fruit and not a vegetable. They have seeds on the inside and therefore are a fruit. Take this one to your next trivia night.

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Nothing is better than making your own, homemade, fresh tomato sauce. That alone is a perfect reason to learn how to grow tomatoes.

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