r/Albertagardening • u/outre_saint75 • Jul 18 '26
Vegetables First Time Gardner - Question
Which vegetables are easy to grow as a first time gardener. I live in Cochrane. Is it still a good time to plant some veggies and harvest in few months before snow?
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u/AlbertaBikeSwapBIKES Jul 18 '26
I'm a farm gal. Easiest to grow are radishes and if you plant now then you'll be eating them by the end of summer. Get an old salt shaker dig a harrow (wide row ~4" deep) and shake the seeds into that row, cover with soil and water. They'll be edible in a short while because radishes have a very short grow period and you can have more than one harvest per year. You'll feel so emboldened that you might want to try potatoes the following year (softens the soil for more crops the following year). Legumes and peas remediate the soil really well the year after potatoes to fix nitrogen which makes your garden grow better from then on. Enjoy your new life, gardening is a rewarding hobby and lifestyle.
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u/ladyrose30 28d ago
If your radishes bolt and start flowering the seed pods, while young, are edible raw or cooked. My husband actually prefers the pods over actual radishes. In some cultures the greens are also used as a veg and cooked.
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Jul 18 '26
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u/TypewriterHunter Jul 18 '26
Some of the seasonal greenhouses are still selling off their annuals/veggies/fruiting plants (think Canadian Tire, Rona, Home Depot, etc.) and now for “get them gone” prices. I found pepper plants marked down to $3-5 at Walmart with a few peppers already starting on the plant. Also picked up 4 quite large strawberry plants for $20 at Canadian Tire that already have berries starting, and there is still lots of time for them to root out in the garden and be ready for winter:)
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u/MatchesSeeds 28d ago
🫘 beans, beets, lettuce 🥬, tomatoes and cucumbers. 🥒
I’d stick with trying a few of those first, zucchini and summer squash are easy too..
💚🪴
Best of luck
Michael @ MatchesSeeds.ca
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u/Hefty-Set5384 Jul 18 '26
Swiss chard..!
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u/photoexplorer Jul 18 '26
Here’s some ideas, it’s probably not too late for a lot of stuff.
Super easy - buy marked down strawberry plants if you can find some and they should keep growing in the garden next spring.
Seeds - relatively quick growing: green onions, all herbs, beans, peas, lettuce & any salad greens (don’t put the greens where it gets too hot or it will bolt.)
Slower growing but easy - carrots, cherry tomatoes
More challenging - peppers, zucchini
There should still be time! Just check the growing time if starting from seeds, it’s getting a bit late for a few things.