There are some things in life that are worth spending money on. A backyard veggie garden, in my opinion, is one of those things. Let’s imagine if every house on your street had a prosperous veggie garden. Everyone would trade for different things and it would be an amazing haul of produce all for free. This is a pipe dream in the era of the modern world but back in the 1940’s during the World War 2 most Aussie households did do this due to supply chain disruptions.
The past few years have really shown us how volatile things can get, from the COVID-19 pandemic through to the war in Ukraine and Russia and now another modern war between Israel and Hamas. Scary… not to mention the rising cost of living and specifically the rising food costs.
Now the initial outlay of money to buy things like garden beds, pots, fertilizer & seeds can all add up, but provided that you look after your plants they will eventually pay you back with delicious chemical-free produce. You can’t put a price on your health and well-being. Gardening also comes with some mental health benefits and can be a great stress reliever for a busy life.
If you have limited living space like me, it is still possible to grow some of your own food. You may have to put your plants out in the communal backyard of your unit building or in a sunny position on your balcony, but it is still possible. If you are placing the plants in a communal backyard please check that it is okay with the neighbors first, just in order to avoid any future problems.
I am based in South East Queensland so the weather ranges from warm in winter to stinking hot in summer. So the plants listed below are ones that are more suited to a subtropical climate.
Easiest Veggies to grow in your back yard
- The beloved Tomato. As pictured above tomatoes are one of the if not the most popular backyard fruit/vegetable to grow. A store-bought tomato has nowhere near the same delicious taste as a tomato that comes from your own backyard. Tomatoes are also pretty easy to grow. They like water and heat but can be prone to pests like possums and birds. Once your plant starts to fruit you can protect them using netting or caging to try and keep the pests away.
- Potatoes are a staple of everyone’s weekly grocery shop. Potatoes take about six months from planting to harvest and they don’t like it too wet. This is one that you don’t want to overwater as it can start to rot underground. The best thing about potatoes is that you can grow them from store-bought potatoes that have gone green. Once a potato starts to sprout eyes bury it in the soil and you will hopefully see it sprout up within a few weeks.
- Strawberries. Strawberries are another fan favourite. Nothing is better than having sweet, fresh delicious strawberries that you can just walk outside to get. Not to mention the price saving by having your own. Strawberries can fluctuate so much in price at the supermarket and sometimes half the punnet is already on the brink of rotting. Strawberries are quite easy to grow as long as you look after the plants and make sure not to leave the ripening fruit for too long as the bugs/birds will get them.
- Onion’s. Onions are a good one for the backyard patch because they store so well. Once you harvest you can leave them to cure in the sun for a while and then they keep them in the pantry for months. If you have a bumper onion crop you will never have to buy onions at the supermarket again.
- Green beans are also relatively low-maintenance and produce a high yield. You can also freeze or can them for later use. You may need some sort of tressle set up for this plant as they like to grow upwards.
- Lettuce is a quick-growing leafy green that you can harvest continuously by picking individual leaves. This minimizes waste, as you only pick what you need. Remember during Covid when a head of iceberg lettuce was $11…if that is not reason enough to try your hand at growing your own, then I don’t know what is.
Another option if you are unable or just not interested in growing your own backyard produce is checking out some of the companies who deliver fruit and veg boxes to your door. This produce is the fruit and veg that has been rejected by the supermarket for superficial defects. I tried one of these boxes from FunkyFood’s and I was impressed.
My Funky Foods box
The volume of food, the quality, and the freshness were fantastic. Not to mention it was delivered to my door and cost only $37 (including delivery.) I will be trying another company called Farmers Pick which also delivers these produce boxes and I will do some reviews in another blog article. You can’t choose what goes in the box as it is a range of seasonal produce but that is half the fun! It means you need to be more creative with your cooking and also helps get more veggies into your diet.
