Which vegetables are really easy to grow from seed?

If you’re wondering which vegetables are really easy to grow from seed, you’ll be pleased to hear that growing vegetables from seed is much easier than you might think. We have a short list of the easiest seeds to grow below.

Growing from seed is a cost effective & sustainable way to grow lots of plants for your garden. Sow a few easy to grow vegetable seeds for some fantastic, homegrown ingredients for your family.

Growing your own food is really satisfying and actually not as difficult as you might think. Plants really want to grow and need only very simple conditions to get started. Here are five easy to grow vegetables from seed to get you started, but there are lots of others you can try too. Look out for the Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit (RHS AGM) accolade when buying plants and seeds. AGM plants have been awarded this accolade after testing and assessment by the society, and it is only given to plants that have proved to have excellent garden performance and that are worth growing.

Lovely pods of peas

Children love to pop pea pods in early summer, eating the sweet tasty peas straight from the plants. And peas are one of the easiest seeds to grow because they are hardy. That means they don’t need to be protected from frost and cold and will get growing as soon as the temperatures start to rise. The great thing about growing peas is that you can also eat the leaves, stems and tendrils, so sow a few extra seeds to grow for early salads too.

Grow Pea ‘Kelvedon Wonder’

‘Kelvedon Wonder’ is a reliable, heavy yielding early maturing pea. This heritage variety has been popular with gardeners for many years, thanks to its compact plants that produce heavy yields of well-filled pods. It’s an RHS AGM winner that’s great for sowing in spring and summer. It’s compact too only growing to 45cm (18in) tall so it doesn’t need much staking. That makes it a great choice for small gardens and for growing in containers. Pea ‘Kelvedon Wonder’ forms pods in abundance. Each pea pod is packed with plump peas, with up to eight peas in every pod. What’s more this variety shows great resistance to common problems like pea wilt and downy mildew disease so the plants are healthier and lower maintenance. Sow from March to June for pods of peas between June and September.

Versatile courgettes

Courgettes are a fantastic vegetable for the garden. Just two or three plants can keep a family supplied with masses of useful, tasty courgettes and edible flowers all summer. They are easy to grow, very versatile and very productive plants.

Grow Courgette ‘Defender’ F1

Defender is a super easy to grow courgette that will deliver heavy crops of classic, dark green, uniform fruit over a long period throughout summer, up until the first frosts. The tasty, dense fruit is easy to pick from the bushy plants. It’s a tried and tested variety, an RHS AGM winner that shows good disease resistance. Sown in April for an early harvest in June, but sow again in mid to late May for a later harvest into October. 

Tasty and tender broadbeans

Don’t confuse homegrown broadbeans with those tough woolly beans you ate as a child. Sow this really easy to grow vegetable for masses of long pods that are filled with delicious, tender, full of flavour succulent beans. You won’t be disappointed. Broad beans are really easy to grow; you can eat the leaves too in salads and stir-fries. We’ve got two much loved varieties for you to try and each packet contains around 45-50 seeds so you can make four or five sowings of 8-10 seeds.

Broad Bean ‘Aquadulce Claudia’

‘Aquadulce Claudia’ is a classic and much loved broad bean variety that produces masses of long pods filled with flavoursome, delightfully tender white broad beans. Gardeners have grown it for generations because it’s ideal for sowing in autumn and spring. Sow from February to March and October to November to harvest from June to August.

Grow Broad Bean ‘Masterpiece Green Longpod’

‘Masterpiece Green Longpod’ is an absolutely fabulous variety of broad bean with really long pods that contain up to seven tender beans, which are ideal for freezing. These have a truly delicious flavour. It’s an RHS AGM winner; the plants are vigorous and quick to mature so it’s a great variety to sow in spring. Sow from February to April to harvest from June to August.

Delicious reliable runner beans

For a really easy to grow vegetable choose runner beans. Not only are the plants and flowers very attractive additions to the garden, but also the beans are simply delicious. Train them up wigwams of bamboo canes at the back of the border, or in the veg patch. They are lovely leafy plants with attractive red or white flowers that are a magnet for the bumblebees needed to pollinate them. Sow from April to May to harvest pods from July to September.

Grow Runner Bean ‘Benchmaster’

This easy to grow variety produces large yields of lovely, long, smooth, fleshy runner bean pods up to 40cm (16in) long. The tasty pods are produced over a long period of time, whatever the British weather throws at the plants. It’s another great RHS AGM winner.

Runner bean ‘Benchmaster’ was bred with the UK spring and summer climate in mind. It is often recommended for long bean competitions; it performs brilliantly in the garden or on the allotment. The plants have pretty red flowers ideal to create a starring role in the veg garden – or even in flower borders! 

Grow Runner Bean ‘Enorma’

Runner Bean ‘Enorma’ is a real favourite with vegetable growers for its ability to produce massive crops of delicious, super long runner bean pods throughout summer. The plants look great too and add an ornamental look to the garden with their pretty red flowers and long, shapely pods that can measure up to 50cm (20in) long. Give it a starring role in the veg garden – or even in flower borders! 

Earthy, rich and sweet garden beetroot

There is nothing quite like the earthy rich flavour of beetroot. It’s a magnificent vegetable that is really easy to grow, very rich in vitamins and nutrients and packed with flavour. Baby leaves can be added to salads.

Grow Beetroot ‘Boltardy’

It is the “go-to” variety of beetroot because, as its name suggests, it doesn’t bolt – go to seed prematurely before producing a crop. This makes it perfect for sowing early in the year and in poor weather years and a great variety for beginners. It’s an RHS AGM winner with a delicious flavour, high resistance to bolting and the UK’s best-selling beetroot variety. Seeds can be sown from March to July for harvesting from July to October.