newbies

[breezy88]

Can any one tell me the easiest plant to grow? Not a lot of sun but there is some. Also is it to late to plant carrots, onions, and beets?

[Hermana Linda]

The easiest plant is radishes. :yes Where are you? Most places are too hot for anything right now. :think But try radishes, they could very well work. :yes

[canadiyank]

Do you know what zone you're in? Check the garden centres for some starts, although beets and carrots you would start from seed...onions might be too late to get sizeable ones but you could still plant them (from "sets").

[tree_hugger]

Check your zone, but tomatoes are ridiculously easy to grow. They even volunteer (self propagate themselves). And your children will love picking cherry tomatoes. :)

[Hermana Linda]

Come to think of it, onions can overwinter. At least here they can. :think I had some onions for years. They just kept dividing. They never were onions, they were green onions which sometimes looked like leeks. I never let them go to seed, I would cut off the stems each time they bolted. Then I got cats and they fouled my garden. :sigh I didn't want to eat the onions anymore so I left them over the summer without watering them. I was sure that would kill them. :no I ended up having to dig them out anyway. :doh

[breezy88]

We are in zone 8. I'm not sure if it is 8a or 8b?

[Macky]

I'm going to assume you're on the island if you're zone 8. If so, your first frost date is November 5 (mine here in SK is September 15). Lucky you! ;) That means you have 15 weeks (105 days) left in the season to grow something. When you look at the back of any good seed packet, they will list something called days to maturity. If it's a vegetable that's usually direct seeded, that means you should have a mature vegetable that many days from the day you seeded it in the ground. For example, if I plant a bush bean that's labelled 55 days, I should expect to pick my first green bean roughly 55 days after I planted that seed. Now, keep in mind that weather will influence that number – cool weather will delay the maturation – so that's not written in stone. Still, it's useful as a general guideline.

You could definitely still try planting some carrots and beets. :)

It's too late for onions. Onions are very, very different in that they mature based on day length. It's pretty complicated, but to sum up (sort of)... you have to grow onions suitable to your latitude. In Canada, we grow long-day onions. In the southern States, they grow short-day onions. Short day onions are planted in the fall and grow over the winter for harvest in early spring. Long-day onions are started as early as possible in the spring (indoors in my zone) and start to bulb (mature) after the longest day of the year, as the days are starting to shorten again. If you planted long-day onions now, they wouldn't bulb until this time next year. Since you're in a really warm zone, though, if you want to provide some protection over the short winter, you could possibly try out a short-day onion variety. I'd consult a local greenhouse on that one as I'm not familiar with growing onions in BC. You could still grow green (bunching) onions and chives, though, with no trouble as they're not day-length dependent. :)

I can't answer your first question. The "easiest" plant to grow will depend on your growing conditions, soil, habits, etc. Something I find super easy – like carrots or beans or tomatoes – other people can struggle with. :shrug It's also difficult to make a recommendation based on such a vague assessment of sunlight. It's best to observe the area you want to plant and note how many hours of full sun it gets. Most vegetables need at least 6 to 8 hours of full sun each day.

[breezy88]

I am not on the island but on the mainland not far from the coast. Hmm...gardening is very confusing. A lot to learn:D. I think I might try some carrots and beets like you said. I will also try counting the hours of sunlight.

[Macky]

Not sure why it sounds confusing. If you can elaborate, maybe I can help. :)