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Harvest Freshness Fast: 6 Easy-Care Veg for Busy Vegans
Plant-Based Lifestyle Tips For Women
Author: Plant-Based Susy
You know you should grow your own veg. You’d spare the environment the packaging and transport needed to get your fresh produce to the store. You'd keep chemical pesticides from the soil, water, and body. And you'd get the freshest, tastiest plants. But you’re just too busy.
“Growing food is very simple,” says Harvard Medical School’s Kathleen Frith. “Really, anyone can learn to grow food pretty easily.” Yes, even a non-stop go-getter like you! Let us make DIY veggie growing doable with our list of the ultimate low-maintenance plants for busy vegans (and how to help them thrive).
The best low-maintenance plants for busy vegans to grow at home include fast-maturing radishes, bush green beans, courgettes, and assorted leafy green vegetables. Other popular veg that are easy to grow and maintain include tomatoes, rocket (arugula) and sweet peppers.
Some of the most-loved veggies, like versatile tomatoes and nutrient-packed leafy greens, are the easiest to grow. Your favourites could soon be sprouting up all around you without much fuss.
Once planted, many veggies need only minutes of weekly maintenance. So, what's your excuse? Start a veg patch to follow one of the hottest gardening trends for 2024.
We’ll share the top 6 simple-to-grow vegetables for time-strapped vegans and how to get a regular harvest from your home garden, no matter your space or lifestyle.
Table of Contents:
6 Easy-To-Grow Veggies for Vegans Without Time To Spare
Tomatoes, courgettes, and beans claim spots on the Royal Horticultural Society’s list of the top 5 vegetables people want to grow. We're about to explore how to grow these and 3 other hassle-free vegetables.
(You might also be interested in nurturing protein-packed microgreens at home.)
But first, here's a crash course in veggie gardening to ensure your efforts get results.
If you'll be trying to free up time in your overpacked schedule, it must be for something worth it. So, you must know how to set yourself up for success.
Vegetables need good-quality soil, sunlight, and water to grow well. Chatting or singing to them is optional. However, King Charles swears talking to plants is a winning strategy, saying, "I just come and talk to the plants, really. Very important to talk to them; they respond".
3 Essentials for Healthy Vegetable Plants:
Good-quality soil or vegan potting mix: well-draining, weed-free, and fertile. You can work compost into the soil to improve its condition. Gardening expert Rebecca Beavan simplifies how to make your own.
PS: DIY composting isn’t only for people with gardens.
Sunlight: at least 6 to 8 hours daily.
Water: once you’ve planted seeds or seedlings, your most important job will be monitoring their soil and keeping it consistently moist. Dry or soggy soil will stop your plants from flourishing. Dig a hole about 7 cm deep and feel the soil at the bottom to check that there's moisture where the plants' roots need it.
Something you don't need is tons of space. Our favourite easy-care veggies can be grown in the garden, patio containers or pots, kitchen window boxes, or hanging baskets.
Here they are: Vegan Susy’s pick of easy-breezy vegetables for busy vegans.
1 Radishes
Radishes top our list because this veggie proves you can get quick rewards with minimal effort.
Show the sowed seeds just a little love (looking after them takes about as much time as brushing your teeth), and you could be munching radishes within a month! You'll see shoots in as few as 7 days of planting.
How To Grow Radishes
Our instructions are for salad radishes because they’re the most popular and grow in even teeny spaces. Larger varieties need more space.
Get Homegrown Veggies in 3 Simple Steps:
Make holes in the soil about 1 cm deep (you can even use your finger for this) and roughly 3 cm apart. Keep 15 cm between rows.
Cover the holes with soil.
Check that the soil stays moist.
Info To Know:
Why We Love Them
Fast results aren’t the only reason we’re radish fans. We also like the colour and flavour variety different types offer.
They're exciting to look at, with skin in shades from deep scarlet and dramatic black to yellow and white. And their peppery to sweetish flavour makes them versatile in recipes. (Don’t enjoy sharp tastes? Go for the milder, lighter-skinned ones.)
When adding radishes to our meals, we think beyond slivers on salads and sandwiches. Try making them into full-flavoured kimchi (one of our go-to’s for gut health) or pickles. They also give extra crunch and kick to standard slaw and whizz into a terrific dip (with tahini and garlic).
Radish’s health perks also make them well worth testing your green fingers. They’ve got loads of vitamin C and compounds that help protect against cancer. And hardly any calories or fat!
2 Tomatoes
Your tastebuds will only come alive once they've experienced a freshly picked, juicy tomato.
The unrivalled scent and taste of homegrown tomatoes, combined with the fact that they aren’t a slog to grow, make these vegetables a first choice for grow-your-own fans worldwide.
How To Grow Tomatoes
Tomato plants are either bushy or climbing. Climbing tomatoes need to be tied to supports and have their side shoots snipped. Let's skip these steps and focus on the bush varieties, which are much easier to produce.
Tomatoes are planted as seedlings (young plants). You can buy transplants from most garden centres or grow your own from seeds indoors if you have time to care for them until they’re strong enough to be planted.
Get Homegrown Veggies in 2 Simple Steps:
Bury the bottom two-thirds of the seedlings (the lowest leaves should be just above the soil surface). Leave about 60 cm between plants.
Water regularly to keep the soil moist. Check your plants' leaves now and then — they'll curl when thirsty.
Info To Know:
Why We Love Them
Tomatoes make it onto our list of easy-to-grow vegetables for time-strapped vegans because they’re fuss-free, suitable for any space, bursting with good-for-you nutrients, and kitchen staples.
We also can’t get enough of all the different types available. Cherry tomatoes are one of the easiest to grow. Start with these. Then have a go at purple, orange, yellow, or stripy ones of every shape and size.
We usually choose red varieties because they contain an antioxidant called lycopene that other colours lack. This powerful antioxidant protects tomatoes against the sun's harmful rays and helps protect us from cancer.
Your body absorbs lycopene best when tomatoes are cooked, so turn this veggie into tangy sauces and soups (like our Roasted Creamy Tomato & Basil Soup with Chickpea Croutons) if you want max cancer-preventing benefits.
3 Sweet Peppers
Sweet peppers are another of our favourite low-maintenance plants for busy vegans.
They need more upkeep than radishes and tomatoes, but not too much to fit into your go-go-go schedule.
How To Grow Sweet Peppers
Like tomatoes, sweet peppers are usually grown from seedlings. You can buy them ready-to-plant or nurture them yourself from seeds if you have the time.
If you're keen to get real value from your groceries, you could even grow seedlings from supermarket peppers — Plant Lounge's Laurie shows how.
Get Homegrown Veggies in 3 Simple Steps:
Bury seedlings’ root balls in the soil. Space plants 40 to 45 cm apart.
Water regularly to keep the soil moist.
Over time, the plants’ main stems will shoot up and thicken. Tie them to a sturdy support (bamboo and soft twine are great for this) as they develop. Plus, support side stems that struggle when they start bearing peppers.
Info To Know:
Why We Love Them
We like how we can control the colour and flavour of our peppers by timing our harvesting just so (provided it’s a variety that goes from green to yellow, orange, red, or purple).
Feel like something fresh and mild to scoop up dip? Pick it green and slice it into strips. Craving rich, caramelised comfort food? Wait until it’s orange or red, then chunk and roast it.
Green and red peppers also have different nutritional strengths. Green are lower in carbs, and red are higher in nutrients — including 169% of your daily vitamin C needs in a medium-sized one.
Peppers’ antioxidant potential also changes as they ripen. Green contains lutein and zeaxanthin for eye health. Yellow have anti-inflammatory violaxanthin. Red peppers contain cancer-fighting capsanthin and lycopene.
Our top way to prepare sweet peppers is stuffed with lentil chilli and smothered with vegan cheese sauce.
4 Green Beans
Add green beans to your must-plant list, busy vegans! These plants are eager to please and produce an impressive harvest with minimal care.
How To Grow Green Beans
These veg grow either out (bush) or up (pole). Both types are low-maintenance, but caring for the bush type is a cinch. We'll share how to get these off to a healthy start.
Green beans grow best from seeds as the seedlings’ delicate roots are easily damaged when transplanted.
Get Homegrown Veggies in 3 Simple Steps:
Drop single seeds in 3 to 5 cm-deep holes. Keep about 10 to 15 cm between holes. Plant double rows to give the plants support.
Cover the holes with soil.
Water regularly.
Info To Know:
Why We Love Them
Unlike butter beans (lima) and soya beans, which come in a shell you usually throw out, green beans can be eaten whole, including the pods.
And you’re spoilt for choice with more than 100 varieties of edible bean pods, some green and others yellow or purple.
It's a good thing you can eat the entire bean because it's full of nutrients like fibre, potassium, and vitamins C and A.
Green beans are also one of the few vegetables that even many people with irritable bowel syndrome can eat without triggering gas, bloating, and belly pain. These veggies are gentle on the stomach because they’re low in the undigested carbs, called FODMAPS, behind the tummy trouble. Green beans can be as easy to prepare as they are to grow. Serve them with minced garlic, a drizzle of olive oil, lemon juice, and toasted sesame seeds for a tasty side you can whip up in minutes. Or throw them into a casserole when you have more time to cook during the weekend.
Learn chef Allison Kingery’s top tips for prepping green beans to get them ready for various recipes.
5 Courgettes (Zucchini)
Courgettes (or zucchini for our American friends) are a winner for the busy vegan's veggie garden because, with a bit of encouragement, they keep on giving.
Once production is in full swing, you'll harvest almost daily! (And upkeep won't bring you anywhere close to breaking a sweat.)
How To Grow Courgettes (Zucchini)
The various types of courgettes grow with similar ease, so pick your variety to fit your space. Some are sprawling, while others are compact.
You also get to choose whether to plant seeds or seedlings. We always go for seeds because it's a more straightforward process.
Get Homegrown Veggies in 4 Simple Steps:
Make 2.5 cm-deep holes and drop in a few seeds. Leave at least 90 cm between holes.
Cover the holes with soil and lightly water the planting area.
Keep only the strongest seedling if more than one seed germinates (crowded courgettes are more likely to develop diseases).
Make sure the soil stays moist, especially when it’s hot (your plants might need a daily drink during heat waves).
Info To Know:
Why We Love Them
The main reason courgettes are one of our top easy-to-grow veggies is that they help control your appetite so you can smash your plant-based weight-loss goals.
Their water and fibre content (94% water and 1 g fibre per 100 g) fills you up without moving the scale in the wrong direction.
They have two types of fibre for double benefits. Insoluble fibre helps keep you regular, and soluble fibre keeps the good bugs in your intestines happy and working for your wellness.
Courgettes also have loads of vitamin A and antioxidants for healthier eyes, skin, and heart. Most of these antioxidants might be in their skin, so don’t peel them.
We also like how pretty these plants are—some people plant them purely to make their gardens and patios look good!
One of our favourite ways to eat them is spiralised into “courgetti”, a low-calorie, low-carb swap for spaghetti. We know you’ll also want to make our Super Tasty Vegan Oil-Free Pesto Courgette (Zucchini) Pasta again and again.
Plus, try shredded courgette mixed with almond flour in gluten-free baked goods.
You can even eat the flowers if you have adventurous taste buds.
The popular way to cook the blooms is fried, but you can also sauté and stuff them or add them raw to salads. Embracing Harvest's Nadia suggests stuffing them with vegan cheese. See how she makes this unusual, vegan-friendly, gluten-free dish.
6 Leafy Greens
Listen up, time-pressed vegans who want fast results, super-healthy crops, and zero slog from their veggie gardening. Leafy greens tick all your boxes!
Seedlings appear a few days after planting, nutrient-packed leaves are ready to eat within 2 months, and you hardly have to lift a finger to make all this happen.
How To Grow Leafy Greens
There are more types of leafy crops than you can imagine, from light-green, sweet, crisp salad leaves to almost-black, hardier, slightly bitter kale.
You grow them all the same way, from seeds, so choose any variety your taste buds crave.
Another option is to buy a seed mix for assorted flavours and visual interest.
Get Homegrown Veggies in 4 Simple Steps:
Plant seeds 1 cm deep. Check your packaging instructions to see how much space to leave between individual plants and rows.
Cover with 1 cm soil.
Water the soil regularly to keep it moist.
Thin out weaker seedlings if your plants look cramped as they grow (you can eat the mild-flavoured, soft baby leaves).
Info To Know:
Why We Love Them
Just seeing our flourishing leafy greens boosts our well-being. Eating them makes us feel even better!
Health authorities say we should eat lots (about 3 cups per week) to stay healthy because they’re chock-full of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants and contain very few calories and carbs.
The US Department of Agriculture points out that green leafy vegetables’ generous antioxidant content probably makes them “one of the best cancer-preventing foods". They recommend eating 2 to 3 servings weekly to reduce your stomach, breast, and skin cancer risk.
We find it so satisfying to get our weekly target right from home. Picking them just before we eat them stops any of those precious nutrients from going to waste.
We like experimenting with leafy green recipes, both cooked and raw.
One of our hacks is turning kale into yummy chips (tear the leaves into pieces, lightly coat in olive oil, bake until crisp, and sprinkle with salt).
Skip blanching or boiling these leaves, as nutritionist Swrajit Sarkar says this cooking method destroys some of the plant's vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals.
Leafy greens don’t make your mouth water? Disguise their flavour by whizzing them into a smoothie. Try dark green leaves with ginger, kiwi, pear, celery, and oat milk in our Green Smoothie for Health.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the easiest vegetables to grow for busy vegans with limited time?
The easiest vegetables to grow for time-strapped vegans include radishes, tomatoes, and leafy greens. Radishes are particularly quick to mature, often ready for harvest within a month of planting.
Tomatoes thrive with minimal care and can be grown in containers or small spaces. Leafy greens, such as spinach and lettuce, require little maintenance and can be continuously harvested for salads and smoothies.
Can I grow these vegetables without a garden?
Yes, many of these easy-to-grow vegetables can be cultivated without a traditional garden. Radishes, tomatoes, and leafy greens can all be grown in containers, patio planters, or even window boxes. This makes them ideal for individuals with limited outdoor space, such as apartment dwellers or those living in urban environments.
Can I grow these vegetables if I live in an apartment?
Yes, most can be grown in containers on balconies or windowsills.
How do I keep my plants alive with a busy schedule?
Consistent watering and ensuring adequate sunlight are key.
How can I ensure a successful harvest with these vegetables despite my busy schedule?
Achieving a successful harvest with easy-to-grow vegetables for time-strapped vegans is achievable with a few simple strategies.
First, prioritise consistent watering to keep the soil moist, especially during hot weather.
Second, provide sufficient sunlight for your plants, aiming for at least 6 to 8 hours of direct sunlight daily.
Lastly, consider using organic fertilisers or compost to enrich the soil and promote healthy growth, reducing the need for frequent maintenance.
By following these steps, you can enjoy a bountiful harvest of fresh, homegrown vegetables regardless of your busy lifestyle.
The Bottom Line
Growing veggies at home will not only give you fresher, tastier plants to munch on, but it will also protect the environment, save you money, and give you a deep sense of satisfaction knowing that your hands have helped turn a seed into a fully developed vegetable. Now, isn't that worth your time?
💚 "Happy Plant-Based Eating & Exercising!" 💚
Plant-Based Susy
Plant-Based Nutrition Professional & Weight Loss Coach
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