Park Seed’s easy veggies for beginning gardeners

Source: Park Seed —  Starting a garden from seed is an incredible experience for new gardeners. To maximize their success, new gardeners can benefit from choosing seeds that are proven to be easy and reliable. Park Seed offers these recommendations for new gardeners. These are  not only are easy to grow, they also yield good results.

'Festina' green bean.

Green bean ‘Festina’ (Phaseolus vulgaris)

This cultivar is resistant to common bean mosaic virus and produces a bushy little plant that sets nice straight pods about 6 inches long and full of rich flavor and nutrition. 

'Park's Straight Neck' summer squash.

Summer squash ‘Park’s Straightneck’ (Cucurbita)

Ripening 8 to 9 inches long, these slender, heavy squashes have very thin skins for a more tender, succulent bite. You get the same yield from fewer plants than other varieties.

Cucumber ‘Salad Bush’ (Cucumis sativus)

Salad Bush bears a big harvest of dark green, cylindrical, smooth 8-inch fruit. These plants have an improved tolerance of many diseases.

Lettuce ‘Summer Glory Blend’ (Lactuca sativa)

'Summer Glory' lettuce.

Even if your summer weather sometimes begins in March, you can enjoy a long, delicious season of fresh lettuce with Park’s custom-blended mixture of seven heat-tolerant varieties. Specially selected to resist flowering and keep their flavorful crunch right into summer, the outstanding lettuces in this mixture will keep you in fresh leaves three seasons out of the year.

Park's large leaf Italian basil.

Basil ‘Large Leaf Italian’ (Ocimum basilicum)

This Genovese-type basil grows 18 to 24 inches high and 12 to 15 inches wide. The dark green, shiny leaves grow up to 3 inches long on a tall, erect plant that is slow to flower. Small clusters of pink flowers are borne in summer. This is easy to grow in a pot, too.

Parsley Italian plain leaf (Petroselinum crispum)

Park's plain leaf Italian parsley.

Flat-leafed parsley is far more flavorful than the curly type. Harvest  as needed, but fairly regularly so that the plants keep sprouting new stems. In mild climates, you can continue to cut it throughout winter.