I have based this list based on my own hard experience. These should suit the lazy gardener who has little time to carefully tend their crops every day. I like to grow in a largely organic way. The only chemicals that I ever use are a few slug pellets.
1. Spinach beet
This is a great crop that is very easy to grow. The slugs and caterpillars will have a gentle nibble at it but largely leave it alone. You can plant it directly into the soil and thin out the seedlings when they come up. You just take off leaves when you need them.
2. Radish
These were the first veg that I ever grew as a kid. They had a big advantage that they came up quite quickly. They have a nice spicy tang and are best off eaten on their own.
3. Lettuce
Lettuce can be easily grown and can be planted across the season. My personal favourite is the Tom Thumb as these can be picked very soon after sowing. Their size makes them very suitable as a single portion. The main problem with lettuce is that slugs and snails love lettuces and can destroy your whole crop. Slug pellets are some of the few chemicals that I would use on a garden. I understand that there is a biological control called nematodes, but I’m not sure where you can get hold of them from. (Beer is another technique you can use - see below)
4. Cress
This is a great one for kids. The seeds can be grown indoors on a few sheets of tissue (best is unbleached) or in a little compost. It’s not the easiest vegetable to eat but they can be spread on top of a salad or go nicely as an addition to a salad.
5. Cherry tomatoes
These are very easy to grow. They be grown from seed though I find that it is very easy to pick up seedlings from a village fete or from a vegetable shop or garden centre in late spring. They work best if you have a greenhouse, but I have grown them up against a sunny south facing wall. They can be grown in a grow bag, but you have to make sure that they get lots of water. You can buy irrigation hose pipe which will drip water at a constant rate.
6. Nasturtiums
“What?” I hear you say - Nasturtiums are a flower. Well yes, but you can also eat the leaves and flowers as part of a salad. The leaves have a fiery tangy taste, a bit like rocket. They are easy to grow from seed and have very pretty flowers. They are quite good at trailing from a hanging baskets. They seem to grow very easily and quite late in the season, but they can be prone to be eaten by caterpillars.
7. Potatoes
Potatoes can be easily grown from either seed potatoes or the old potatoes that have started to chit (sprout shoots). They can be grown in a trench and as the potatoes come up it is necessary to keep them watered and to cover the sides of the plant with soil. They can also be grown in barrels or a particularly common practice is to grow them in old car tyres that can then be raised up with soil as the potatoes grow.
8. Courgettes
Courgettes can be quite tricky to grow but with a greenhouse they can produce good results. They do not take well to no being regularly watered and can be prone to the same virus that effects cucumber plants. The secret seems to be grow the courgettes from seed yourself rather than buying them as seedlings from the garden centre. They can also be prone to aborting the courgettes that then tend to rot.
9. Carrot
Carrots can be grown to good effect and they can generate good “beginners luck” in the first year. They are prone to carrot fly which can cause problems, particularly in the second year. I have found that baby carrots can be very effective - particularly if you mix them around other types of vegetable.