Starting a garden from seed is an incredible experience for a new gardener. To maximize their success with growing flowers, herbs and vegetables from seed, new gardeners can benefit from choosing seeds proven to be easy and reliable. So which seeds are best for new gardeners? Stephanie Turner, Park Seed Co.’s seeds and accessories manager, has created a list of 10 seed suggestions for those new to gardening. The following are examples of seeds that are perfect for new gardeners. They are not only easy to grow, they will also yield delightful results.
Bean Festina, Phaseolus vulgaris Festina
Resistant to common bean mosaic virus, this vigorous, bushy little plant sets nice straight pods about 6 inches long and full of rich flavor and nutrition.
Squash Park’s Straightneck, Park’s Straightneck
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 Hybrid, Cucumis sativus Salad Bush Hybrid
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 Blend
Even if your summer weather sometimes begins in March, you can enjoy a long, delicious season of fresh lettuce with our 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.
Basil Large Leaf Italian, Ocimum basilicum Large Leaf Italian
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.
Parsley Italian Plain Leaf, Petroselinum crispum Italian Plain Leaf
Flat-leafed parsley is far more nutritious than the curly type. Harvest it as needed, but fairly regularly so that the plants keep sprouting new stems. In mild climates, you can continue to cut it throughout winter.
Marigold Park’s Whopper Yellow, Tagetes erecta Park’s Whopper Yellow
This simply is a terrific garden plant, reaching 18 inches tall, 12 inches wide, and blooming just as freely as its smaller cousins all summer long. And Park’s Whopper is tolerant of botrytis, a fungus that attacks marigolds, so expect healthy plants all season.
Sunflower ‘Waooh!’ Helianthus annuus ‘Waooh!’
Just 24 inches high with 4-inch blooms, this plant never needs staking, yet is tall enough to make a big impression in the sunny border, beds and other settings. Ideal for cut flowers because the blooms are pollen-free and the plants set so many flowers in such a compact space.
Morning Glory ‘Heavenly Blue,’ Ipomoea tricolor ‘Heavenly Blue’
Perfect for covering unsightly buildings, tumbling over fences, or decorating any vertical garden structure from the mailbox to the lamppost, ‘Heavenly Blue’ blooms over a very long summer and fall season and is pest free.
Zinnia Park’s Picks Mix, Zinnia elegans Park’s Picks Mix
Zinnias are one of the easiest annuals to grow and attract butterflies to the garden. They thrive in the sun and heat of summer and ask only well-drained soil. This mix contains coral, crimson, salmon-rose, scarlet, red, rose, lilac, pink, purple, orange, yellow, and white.
The Park Seed Co., one of the oldest and largest mail-order seed companies in the United States, has been providing top-quality seeds, bulbs, plants, and accessories to generations of American gardeners since 1868. With the motto “Your success and pleasure are more to Park than your money,” Park Seed has always been known for its superior seed and plants, as well as for its helpful garden advice and friendly service.
