Growing your own vegetables is one of the easiest ways to reduce supermarket costs while enjoying fresher, more flavoursome produce. These vegetables are productive, easy to grow and can provide harvests over many weeks or even months.

Tomato
Tomatoes are one of the most rewarding vegetables to grow. Cherry, roma and slicing varieties produce abundant crops throughout warmer months, saving money while delivering unbeatable flavour straight from the vine.

Lettuce
Instead of buying whole heads every week, grow loose-leaf lettuce, such as, cos, oak leaf, romaine, mesclun and arugula, and harvest only the leaves you need. Plants continue producing fresh leaves for weeks, making them one of the most economical crops.

Spinach
Fast-growing spinach provides a continual harvest of nutritious leaves for salads, sandwiches and cooked meals. Picking the outer leaves encourages fresh growth throughout the season. Best grown through the cooler months. Sow seed or plant seedlings throughout autumn. Harvest larger leaves as they mature after around 8 weeks.

Silverbeet (Swiss Chard)
Silverbeet is incredibly productive and can be harvested for many months. It tolerates heat and cold better than spinach and is perfect for stir-fries, soups and quiches.

Bean
Bush and climbing beans are prolific producers during the warmer months. A small planting can provide regular harvests, making them excellent value compared with supermarket prices.

Cucumber
Healthy cucumber plants often produce more fruit than one family can eat. Cucumbers are an abundant producer and are quick and easy to grow. There are many varieties of cucumber. Cucumbers need a warm, sunny position, a well-drained, loamy soil and space to ramble. Cucumbers can be planted just about anywhere in Australia during the summer. Plant more plants every two months to ensure a constant supply of fruit. Water well after sowing, then mulch.

Zucchini
Just a couple of zucchini plants can produce dozens of fruit over the season. Harvest regularly while young for the best flavour and continued production.

Leek
Leeks are a versatile kitchen staple with a mild onion flavour. They are easy to grow during the cooler months or regions, store well in the garden until needed and can save money when used in soups, pies, pasta dishes and casseroles.

Beetroot
Beetroot is a productive crop that offers excellent value. The sweet roots can be roasted, pickled or added to salads, while the nutritious leaves can be cooked like spinach, giving you two edible harvests from one plant. Beetroot is easy to grow and provides both edible roots and nutritious leaves. It stores well after harvesting, making it an economical addition to the vegetable garden.

Capsicum
Growing your own capsicums reduces the cost of buying colourful sweet peppers. Plants continue producing throughout the warmer months with regular harvesting.

Chilli
A single chilli plant can supply hundreds of chillies each season. Fresh or dried, they provide excellent value and add flavour to countless recipes.

Spring Onion
Spring onions grow quickly and take up very little space. Harvest them as needed to add fresh flavour to salads, stir-fries and soups.

Potato
Potatoes produce generous harvests from relatively small spaces and can be grown in garden beds, grow bags or large containers, providing excellent value.

Pea/Snow Pea
Peas are highly productive during the cooler months and regions and taste far sweeter when picked fresh. They can be eaten straight from the vine or added to a variety of dishes. Plant peas in late autumn and early winter; they like cold weather but the flower buds won’t form until frosts have finished. Select the types most suitable for your climate. Stagger planting every month to prolong the season for produce.  A sunny position is essential for good flower and pod development. All peas perform better if they are grown on a trellis or special pea netting, which should be erected before sowing seeds or planting seedlings, to prevent damage to the young plants.