10 Easy Garden Crops You've Never Heard Of

Add a little quirk to your summer vegetable garden!

Tromboncino: A Summer Squash & Winter Squash All in One.

Via learningandyearning.com

To use as a yellow summer squash, harvest at any size while still green. For a hard, winter squash, allow it to stay on the vine until it is yellow and the skin has hardened.

Find out more here.

Moringa: Edible Leaves, Edible Pods, Superfood!

Via schneiderpeeps.com

Moringa leaves have 2 times the protein as yogurt, 7 times the vitamin C as oranges, 3 times the potassium as bananas, 4 times the Vitamin A as carrots and 4 times the calcium as milk.

Read more about Moringa and how you can add this tree to your garden here.

Yacon: A Vegetable that Thinks it's a Fruit

Via attainable-sustainable.net

Yacon - also called ground apple - is native to South America, where it’s eaten like a fruit. Plants grow 5'-6' tall and yield abundant tubers that store well.

Learn how - and why - to plant it here.

Mizuna: Something New for your Salad

Via homestead-honey.com

Mizuna is a delicious and tender Japanese green that you can eat raw in a salad blend, or cook like spinach.

Read more about Mizuna and other "new" spring greens here.

Haskaps: A Northern Climate Fruit Similar to Blueberry

Via joybileefarm.com

Haskaps, Honey berry, or Edible Blue Honeysuckle (Lonicera caerulea) have more antioxidants than blueberries and more potassium, too. Dried haskaps bring more than a $100 per lb. in Japan!

Find out more about this superfood here.

Stevia: Before it was in a Little Packet, it Started as a Plant

Via commonsensehome.com

You can grow stevia at home, in pots or in your garden, and harvest it for dried leaves or extract.

Read how to grow it and use it here.

Purslane: Stop! Don't Pull that Weed!

Via attainable-sustainable.net

You might recognize it as a weed, but purslane is high in vitamins A, C and E, and in dietary minerals such as iron, magnesium, calcium, potassium and manganese. AND it tastes great!

Find out how it can transform your garden (and save you time!) here.

Breadseed Poppies: Save Yourself a Fortune, Make Poppy Seed Cake

Via homespunseasonalliving.com

A bonus plant, Breadseed Poppies produce gorgeous flowers (the bees will thank you!) followed by pods full of poppy seeds.

Read more about adding this plant to your garden here.

Pepitas: Grow Naked Pumpkin Seeds

Via commonsensehome.com

Instead of the hard white seed coating we see in standard “Halloween pumpkins”, these pumpkins have a very delicate skin on the seed that comes off easily. You might know them as pepitas, sold frequently at health food stores.

Find out more about growing these seeds here.

New Zealand Spinach: A Heat Tolerant, Hardy Option

Via growagoodlife.com

New Zealand Spinach isn’t really spinach at all but tastes similar and can be cooked the same way. It is a heat loving plant that is frost sensitive. Meaning that, when the spring spinach bolts, New Zealand spinach can fill the void and grow all summer long.

Read more about this crop here.