Growing your own food is the best. However, it’s made better if you can find some truly weird and wonderful unusual vegetables to grow!
You don’t have any idea how to go about it? Don’t worry, we’ve searched out the most interesting, unusual additions to your veggie patch. Most are pretty easy to grow too, as an added bonus!
Unusual Vegetables To Grow
Strawberry Spinach
Strawberry spinach is a truly striking, interesting plant to grow in your garden – is it a salad? Is it a berry? Actually, it’s both!
You can grow strawberry spinach in your garden, as long as it has moist soil and a good sunny position. Both the leaves and the berries are edible – this is a really interesting ornamental looking plant.
It’s great to have a plant that combines fruits and leaves, and this one is sure to be a talking point with all your neighbours and guests!
Tomatillos
Like their cousins, the tomato, the tomatillo is a member of the Nightshade family. They are surprisingly easy to grow, being pretty tough and hardy!
They will need good soil which has plenty of nutrients, and a full sun position, with a good watering regime, for best results.
These plants can grow pretty big, so make sure that they have ample space between them, to allow them to spread and reach their full potential.
Cucamelon
These tiny little cucumber-type vegetables will be a great addition to any unusual growing patch – the winding foliage is almost as pretty as the fruits!
They will need a full sun position and good, well-draining soil to produce the tiny little fruits (they look like watermelons but taste like cucumber!)
The vines can get very large and will trail around very prettily, and they are also drought, disease and pest resistant, making them a great no-fuss, unusual crop.
Black Cherry Tomato
These are actually tomatoes – but tomatoes like you will have never seen before – they are coloured much more like black grapes than tomatoes.
They are very easy to grow; just treat them as you would any other tomato and you will be rewarded with the unusual fruits in no time.
As long as they have a sunny, sheltered spot in the warmth and plenty of water during the growing season, you can harvest your own crop of unique tomatoes in no time.
Heritage Carrots
Known as “heritage” because this is how all carrots used to look in the old days before we grew specifically for the orange colour, these carrots are truly beautiful.
They come in a range of colours – from amethyst purple to pale yellow and deep red – and they will be a great addition to your veggie garden.
The planting and care instructions are just the same as for normal carrots, so you don’t have to worry that they might be tricky to grow.
Turban Squash
This is a squash like you’ve never seen! It has a normal squash shape – until you reach the top, where it looks as though it’s wearing a hat!
With a beautifully coloured skin and its unusual shape, this one is a great addition to your unusual veg collection. Plus, it’s absolutely delicious.
These squash are really easy to grow – just some sunshine and good soil, and they’re away. Just remember to allow plenty of space for this plant, as it will grow long and leggy and may take over if left unchecked.
Mooli
Also known as Daikon or Japanese radish, the mooli is a fantastic plant to grow, and it has a great many delicious culinary uses.
Another advantage to this unusual vegetable is that it can be harvested much later than many other veggies in your garden, giving you something to do in the colder months!
The long white roots have a crisp, peppery flavour, and they can be grown just about anywhere that has good, well-draining soil and a bit of warmth.
Banana Melon
This one is pretty similar to its name – it’s a melon, shaped like a banana! It’s also a very delicious melon, with a sweeter than usual taste.
These annuals will need a full sun position and will do best in a greenhouse or a polytunnel. You can expect the melons to ripen within just 90 days of starting to fruit!
It’s easy to get hold of the seeds; any good gardening store should stock them, or you can easily search for them online.
Goji Berries
These superfoods are great to have around the place for a tasty boost of nutrients on your breakfast cereal – and I bet you didn’t know you can grow them at home, for free!
Goji berries need a full sun spot, and can handle drying out in hot summers. They can grow to over 12 feet tall, and plants will start to fruit after they are 2 years old.
Before long you can be harvesting your own goji berries – just remember to dry them a little before you eat them, as this improves the flavour no end.
Ground Cherries
These are not actually cherries as we know them, but they’re super interesting and fun to grow! They produce small orange fruits encased in a papery husk.
A member of the Nightshade family, these pretty plants like well-draining soil with not too much water. They will need a full sun position, but can handle light shade.
The “cherries” will ripen slowly once the plant is mature, being ready to harvest from July, right up till the first frost. Oh, and they’re super yummy too.
Final Words
Now that you know more about all the unusual veggies that are out there, you can get on with planting up your strange patch! It’ll be fun, and will give your neighbours something to talk about.
Most of these vegetables are pretty easy to grow, and of course delicious, so you can have fun whilst still being productive and enjoy tasting some new foods while you’re at it.
