Less Than 5% Of People Think This Vegetable Is Worth Growing At Home
Do you grow any fruits, vegetables, or herbs at home? Even if all you've got space for is a kitchen window planter sown with some basil or parsley, gardening can be a fun and rewarding experience for anyone who loves to cook, bringing the farm-to-table concept a whole lot closer to home.
Perennially a popular activity for those with some outdoor space, home gardening saw an astronomical rise — along with sourdough baking and virtual happy hours — during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to The Conversation, home gardening boomed all around the world as more people were staying at home and finding themselves with the time — and the inclination to eat healthily — necessitated by fruit, vegetable, and herb gardens. If you, too, have found yourself with your hands in the soil of late, which produce item is your favorite to grow at home?
That's the question we asked 515 U.S. survey respondents, and one item in particular failed to curry much favor among voters.
Poll respondents are leaving pumpkin-growing to the professionals
If you've ever set aside a patio, terrace, or plot for home gardening, then you likely have a list of favorite produce items you love to grow at home. According to Almanac, the easiest vegetables to grow at home include lettuce, green beans, peas, radishes, carrots, and cucumbers; But we here at Tasting Table we're curious what real Americans love to grow in their home gardens. We asked 515 of them what the best vegetable to grow at home is, and nearly 51% — a whopping 262 respondents — named tomatoes. Biologically a fruit, this produce item is pretty easy to grow at home in the summertime and is very productive, according to Gardener's Supply Company, so its top-place spot makes sense.
So who was the loser in the poll? Last place went to pumpkins — also biologically a fruit — which garnered only 3% of the vote. Many respondents favor growing leafy greens such as lettuce and kale, as well as peppers, which both earned about 18% of the vote, and nearly 9% of respondents named cucumbers as the best vegetable to grow at home.
With that mix of ingredients, it sounds like it's high time to blend up a cooling gazpacho.