Everything about vegetables in a Makkelijke Moestuin

Which vegetables are ideal for a raised bed, and which are better avoided? This is all about vegetables that grow quickly and easily, and those that do not.

A raised garden box in summer filled with the right kinds of vegetables that grow well with our system — *Which vegetables do you choose for your Makkelijke Moestuin?*

Grow plant varieties that produce a lot

In a raised bed, you want to grow as much as possible in a small area.

So choose vegetables that:

grow quickly without taking up too much space
give you a large harvest
you really enjoy eating
and keep producing for as long as possible

Avoid vegetables that do not meet those requirements.

Simple, right? But how do you do that?

How do you choose which varieties to grow in your raised bed, how do you know what gives a large harvest and what does not, and what should you consider when sowing in a Makkelijke Moestuin raised bed?

Jelle harvests lettuces from a raised bed filled with fresh vegetables — *Lots of variety is what we're going for*

What I sowed when I started

When I started with the Makkelijke Moestuin, I knew nothing about vegetables. I knew what I liked eating, but had no idea how the plants grew or how to care for them.

So I followed the book about Square Foot Gardening and mainly sowed what it recommended.

I bought the seeds from the local garden centre. Simple varieties, nothing special, and no more than about ten: carrots, beetroot, lettuce, that kind of thing, plus some beans, courgettes, and tomatoes.

Jelle's first homemade raised garden beds at home in Den Andel, the Netherlands — *My first Makkelijke Moestuin raised beds*

That went pretty well at the time. To everyone's surprise, my plants produced a lot.

I harvested even more than my mom, who was busy cultivating all kinds of specialty seeds.

So - after doing this for a decade or so - I know exactly what to sow

If you ask me what the best vegetables are, I won't beat around the bush: the ones in our seed shop.

Our MM-Seed assortments offer 40+ varieties that you can buy separately or in bulk — *Makkelijke Moestuin seeds*

“Hello Jelle, I understand: you want to sell your seeds 😉”

That is true. But it is not why I say this. After years of learning what does and does not work, our shop only includes seeds that are genuinely suitable.

They are probably not the only varieties that grow well in a raised bed, but these are the ones we know work.

View the seeds selected for the Makkelijke Moestuin.

What won't you sow, but would still work?

You can sow most vegetables and herbs without any trouble, including cilantro, dill, and basil. But with some varieties, it is much smarter to add a young plant to your raised bed.

If you sow curly parsley, it can take around five months before you harvest your first sprig. That is why I buy four small plants in March, put them in one square, start harvesting after about four weeks, and have more than enough for the rest of the year.

4 parsley plants fit in 1 square patch in the Planty Garden — *Four parsley plants in one square*

What about flat-leaf parsley?

I make an exception for that, because it is rarely available as a young plant, even though it is much tastier than the ordinary curly variety.

So I do sow flat-leaf parsley, which is why we sell the seeds.

Flat-leaf parsley in a Makkelijke Moestuin Hero table raised bed — *Flat-leaf parsley, photo by Sonja MM*

The same applies to chives

Chives are also fairly difficult to sow, and the young plants take a long time to become substantial. By the time you can finally harvest, at least six months have passed.

So we only sow varieties that are almost impossible to buy as young plants, such as Chinese chives or garlic chives.

And you only need 1 chive plant for the rest of your life:

A bushy chive plant is one that you never have to sow — *A chive plant keeps going forever*

Potatoes, onions, and garlic

You do not sow these crops: you plant them, rather like flower bulbs.

For potatoes, use small seed potatoes, and for onions, use small onion sets.

Chit early seed potatoes on the windowsill from February to mid-March. Then plant them deep in your raised bed. If the weather cooperates, you can harvest them as early as June.

*Seed potatoes chitting on the windowsill*

For beautiful garlic bulbs, plant cloves in your raised bed in autumn. You can harvest them six months later. If you started them from seed, it would take at least another year.

Garlic cloves planted in the fall grew into hearty bulbs with long green stems by the next summer — *Home-grown garlic*

Which vegetables are you better off skipping?

By now, I know that too: sometimes from my own experience or my mother's, and sometimes from what I see in other gardens.

Unsuitable vegetables:

fail more often than they succeed, such as cauliflower
take up most of your raised bed, such as the broccoli below
attract a great many pests, such as Chinese cabbage
are unsuitable for our climate, such as watermelon
or occupy a square for a very long time, such as parsnips

A broccoli plant takes up a complete Planty Garden box for a whole season — *This broccoli plant takes up almost the entire raised bed*

Some unsuitable vegetables do have alternatives that work well.

One example is the Baby broccoli included in our 2023 test packet and later added to our seed selection:

Baby broccoli produces many side shoots after the first head — *After the first head of broccoli, edible side shoots keep appearing*

This variety stays much more compact, produces a harvest sooner, and continues growing delicious side shoots for months after you harvest the first head. So this broccoli really is suitable.

So, those are the no-gos.

Plus all the other vegetables that you don't like, that hardly produce anything, or that take a crazy amount of effort before you can eat them. Because you probably won't end up doing it if it's a hassle, right?

Going for the gold

Well, that's about it. Now you know everything I know: which vegetables work and which don't.

Start with the good stuff that's guaranteed to grow - especially if you're a beginner.

We're going for grow-your-own gold here. Our goal? To make sure you're ridiculously happy with your vegetable garden and proud of it too.

So, choose the plants that you know will do well. And that comes with step-by-step guidance from the app.

You can find them all in the shop.