Beans: They come in many types: thin, flat and those grown for dried beans. Whichever type you chose, they are easy to grow and produce a lot.

Cherry tomatoes: These are easier to grow than full-sized tomatoes. If you’re like us, you eat as many in the garden as ever make it into the house.

Leaf lettuce: This is the first vegetable from our garden every spring, and with succession planting, we eat it all year long.

Peas: Another easy-to-grow vegetable. For Mainers, eating peas on the Fourth of July means summer is really here.

— TOM ATWELL