Gardening is a popular and rewarding hobby, but many gardeners get tired of growing the same plants year after year. If you are weary of growing tomatoes, lettuce, and zinnias in your yard and are ready to plant something that will surprise and shock your friends and neighbors, consider the plants on this list.
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Luffa sponge
You have probably seen a luffa sponge, and maybe you have used one. These slightly scratchy round sponges are used to exfoliate the skin while showering and bathing. What you may not know is that the luffa is actually a plant! The luffa is the inside of a gourd which is stringy and forms a network of fibers. The gourd is dried and peeled and the seeds are removed before being used as a sponge. Growing your own luffa in your backyard is a little more difficult than growing pumpkins because the plants take a long time to grow and are a little harder to get started, but otherwise, they are similar.
Marijuana
In some states and countries, it is legal to grow your own marijuana. Marijuana is actually one of the easiest plants to grow, and if you can keep a houseplant or vegetable garden alive, you can grow this plant. It can be grown indoors or outside, but it does require a lot of light if grown inside. For this reason, it’s preferable to grow it outside if it is tolerant of your climate. It can be grown in the summer in most areas. You can grow this plant in a variety of strains and types, such as the popular fruit loops strain, Acapulco gold, and grandaddy purple.
Mushrooms
You can grow your own edible mushrooms at home! There are a variety of mushroom kits available that make growing your own easy and convenient. Some mushrooms can be grown in your house, in a dark, damp area. Others must be grown outside in old logs or wood. Some mushrooms, like button and oyster mushrooms, are grown in a soil-like mixture of coffee grounds or compost. You can buy kits with substrate already inoculated with mushroom spores and ready to grow. Other mushrooms, such as shiitake and reishi mushrooms can take a few years to grow because you must use small wooden plugs to “plant” the fungus in a log in your backyard. Once started, these mushrooms can grow for longer, however.
Tobacco
It is possible and legal to grow your own tobacco at home, and the actual growing process is similar to many vegetables. Tobacco is in the same family as tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant and has similar growth habits. Like most nightshades, tobacco is usually planted in pots in a sheltered location and transplanted outside when it’s warm enough for healthy growth. Once the tobacco is grown and harvested, it becomes more difficult to process into a product that can be used and enjoyed. Tobacco must be cured for weeks and then aged for a longer length of time, up to 5 or 6 years. Tobacco aging must be done under carefully controlled conditions to prevent the leaves from rotting or decaying.
Unusually-colored vegetables
Unexpectedly-colored vegetables are fun and easy to grow in a home vegetable garden. While we usually associate vegetables with specific colors, in fact, many of them can come in a large variety. These different colors are fun for the home hobbyist to grow and are usually no different in practice than growing more traditionally-colored varieties.
Carrots can be white, yellow, red, and purple, besides their usual orange. Green beans can also be purple, and the similar wax beans can be white and yellow. Purple green beans change to green when cooked but wax beans retain their color. Did you know that you can grow
cauliflower that is bright purple, cheesy orange, or chartreuse green? These make an unexpected addition to soups and salads!
Other plants come in even larger varieties. Tomatoes can be brown, purple, pink, orange, yellow, white, green, and even nearly black, and in a large variety of sizes and shapes as well. Peppers, a close relative of tomatoes, also have a huge variety of colors and shapes, as well as both spicy and sweet versions.
Pumpkins and squashes are perhaps the most varied plant you can grow. While they do take up a lot of room, they are generally easy to grow and can be found in purple, blue, pink, orange, yellow, red, gray, and white colors and sizes from small enough to fit in your palm to huge behemoths that are too heavy to carry.
Mormon Tea and Ephedra
Mormon tea is a plant native to southwestern North America that contains trace amounts of ephedra. It is made into tea and used to treat colds and other mild illnesses. It is easy to grow if given the right conditions that mimic its native environment and prefers warm, dry air. Most people outside of the southwest must grow it inside for at least part of the year. You can also grow Ma Huang, a Chinese relative that contains more ephedra, and can also be made into tea. Both plants are legal to grow in the US.
Living Stones
Living stones are small succulents that form gray-green, reddish, or brown blobs on the soil, without noticeable stems or trunks. They have similar growth to other succulents and are usually grown as houseplants or potted plants in dry substrate designed for cactuses and can easily be overwatered.
Coffee
Did you know you can grow your own coffee? This high-elevation tropical plant has very specific growing preferences and for most people must be grown indoors. Coffee cannot tolerate weather that is too cold or too hot and it’s a bit finicky about watering and soil requirements. If you can keep a coffee plant happy, you will be rewarded with a beautiful tropical houseplant as well as coffee beans in about 3-5 years. After harvesting, coffee beans must also be roasted and ground before the drink can be enjoyed.
