Rhubarb is awesome. It will come to maturity twice a year, and all you have to do is cut it.  If you happen to forget to cut it, fear not, in most cases it will go to seed, and then grow back the next year, after a dormant winter season. I wouldn’t let it do this too many years in a row however…

With plants like rhubarb that have giant leaves, they are their own weed control.  They rarely have to compete with other plants, as the leaves shade out any other growth.  While talking about the leaves though – beware! Rhubarb leaves are poisonous.  Handle with care, and don’t eat them.  (Mix them up in some water though to make your own pesticide).

Pumpkins are quick to germinate, and quick to establish.  They require a fairly long growing season if you’re attempting to grow a Jack O’ Lantern size pumpkin, but they are very very forgiving. 

They have great big leaves that shade out competing weeds, and they can survive the cooler temperatures that come in the fall.  Pumpkins can also survive the first light frost of the season, but nothing much more than that.

Other than a small trellis ( and by this a light rope strung across two sticks for the length of the row will suffice) bush beans need very little care.  Plant the seeds, string something for them to grow with, like the trellis, and then harvest them when they are ready. 

Bush beans can be a really satisfying crop, because the plants will continue to produce more and more beans as you pick them.  If you use a trellis, the bush varieties also provide shade to other competitors, and therefore once they are established and standing, require little to no weeding.

Peas are pretty easy to grow also, for the same reason that bush beans are easy to grow.  Depending on the variety of peas, you may require a more heavy duty type of trellis.  You will get out of your plants what you put into them. 

Peas will also provide the weed control by shading out smaller plants once established, although not quite as effectively as the beans. 

Cucumbers are perhaps the easiest of easy to grow.  They have a quick germination time, mature rapidly, have plants that produce more cucumbers as you pick the ripe ones, and have the big shade leaves for weed control.

And I mean, really. Pickles.  Need I say more?