In spring, I put a few sprouting potatoes in the compost, waited a few month and since July or so I have a huge bucket of homegrown potatoes that I have problems to use up. So very easy food source. Can recommend. There were a few pill bugs/ potato bugs who love the taste of the plants, but their damage had not much effect on the harvest in the end.
The characters probably shouldn’t know the exact stats, but I mean, some things are reasonably obvious. For example if the barbarian pc turned an enemy into mush with a single hit in the last battle, the character can assume that they’re very strong. And so on.