Buy and plant what you enjoy eating, is rule number
one! Next should be what makes sense economically,
and third is what varieties do well in your climate
and at particular times of year.
My family eats almost no eggplant, broccoli or
cauliflower, so I don't grow them for the home
garden. On the other hand, we all love tomatoes -
both large (Big Beef is our choice) and small
(Grape tomatoes have really captured our hearts!),
so those are our largest crop. And spinach is great
in salads as well as cooked; it grows fast, and can
be grown in both spring and fall, in space not yet
able to be used for warm weather crops, or after
other crops are harvested.
Crops that produce the most "bang for the buck"
include tomatoes, cucumbers, pole beans, peppers,
eggplant, zucchini and yellow crookneck, as well as
cantaloupe or other climbing squash or small melons.
These are all ever-bearing, and most can be grown
vertically (see my article on growing vertically),
so they take relatively little space in your garden.
Single crop varieties like cabbage can also be good,
but they should be harvested quickly at maturity,
before they become over-ripe and infested with pests
and diseases. If you enjoy red beets, Cylindra is
one that holds in the garden for a long time without
getting tough and woody.
Avoid growing corn in the small family garden,
because it takes so much space and produces very
little, unless you use the leaves and stalk. For
example, a corn stalk takes the same space as a
tomato plant, but only produces one or two fruits,
while an indeterminate tomato plant should produce
25 to 30 fruits. And potatoes are usually much less
expensive than tomatoes, so if space is limited,
that may not be a high priority. On the other hand,
potatoes, along with winter squash, cabbage, carrots,
etc., will store for many months, if done properly.
The third element in choosing what to grow is finding
things that grow well in your climate, and choosing
the right time of year. In the cooler climates with
shorter growing seasons, it's wishful thinking to try
growing sweet potatoes and peanuts. There are also a
few other crops that require long growing seasons
and/or hot weather - large watermelons for example.
Look on the seed packet, or a catalog, or in a plant
database such as the
Garden Master CD.
And particularly for those of you in hot climates,
grow spinach, lettuce, and brassica's at the
beginning and end of your growing season.
Growing your own seedlings and/or using clear
coverings over your plants in the garden
(Mini-Greenhouses, which I'll explain in another
article), will let you extend your growing season
by several weeks in both spring and fall. This can
even help you to grow long-season crops you thought
were not possible in your area.
Good Growing – let’s get started!
Jim Kennard
is President of the
Food For Everyone
Foundation, a non-profit organization with the
mission of "Teaching the world to grow food one
family at a time". You'll find many free vegetable
gardening resources, including a gardening ebook,
greenhouse plans, automated watering plans, and
a free chapter from each of the great gardening
books and software CD's Jim offers, at the
website:
www.foodforeveryone.org
