pole beans would give more output than bush,grow things on trellis's like cukes and beans,thats quite abit of room,u can grow lots of veggies...

Think about leafy vegetables that can be harvested continually, and ones that climb.

Peas, pole beans,

If you can harvest and get them to the food bank, chard, kale, spinach

You have just under 1/5th of an acre to work with.

Your zone 4b/5a may have a fairly short growing season but there is a chance that you can grow 2 crops on the same ground. Take a look at the information linked below from North Dakota State University on maturity dates and yields.

You'll have to do a little math starting with dividing the acre yield by 5 to get an idea of the pounds of produce you might expect from your garden.

Keep in mind the issue of storage time - NDSU has ideas on that, as well.

I hope this helps and here is Wishing You the Best of Luck!

digitSteve

Here is a link that might be useful: NDSU - maturity, yield & storage

Cabbage produces the most per square foot. Zucchini, cukes, potato and pole beans round up the top five. Cabbage might be hindered by loopers, and one often loses zucchini and cuke plants to certain insects. Potatoes, to be really productive, have to be hilled, and cukes and beans, trellised. Besides pests, cabbage and potatoes prefer clay, while pole beans prefer a lighter soil. It is also maybe a bit late to get really optimal crops, most of these should have been started already.

Finally, there is the double crop problem. There is a bed of mine which has garlic and lettuce now, and starting in August, kale. That bed produces three crops. It is more productive than a potato bed, when you consider that I can eat out of it about 6 months a year. So you will have to be more specific.

I would plant things things that are cut and come back produce like swiss chard or kale. You can make a planting and harvest and it'll keep growing back. All of the above are good suggestions too. Grow vertically for optimal use of your bed!

Since this is for a food bank, produce which is sturdy and keeps well might provide the most bang for the buck. Summer squash, however prolific, can be easily damaged, and greens are a lot of work plus they wilt quickly. Potatoes, cabbage, cucumbers and beans can stand up to handling better. Potatoes also provide a lot of nutrition and are a very calorie dense vegetable.

Another way of looking at highest output is cost. Potatoes and cabbage are cheap to buy, partially because they store and ship so well. You may want to consider crops which may not be the most prolific, but which are healthy and more expensive to buy, like strawberries, fresh tomatoes, peppers, greens and herbs. These will require more babying and special care, but might be more economically beneficial for the food bank and its customers.

thanks for the great input everyone ! keep it coming !

I originally though bush beans because I'm uncertain about how we'll build a trellis, but maybe I should look into doing that and go with pole beans instead. Winter squash and potatoes may be good ideas as well, I think winter squash keeps very well.

What about carrots?

Better make sure your food bank is equipped to handle fresh food. Most in my area aren't.

One word of caution. Check with your food bank as to which types of vegetables they will use. Great production is great, but if no one uses those vegetables it is a great waste. Food banks here cater to poor people. One pastor talked to me about getting eggplant, which to me is a great vegetable, but none of his folks were familiar with them and promptly heaved them into the trash.
As for bush versus pole beans, it depends somewhat on your climate. here, bush bean greatly out produce pole beans in a given amount of space. Pole beans scatter the harvest over a longer period and get caught by the summer heat. They do better in the fall.

That may be true in the hot South, but already in Zone 6 pole beans produce through the summer.

I would not waste valuable space on potatoes. As someone else said, they are not expensive to buy and they do not produce many pounds per square foot.

Just my opinion but in terms of production, (not necessarily what the food bank would want) tomatoes rank first. You can easily make juice which makes a great basis for soup. Greens are great, especially loose leaf lettuce if grown under a sheet or heavy shade cloth. I've raised it from March until January! Pole beans, especially KY Wonder are suppose to be very prolific. Four or five bell pepper plants go a long way, especially if they can be frozen. Carrots do well, though they will take the entire season to grow. The plus side is they can be sliced and blanched, frozen and provide a great addition to soup or salads. Onions do not take up much space and keep a long time. Calabrese Broccoli is another plant that doesn't take up a lot of space, produces heads in about 70 days but keeps producing offshoots until the killing frost comes.

Digit - your math is off! There are more than 40,000 sq. ft. in an acre. 800 sf is less than 1/50th of an acre!

Again, the worth of the veggies is just an opinion and YMMV!

Mke

Posted by wordwiz . . . Digit - your math is off! There are more than 40,000 sq. ft. in an acre. 800 sf is less than 1/50th of an acre!

Thank you!

That is the 2nd time I've done something like that in just the last few days.

Steve

Potato, among all the garden vegetable, has the highest nutritional value.
This is regardlees of how cheap or expensive it is.
Yet another plus about potato is that it is not perishable.
square foot per square foot potato can yield as much as tomato. But you cannot feed the hungry with tomato.

Beans are also nutritious and easy to grow. Cucumber is just a luxury with minimal food value. summer squash is better. Beets are another one.

lets say that your garden is the only source of food for your family. What woul you rather grow?
my number one crop will be potato. Number 2 will be beans..

Cyrus

Over on the Composting/Soil Forum is someone who grows veggies for his local food bank, as well as his family. You can't miss him - he's always posting pics of his amazing concrete block compost heaps. He posts under jonughes. I'm sure he'd have lots of tips for you on what his local food bank has been able to use, etc.

I think others have had some very good ideas. I do think it's important to consider what people would know how to use. OTOH, I recently read about a food bank that had a program with shares of veggies weekly. Some of the veggies were those that many people don't know what to do with, like eggplant. Recipes, or better yet, samples, worked wonders - people started wanting things they hadn't previously.

As far as specifics, I'd vote for: pole beans (they produce a long time), tomatoes (familiar, yummy grown locally), lettuce, cukes, peppers (if they grow in your area - they can be cranky even here in 5b). You might consider some of the melons bred for northern areas.

You might be able to get seed at a discounted price from some of the seed companies. This year, my Territorial Seed order came with a free packet of carrot seeds, sponsored by some nonprofit encouraging gardeners to "plant a row for the hungry." And I've heard that many Cooperative Extension services have a seed library - they'd probably let you take extra, given that you're growing for charity.

Good for you, and good luck!

Cyrus,

To beg the point, in the dead of winter, I can buy a 10 pound bag of potatoes for $5 or less when the local supermarket runs a sale.

Yes, I do grow them. Canned ~65 quarts last fall and had another 50 pounds to eat - but I have the room and time. I love corn - but I didn't grow any - one can go to a Farmer's market or a farm and during the harvest season buy it for $6-8 per bushel. If my concern is growing food for a place that doesn't have unlimited funds, I opt for what goes the furthest.

YMMV!

Mike

grow all the tomatoes and butternut that you can. Both give huge crops that people want.

You did not say how many people the food bank feeds. If I were doing all the labor I would do only Jet Star tomatoes and Waltham butternut. and actually use more space for the squash. buy the seeds from Fedco.

I would store the butternut and give it out slowly all winter. I would probably add a few zucchini.

You must look at how the food is distributed. do people get food every week or every month. do the people get a choice or no choice. If you pick 100 pounds of tomatoes in one day can you give that away before the tomatoes go bad. The butternut will last all winter in storage. In fact it improves in storage. So you can give it out over maybe 8 to 12 months. With the tomatoes you have maybe one week to distribute the harvest. Swiss chard would be good but I fear most people will chuck it into the trash.

The problem with greens like lettuce etc is that people take it home and do not use it immediately and the days roll along and soon they are thrown out in the trash.

If you have 100 pounds of beans on the plants how will you harvest them and distribute them. too much work. potatoes are cheaper to purchase than to grow. peppers up north have super low yield and tons of work growing the plants from seed.

Lettuce might work but leaf lettuce is dirty to distribute. Better to grow a Batavia lettuce. Michelle from Fedco is very nice. But again lettuce is a lot of work and then suddenly you have a huge yield that will remain good for a very short time.

You must first consider how you distribute the food and how much can you use in one week. how much will you harvest in one week when it all comes ripe.

Who is going to weed the garden. etc. there is a lot of work involved. It can easy become a full time job.

One of the highest dollar value per acre and per work is onions. But that is because onions can be worked with a tractor. onions are one of the most difficult to grow. Onions require very specific soil and growing area. Very tricky to find land that grows onions. Vermont is not usually thought of as onion land. most onions are grown where winters are mild and the onions can grow all winter.

strawberries might be nice but they take over a year to grow and will melt within hours of picking. they are a very high labor crop.

If the food is for a food bank, I suggest that you grow what the clients like to eat. They'd probably like to have chicken nuggets, potato chips, cola, and Twinkies.

I suggest that you talk to the people running the food banks and ask what sorts of things their clients like to eat. If they don't mind doing a bit extra, they could actually ask their clients what fresh vegetables they would like to find in their box of groceries.

One thought is that if there is an ethnic component to the clients, they might like regional specific foods. Since some of those veggies are quite expensive, and also easy to grow, they would be a big hit.

People want the foods they grew up with. People want the foods they know how to cook.

Who the heck was it that had the show about getting the schools to feed nutritious foods for lunch? The elementary school kids did not know the names of any vegetables, not even really common ones.

I have seen a package of doughnut seeds. That might work.

Trellises are your main consideration in making a decision about pole beans. Don't underestimate cost of materials and amount of labor needed to construct them, especially if there is no certainty that they will be used more than once. My guess is that pole beans will not be an economical crop for your purposes.

If you make trellises be sure you use a reliably sturdy design. The link below will give you something to think about.

Jim

Here is a link that might be useful: Bean Trellises

Years ago I grew a variety of tomato called "San Remo" from Shepherd's Seeds - they are a very large meaty paste type tomato with a pointed end. Those plants were just unbelievably productive, I would take the 5 gallon buckets out and fill them from a couple plants. OFTEN. Those tomatoes made absolutely wonderful tomato sauces. I see that Renee's Seeds now offers them under Italian Pompeii. I am going to grow them again next season.

I vote for high vitamin veggies (greens, peppers, beans, tomatoes, squashes, etc.) vs. high calorie veggies. The food banks, at least that I have heard of, already do well providing cheap calories. They do less well at providing fresh, healthy vegetables, and those are expensive to buy and in cities, at least, can be hard to get. People around here, for instance, love their greens and their beans. You might want to investigate the consumers you will be providing for and see what they want. Different cultures have different staples and favorites.

I 4th or 5th the recommendation to talk to the food bank and its customers and then plant what people want and will eat. You'll still have to make decisions about the amount of time and labor you can spend and how well specific produce items will make it through the food bank's process.

But I would not be so quick to dismiss the notion that the customers won't eat fresh veggies. We have several community gardens in town, and one is *40 acres,* serving the poorest part of town. Alabama is not exactly known for healthy eating, either -- if it can be done here it can be doen anywhere.

you CAN grow 100 lbs of potatoes in 4 sq ft. It's all about optimizing your garden space.

I would also look into raised beds/square foot gardening.

Think VERTICAL as others have suggested.

fyi: The average square-foot garden for a family of four takes up 160 square feet. A "conventional" garden for a family of four 800 sq ft.
* http://www.nepanewsletter.com/square.html

Here is a link that might be useful: Grow 100 lbs. of Potatoes in 4 Square Feet

The reason why many inner city residents don't eat fresh vegetables is because they can't get them. There are very few supermarkets in poorer urban areas. So, many residents rely on corner stores that rarely stock fresh vegetables for their grocery needs. People are generally very happy to get vegetables when they can. I live in an "ethnically mixed," lower income neighborhood of Boston, and last year they had a farmer's market on Fridays. It was packed with people (who could use their food stamps) buying all sorts of organic and heirloom produce. And don't forget herbs, poor people love to cook with herbs just like the rest of us.

NBreau, did the food bank folks mention how many people they typically feed in a day?

Also, after receiving all of the above great advice, I'd be interested in what you decided to plant in the 800 sq ft.

This is a good discussion; it seems that we're all going to advise you WAY beyond your original concern. It's tough to balance all the considerations: calorie-density, nutritional value, cost at retail, space, value to recipient, shelf-life, labor required. My two cents turned into 5.

If I were you and I decided on plain-old potatoes, I wouldn't grow too many of them; despite the calorie-density and nutritional value, $$-wise they really are quite accessible to everyone already.

And if I *did* still decide to go with potatoes, I'd maybe grow some
1) Sweet potatoes (still calorie-dense and nutritionally worthwhile, but generally more expensive)
2) Red-skin potatoes or Fingerling potatoes (same reason as sweet potatoes)

It would definitely make sense to grow some long(er)-keeping veggies like root crops and winter squash:

3) Carrots (nutritionally great, somewhat expensive, and can be planted "in between" rows of other veggies)
4) Green Onions widely used in cooking, and pretty easy to grow and harvest for you
5) Rutabagas (in rural areas, this might be a bigger hit than it would be in the city...still)
6) Butternut Squash, other winter squash (the popularity of certain squashes might depend on the region)

Personal-sized melons might be fun; miniature melons can be trellised, and some are longer lasting than others. (I know, melons are not vegetables.) For your region I'd go with:
7) Minnesota Midget
8) Maybe Ogen

If you have the time to harvest them, grape tomatoes would really provide a great bang for the buck. Transport them on the vine and it might save you time. Pick them before they are at the height of ripeness and you have a better chance at transporting them without smashing them.
9) Grape tomatoes +
10) A big beefsteak tomato or a Roma. With some research, you can find one that will transport well and will still taste great even when picked before fully developing

Susan2010 and I must be in similar company. People around here DO love their greens. Leaf vegetables are a nice treat. Everyone likes a nice salad, and if you can grow a sturdy Romaine, or a nice Bibb, you might have a easier time at transport. It's a bit ambitious, but for leaf vegetables, I'd go with:
11) Romaine lettuce
12) Bibb lettuce
And for the deep greens:
13) Cabbage Almost everyone loves cabbage in some form (boiled, pickled, rolled, in a slaw...), it's ready to harvest in what seems like a jiffy, and it can be planted relatively densely if you choose the right variety. Sadly, it can be a bear to grow, so keep that in mind.
14) Kale
15) Collard Greens
16) Maybe Mustard Greens

I'd grow leeks because they are delicious grilled and they'll wait on you until you harvest them.
17) Leeks

Other things I'd grow just because they are likely to be recognized and thus promptly eaten:
18) String beans
19) Bush Lima Beans/Lima Beans
20) Cucumbers

Here CUCUMBERS are always a high yield crop. Plant those and you will have them coming out of your ears!

If you'd like to grow herbs herbs, maybe fennel, sage, dill, parsley, and cilantro would be popular? I'm not sure about the productivity of all of these...

These suggestions should keep your plot full for at least nine months out of the year.

Sounds fun. Let us know how it turns out.

Wow, what a great thread, I didn't expect so many responses...

After speaking with the food bank their response was to grow "anything" ... (she gave us a few ideas but said a mix of things would be nice). We also found out we now have 1600 sq feet of space to work with.

The food bank also serves about 2000 people a month.

We have also been given bush and pole bean seeds as well as tomatoes for transplanting, and we are going to get in touch with local seed distributors for more donations.

So far we are thinking along these lines, but nothing is set in stone:

20% - winter squash
20% - pole beans
10% - bush beans
10% - cucumbers
10% - tomatoes
10% - lettuce
10% - onions
10% - Swiss Chard or Carrots

Open for more input as always :)

I should also point out that growing season here is from about June 6 (according to the almanac) until about mid/end of September.

this is a great thread.
Nbreau it is awesome that you are doing this.

There really isn't any need for expensive trellis for beans. You can put up a couple of poles (metal pound in stakes work well, about $8 each) and simply run string back and forth between the poles. The beans will grow up that.

Okay, I'm not touching that 1600 square feet conversion to acres . . . .

Since so many American children, and especially teenagers, would get ZERO daily servings of fruits and vegetables without taking pizza sauce into account -- I'm wondering if growing veggies specifically for sauce would make sense for a food bank. Pasta & pizza sauce:

paste tomatoes
sweet peppers
onions
garlic & oregano

Steve

Digit, that is the equivalent of a 40 ft x 40 ft plot., The size of a small house. A nice size backyard garden. Big enough to grow an assortment of vegetables.