Best bang for the buck for me is by far pole beans. 6-7 posts/trellis gave me enough to eat every day during late spring-fall. Plan though. Tall and light blocking. Mine were on the north side of the bed.

I've tried Brussels sprouts a few times and got overwhelmed with aphids each time! Even the produce dept at a chi chi store (mostly organic) I worked at said they gave up on getting organic BS cause of the aphid damage.

Tomatoes, of course, are always on my list , squash, peppers, tomatillos, green beans, then fall lettuces (cut and come again like romain) chard (also CACA ooooo that didn't come out right!)

Not sure where you are, but here in No CA I can get by with growing some chard and lettuce in the shade of the beans.

You might also want to look into Square Foot Gardening if you have limited space. Also container gardening Nancy

In the North, pole beans, cabbage, chard, potatoes, lettuce. Farther South, also tomatoes, okra, eggplants, sweet potatoes. Zucchini only if you are free of SVB.

I'm not sure brussels sprouts, beans and beets will taste better than what you get at the grocery store. For that, you can't beat tomatoes, and maybe interesting peppers and melons. If it's about yield, a square foot of prepared soil devoted to squash or melons will vastly outproduce that same square foot devoted to beets. So if by small garden you mean a small patch of cultivated soil, rather than total area, vining vegetables are a good way to go. Tomatoes on the north side, vining vegetables on the south side.

I have a small garden and have had fantastic yields from my banana peppers and serrano peppers.

Brussels Sprouts take up quite a bit of space for a very long time. I'd make sure to include lettuces and herbs, both of which are infinitely better home grown and don't take up much space.

My first thought was that I wouldn't devote any garden real estate to Brussels sprouts, especially in a small garden. They take up space for a long period of time with little return. I love them, too, but they are fabulous at Costco!

Best value for me is, by far, the leafy crops. I can harvest something most of the year by scheduling my sowing. Baby kale and spinach, all kinds and colors of lettuce, chard, etc. I do grow beets, but mostly for their tender tops.

Tomatoes, of course, can't be beat fresh picked.

If I planted nothing else, I'd plant indeterminate tomatoes and basil since both have long yields and fresh is incomparably better than store-bought. I'd also check around at local farm stands and farmers' markets to see what they don't carry that you really like. Kale is another veggie that I've been harvesting for months with no sign of it getting too cold for it yet. Fresh-picked greens are better than store-bought IMO, but there's not as much difference as for the first two I gave. I also like growing veggies that have more than one use - the heirloom squash I can eat small like zucchini or when large as a winter squash (though it isn't a small plant!) or scarlet runner beans that have flowers the hummingbirds love, and beans that can be eaten fresh when small or allowed to ripen as be used as dry beans.

Have to agree with the others that Brussels Sprouts aren't a "bang for the buck" crop in any way. But they are space hogs for a long period of time and require close care and monitoring due to pest issues. We love them and grow them annually but we have lots of garden space too. Most return for space used - pole beans, indeterminate varieties of cherry tomatoes, leaf lettuces and similar leafy greens, bunching onions, and summer squash. As for beets, if you only want a few meals from them, fine but if you want enough to preserve or pickle in any way they will require room/space.

Dave

I would find room for at least one cucumber vine- I love the pickling size cucumbers and they taste so much better from the garden.

The right kind of peppers, such as Ace, are small and productive... and expensive at the supermarket!

Also I disagree that Brussels sprouts are not a good return for the size, due to their timing -- my garden is pretty much empty right now, and as they are growing into a decent size, a large portion of the garden is on its way out. There was plenty of vacated space to plant and grow them. There are few things that thrive at this time of year. But I guess if you have a really tiny space it would not be the best choice.

I think I would do trombocino squash and train them to crawl around the floor of the bed as a mulch around the taller plantings. The same plant will give you both a summer squash when harvested young, and a winter squash when left on the vine. In fact, as was discussed on a number of threads recently, you could do pretty much the same with many moschatas.

Brussels Sprouts certainly crop in the Winter but they need to be planted out months ahead of, so they take up space for a long time before there's anything to pick. Here they need to be planted out from May to early June, and sown well before that. Fine is you have space but in a small plot I still don't think they are worth it. Especially if you can get them in the shops with the frost still clinging to the leaves, as I can here. I let the local farmers do the hard work. If you do decide to grow sprouts eating the tops increases the yield. They are delicious and don't taste either like sprouts or like cabbage.

The OP hasn't returned so we still don't know how small is 'small'.

I think beans are a good choice. I rarely see different varieties at the grocery store. I grew pole beans for the first time last summer and thought they were great. Usually I do bush beans and I like French filet type. For us, a single 8' row of beets was a lot. We also like sugar snaps. I think an 8' trellis, half sugar snaps and half pole beans would be a nice harvest for two people. Square foot gardening is a good suggestion. Although I don't follow it exactly, I like a narrow bed and dense planting. I was able to grow beets next to bush beans and could reach beans without stepping on beets.

Can you give us an idea of what 'smaller than normal' means? Also let us know what your general location is because that can make a difference whether you can fit in 2 or even 3 crops into your growing season.

If you really want Brussels Sprouts you should be able to first use that space for a early cool season veggie like lettuce, Broccoli, Peas, Radishes, or green onions and then plant out the BS transplants in June or July depending on your location.

Vertical growing things like pole beans, peas, or cucumbers as mentioned previously can be a very economical use of space.

When I think of biggest "Bank for Buck" I ask myself what I would want to dedicate space for in my high tunnels and the veggies that always win out are tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. I also grow basil because it loves the extra heat and the return on investment is good.

You need to have a high consistent harvest to justify each square foot of soil surface area. I just don't see that coming from Cole crops although your experience may be different.

First, thank you everyone for all of the great ideas. We live in east-central Illinois right on the border line of 5a and 5b. It does seem like weather has been warmer than it's described as for several years recently, but last year was a bit colder. We have a plot this year that's 40' X 18'. In the past we've worked a plot that was twice that. So I'm trying hard to selectively compress things and cutting things in half is hard. In the past we've, which we'll probably continue this year, used raised beds and vertical trellises. Also, ideas about what really tastes better home grown compared to grocery store?

40' x 18' is a pretty good sized area even if you subtract the space for paths! And in your location you should be able to double crop a lot of things.

Also, ideas about what really tastes better home grown compared to grocery store?

Tomatoes, Broccoli, Garlic, Lettuce, Asparagus, Carrots, Beans, Peas, Cucumbers, Potatoes, and herbs are a few things that come to mind that I regularly grow.

I vote carrots and tomatoes as two things that taste so much better from the garden. Many types of squash, too, such as acorn, but these are pretty big - 6'x6' or so for one plant a bush variety.

Tomatoes are extremely productive - if you can squeeze just one plant of a good variety in there you should get plenty of tomatoes for fresh eating.

40'x18' is not a very small garden! You should be able to fit plenty in there!

That's far bigger than I imagined! It's almost twice as big as my allotment and I use a third of that for soft fruit. If there are just two of you some Brussels sprouts could certainly be fitted in.

in my 4 - 4' x 10' raised beds, I grow tomatoes, onions, garlic, beans, carrots, lettuce, beets, spinach, zucchini, broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower. I plant/grow intensively and when one crop is done, i plant another appropriate for the season. In a 4 foot section of one of the raised beds I grew enough beets to pickle 40 pints. You have approximately 3 times the growing area that I do and with careful planning, maintenance, and crop rotation you should be able to grow just about anything you want! The results will depend on how much time you are able to put into it!

Happy Gardening,

tom

I also meant to say, plant what you like to eat. Plant several variations of the same vegetable to see which you prefer. As many others have said, almost any home grown tomato is far better than any store bought one.

It's funny how we can get accustomed to things and it all becomes relative. I too was thinking small (as in like 4' x 12' or something lol.)

This past year I did a plot that, with even the outside paths included, came to a total of less than 18' x 38' (3 - 14' x 4'; and 2 - 20' x 4' beds with 18" parallel paths between beds and 4' perpendicular paths end-to-end.)

From just a 4' x 12' area where I also grew lots of Italian-style flat beans on the North side of the bed, I also pulled over 200 lbs. of tomatoes. Cascading down the normally-shaded far side of the bed, the beans grew up the back side of the tomato cages and sprawled across the tops of the tomato vines.

Yes, when space is limited choice of plantings must definitely be prioritized, but also keep in mind that in small spaces - with only small changes in technique and no more effort than normal - 'intensive' gardening methods (with a little planning now... in the off-season) can make for fantastic yields.

I still think you'd be hard pressed to grow brussels sprouts and beets that taste better than what you'd buy in the store. If that's the bang you're looking for, that's not the way to get it. If, on the other hand, you're looking for a bang that is personal accomplishment, economizing, or perhaps reliably organic stuff, then sure, go for those crops.

Definitely the brussels sprouts don't taste like anything special, if taste vs store bought is your primary concern. Tomatoes is absolutely no comparison.

Ooh, Dave.....frozen brussels sprouts? The fresh bunches, still on the stalk at Costco are unbelievable! As in good, I mean. Fresh B. sprouts simply cannot be compared to frozen; it's almost like a different vegetable.

Roasted brussels sprouts (click here for recipes) , only made from fresh sprouts, have changed the minds of even the most determined haters, lol. Even children!

Got to agree - I wouldn't touch a frozen sprout with a barge pole. Fresh ones are imperative. And I would urge, yet again, if you grow your own, or can buy them, do try sprout tops.

40'x18' 720square feet. was the size of my garden when I first started selling at farmers markets. good planning, using wide rows and succession plantings will produce a lot of food. Dick Raymond's book JOY OF GARDENING is a good source for planning. He shows 3 different size garden plans that can be adapted for most. As I got more land I have used all three of his plans at the same time. By the way, your size garden is not small.. I am west of you near the Iowa Missouri border.

I think home grown beets are much better tasting than store bought. With that size garden, I would add potatoes to the list. We've been happy trying different varieties from Moose's Tubers plus have the advantage of easy storage for the winter even the fancy fingerlings. I think the biggest bang for the buck will come with succession plantings and extending the garden season. I'm in NH and the ground hasn't frozen yet. I recently pulled the last of the carrots and still have kale, leeks, celeriac, rutabaga and red cabbage in the garden. I have used a portable low tunnel to get a late planting of bush beans to survive an early frost which we usually get around September 18. I think it also pays to be realistic about how much you plant of each vegetable. I don't like to can or freeze green beans so I just plant short rows. I think the pole bean varieties I tried this year which can be eaten frozen or left to dry might be a good alternative to planting too many filet types and having them wasted because they get too big before I can pick them all.

Agree with you that fresh sprouts are 100x better than frozen. But only if you can get fresh and get them regularly. That's not possible here so once we eat most our fresh ones up it is frozen ones or none.

Dave

This question can be approached on several levels. One, YIELD per square foot, and there are several searchable sites that can be explored on that. Two, TASTE, which is subjective, but folks generally seem to agree that tomatoes always come out on top in the homegrown vs storebought comparison. Then there's COST: another variety of factors comes into play here. Factors influencing cost include: seasonality (almost reduced to nonexistant due to air shipment in off seasons); transportability, the more delicate bruisable stuff have highest loss rates; perishability, short shelf-life; and overall exoticness.

For example, very unusual tropical fruits will have less availability and be costlier than, say, apples which grow almost anywhere in the US and have good storage capability. Artichokes need a very long season but can't be grown reliably in zones colder than zone 7 and their cost reflects that (but cardoons, same family and similar in taste, can be grown much further north). Asparagus are pretty hardy growers but short harvest season in most of the US, so imports are available year-round. But if you want white or purple asparagus, you have to pay the piper. Iceberg and other more common lettuces are fairly inexpensive, but get into the fancy shmancy stuff and you're shelling out dough.

So IMO, it's kind of like creating a matrix of yield vs taste vs cost and deciding what floats your personal boat.

I am nowhere near an expert but our best "bang for your buck" this summer was Bright Lights chard. I had no idea it would be the "star of the garden" - but it really was. We ate it several times a week for the entire summer and fall. Before leaving on a 2+ week vacation on September 25th we cut it all the way back - eating or giving it away - we figured we had gotten a great summer of harvests from our little row of chard and might as well cut as much of it as we could and pull it out when we got back. We were shocked to find it had grown almost all the way back while we were gone (with no watering, weeding, or care during that time either). We planted a very short - four foot row - and could not believe how much those plants pumped out. It was tasty as well.