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Post by daylilydude on Dec 21, 2010 7:24:29 GMT -5
I'm curious what everyone feels is the highest yielding veggies for small areas in general?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2010 13:51:37 GMT -5
I would say for space it has to be cucumbers for me. Always pole beans do quite well considering their space usage.
Dean
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grapenut
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Post by grapenut on Dec 21, 2010 19:01:12 GMT -5
Pole beans, Carrots, Tomatoes, cucumbers.
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Post by coppice on Dec 22, 2010 3:58:42 GMT -5
Trellis stuph, tomatoes, cukes, beans. One yard I gardened i was so-o small all I had was one two foot by eight foot bed. A half dozen tomatoes and some pole beans was all that'd fit.
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Post by bluelacedredhead on Dec 22, 2010 10:06:20 GMT -5
I was watching Anthony Bourdain's cooking show from somewhere in S. America. He was looking for street food in an area of small apartments. Behind him was a "garden" growing underneath and up the metal stairway to the second floor. It was the lush and beautiful in total contrast to the starkness of the neighbourhood.
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rintintin
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Post by rintintin on Dec 22, 2010 23:22:18 GMT -5
Though grapes are a fruit, rather than a vegetable, they produce a lot in their space. Before mankind cultivated them, and trained them to trellises, they simply climbed the trunks of trees. Imagine a full grown tree with 20 foot canes growing along each of the lower branches.
The grape is a Divine creation: The fruit with the highest Brix (sugar content), surrounded by a skin coated with yeast. Mankind has enjoyed wine since the earliest written history.
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Post by daylilydude on Mar 13, 2011 11:45:08 GMT -5
I was thinking greens would be good too, as you can grow them fairly close?
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littleminnie
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Post by littleminnie on Mar 13, 2011 19:43:34 GMT -5
I'm teaching a class next week on making the garden more productive. I feel you need to think about both space and time -especially in the north. We have a season of 6 months and 120 days frost free; when you think about crop production both for your space and your time it changes your feelings on things. So higher yield is also possible with quick to mature veggies, if you see what I mean.
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joseph
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Market farmer
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Post by joseph on Mar 15, 2011 23:31:49 GMT -5
Potatoes, carrots, beets, sunroots.
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adobo
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Post by adobo on Mar 17, 2011 3:28:31 GMT -5
F1 hybrid peppers...
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littleminnie
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Post by littleminnie on Mar 17, 2011 16:35:24 GMT -5
Here is a yield chart. Average Yield Per Square Foot
Low Cauliflower *Bell peppers- high value though Sweet corn Melons Pumpkins Winter squash Brussel sprouts Edamame Celery Fennel Radicchio Fall greens *Shallot- high value *Garlic- high value Hot peppers (habanero) Strawberries Shelling Beans Asparagus
Medium Cabbage Broccoli Root veggies Tomatoes Hot peppers (average) Bush beans Peas Potatoes Onions Sunflowers Baby bok choy Broccoli rabe Chard Kohlrabi Radish Raspberries Lettuce Spinach
High Trellised cucumber Pole beans Scallions (cut twice) Leeks (cut twice) Eggplant, Asian (hot year) Hot pepper (cayenne, Thai) Summer squash Sunchokes Beets (tops and roots) Turnips (tops and roots)
Note: lettuce, radishes and possibly other veggies must be eaten fresh.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2011 5:33:55 GMT -5
I would have to add to that zuchini. The bushing types for me have easily yielded a dozen 10# fruits a year each, and a hill of 3 plants takes up about 36 sq ft.
Tom
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Post by bluelacedredhead on Apr 10, 2011 8:58:18 GMT -5
Hahaha, Zucchini is a Summer Squash and the only Edible variety IMO
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rintintin
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Post by rintintin on Apr 29, 2011 15:16:20 GMT -5
The fall greens only ranked "medium", but you should remember that they are growing after you have already used that space for an earlier crop. They are doing double-duty in a time when the soil would otherwise not be used.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 6, 2011 11:14:00 GMT -5
For me, my sweet banana pepper has been really productive in a small space as well.
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Post by gulfcoastguy on Jul 6, 2011 20:46:42 GMT -5
Pole beans and trellised cucumbers definitely, same with Thai Hot peppers. Sungold cherry tomato is very productive IMO. I've had good luck with Thai Long Green eggplants most years.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 7, 2011 8:16:26 GMT -5
I'd have to say peppers, both sweet & hot peppers for the area they occupy and the production they make. My peppers start making in April and will produce until a freeze ( a freeze, not a frost), which in my area, is sometimes late November or early December.
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Post by daylilydude on Dec 22, 2013 11:53:01 GMT -5
[smear:FF0000]since i have tried bush beans last year i will add those to the list... the only problem is the bending to pick...[/smear:00FF00]
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Barton
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Post by Barton on Dec 22, 2013 17:38:25 GMT -5
Bean 'Mascotte'2014 AAS Vegetable Award WinnerThe ‘Mascotte’ root system is ideal for patio containers and window boxes, and this versatile variety performs well in garden beds too. That means you can raise delicious beans in any outside space.
..maybe you won't have to bend over?
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Post by daylilydude on Nov 10, 2014 12:33:43 GMT -5
Anyone else that can add to this great list...
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Nov 29, 2014 15:54:47 GMT -5
If you are growing them in a raised bed (where you can space them at 2" in all directions), you can get a lot of carrots in a small space. Growing them in a traditional row garden, hopefully you are using very wide rows to maximize the growing space vs. the space needed for walking paths. You can also grow fine carrots in a deep, straight-sided container if you are really space-limited.
But so far my top plant for pounds of veggies per square foot of soil is trellised cucumbers. Hari eggplants are high on the list, too. Trellised tomatoes also yield well. If it weren't for the darn SVBs, summer squash would have a ridiculously high yield in this climate. As it is, they usually die just about the time production gets going.
Because we have a long hot growing season, peppers - even bell peppers - yield well. For me they would definitely at least on the "medium" list, if not high.
I have yet to have more than mediocre production from pole beans - obviously I am doing something wrong. But Asian long beans (such as Chinese Noodle Beans) produce like crazy. They need a long, hot summer to really produce, though.
Down here, many greens grow beautifully all winter, and last year I had some mustard that made huge yields. One Earthbox (six plants) yielded bags and bags and bags full and was still going strong when I cut them down to make room for summer crops. Collards can also have high yields.
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Post by spacecase0 on Nov 30, 2014 1:08:34 GMT -5
I wondered this years ago ended up finding the answer by looking up what slaves grew in gardens they have, if you look at it, most people now go work all day for someone else, mostly just for a place to stay and some things they don't even care about (obama care, car insurance, taxes, car that you would not need if you did not need the job, ect...) and have very limited space and time to grow what they want (because the rich get the better land), it is almost identical to what slaves had to work with. the slaves were around long ago, so they likely already figured out what to grow, given the same conditions,
they grew mostly root crops, I did see a reference to black eyed peas being grown(and they are very productive for the area), and a few others that slipped my mind just look up slave gardens for some really neat gardening history that will likely give you pointers to your garden now
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tomato
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Post by tomato on Dec 1, 2014 2:07:06 GMT -5
Most of the above info above including littleminnie's is for volume produced. A better metric is how much food value is produced. From this perspective, potatoes reign supreme. Sweet potatoes fill the same niche in tropical climates. Working down from there, the most food value comes from cowpeas, beans, and other edible legumes. Squash produces huge volume, but food value is relatively low.
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Post by daylilydude on Dec 1, 2014 4:56:04 GMT -5
Most of the above info above including littleminnie's is for volume produced. A better metric is how much food value is produced. From this perspective, potatoes reign supreme. Sweet potatoes fill the same niche in tropical climates. Working down from there, the most food value comes from cowpeas, beans, and other edible legumes. Squash produces huge volume, but food value is relatively low. Hmmmm... tomato, the metric food value produced would mainly be of concern to growers who sell their produce at market, not those of us like me who just what we like to eat for home use... right??
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Dec 1, 2014 9:30:51 GMT -5
I'm not sure, but I think the "food value" Tomato meant was calories rather than sales prices.
Potatoes and sweet potatoes are pretty cheap to buy. But look at the calorie counts for 1 cup of each of these veggies (cooked, plain):
Tomato's "High Food Value" veggies: Potatoes ~135 Sweet potatoes ~180 Beans ~250-300 Cowpeas ~200
Comparison Veggies: Green beans ~45 Cucumbers ~15 Summer squash ~35 Winter squash ~55
So you can see the "high food value" foods Tomato mentioned are the foods you would want to have on hand in a survival situation. Beans and grains also have some protein, increasing their food value further. Most of them also store well.
But I am feeling too lazy right now to do the math right now of comparing calories per square foot to see which veggie actually has the highest food value per square foot.
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tomato
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Post by tomato on Dec 1, 2014 11:02:52 GMT -5
Calories/protein are the point of my post. Potatoes produce between 1 and 3 pounds per square foot. Using the lowest figure, that gives about 50,000 pounds of potatoes produced per acre. At 350 calories per pound, an acre produces 17,500,000 calories of food value. But you have to look beyond the raw per acre calorie figures. Beans and cowpeas have much more protein than corn and potatoes. We need the protein in our diet in a concentrated form like legumes provide.
350 calories per pound of potatoes and 50,000 pounds per acre = 17,500,000 calories per acre 1872 calories per pound of dry corn and 150 bushels (56 lbs/bushel) per acre = 15,724,800 calories per acre 394 calories per pound for Sweet potato and 20,000 pounds per acre = 7,880,000 calories per acre 408 calories per pound of cowpeas and 1200 pounds per acre = 489,600 calories per acre
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Post by spacecase0 on Dec 1, 2014 15:43:05 GMT -5
so potatoes are on the high end of the list of most food for area, at least for an annual makes me wonder what the return on something like a walnut tree is for it's area
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tomato
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Post by tomato on Dec 1, 2014 21:42:08 GMT -5
Walnuts can produce between 1300 and 2000 pounds of usable nutmeats per acre. How do I know? I have 50 acres of black walnut trees!
1600 * 3000 calories per pound = 4,800,000 calories per acre
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Post by spacecase0 on Dec 1, 2014 22:11:21 GMT -5
so potatoes still win I have planted a few walnut trees, I guess at least they make more oil...
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Dec 2, 2014 13:58:33 GMT -5
This discussion reminds me of a sci-fi book. It's set in the near future, and in the beginning of the book an astronaut gets stranded alone on Mars. He has plenty of power to heat and light his habitat and (after some clever chemistry involving fuel) he even has lots of water. Most importantly, he has several - yep - whole potatoes that NASA had sent along intending them for a special Thanksgiving meal for the crew. So our resourceful astronaut hauls in Martian soil, adds water, plus organic matter from < guess what> and in that fragrant environment, he proceeds to sprout, multiply and grow potatoes. The idea is to supplement his freeze-dried food and vitamins, in the hopes of not starving to death during the extra months needed for NASA to send a rescue mission. His habitat is small, so his planting area is extremely limited. So, although he also has some dry beans, he does not plant them because his knowledge of botany tells him the potatoes will provide more calories per square foot...just like Tomato said! I will not spoil the ending, but Sci-Fi fans might want to check the book out: The Martian, by Andy Weir (link to item on Amazon) The main character is a hoot - there are lots of laughs to break the inevitable suspenseful moments. It's a really excellent book.
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