The best crops for the most abundant yield.
This is my opinion based upon modest experience. Regardless of taste or desires, I posed the question: If I had to grow enough food to feed me over the Winter with a limited garden area and only three crops, what would I grow? First, I will list my criteria for choosing my three crops.
Optimal Criteria
- Most likely resistance to pests and crop failure.
- Most abundant yield per square foot of crop area.
- Most balanced and completely nutritional diet at mealtime.
- Most likely to keep for several months with minor refrigeration.
Three Choices
- Sweet Potatoes
- Green Beans
- Kale
Sweet Potatoes provide many valuable minerals (if you eat the skins) and starches for energy conversion.
Green Beans provide valuable fiber and protein.
Kale provides all the rest of the vitamins and minerals and other important nutritional elements not abundant enough in the first two.
All three crops yield abundant harvests, keep well for long periods in storage. You may want to par boil the beans then freeze them. Keep the kale unsealed plastic bags in the vegetable drawer. Store the sweet potatoes in paper bags in the vegetable drawer, keep them dry.