If You Have Room for Only One Summer Crop ...

Why miss the fun (and occasional frustration) of growing your own edibles when your space and time are in short supply? Here is a highly subjective list of edibles, including vegetables, an herb and a berry, that will put you in the game. None of these will put much food on the table, but they’ll introduce your family to the joys of watching a crop develop and experiencing unmatched just-picked flavor.

Tomato

One perfect tomato makes the three months’ growing season worthwhile, at least for me. The variety shown here is Early Girl, and I grew it in a partly shaded, 1-foot-wide space between the house and driveway — hardly a tomato paradise. I trained it up the wall with a small trellis and, as the vine grew taller, stretchy ties.

Choose from hundreds of tomato varieties. For small spaces consider compact types and indeterminates such as Early Girl. Avoid the big, spreading, determinate types.

See how to grow tomatoes


Basil

It’s actually an herb, but with a good recipe for pesto sauce and some pasta, you can put together a substantial meal. Just a couple of plants will keep you supplied all summer with fresh basil leaves for snipping and tossing on sliced fresh tomatoes.

When and how to plant: Set out nursery seedlings when the weather warms in spring and summer.
Days to maturity: 60 to 90
Light requirement: Full sun, or partial shade in hot climates
Water requirement: Don’t let basil dry out — it’s sensitive to dryness.
Favorite varieties: Genovese is traditional. There are many other flavors, including Greek (Spicy Globe), Purpureum (Dark Opal) and Siam Queen (Thai).
Planting and care: Pinch to keep the plants bushy. Also remove flower stalks as they form.
Harvest: When the plants reach 6 inches or so tall, start snipping branch tips or pluck a few leaves.

See how to grow basil


Chard

This is one of the most dependable and easiest vegetables you can grow. Use the leaves when they’re young and tender as salad greens. Let them mature and use them for braising or steaming.

When and how to plant: Sow seeds or set out seedlings in early spring; for a fall crop, sow seeds in late summer and fall. Sow seeds ½ inch deep, 2 inches apart; thin seedlings to about a foot apart. Space nursery seedlings accordingly.
Days to maturity: 60
Light requirement: Full sun, or partial shade in hot climates
Water requirement: Keep the soil fairly moist.
Favorite varieties: Fordhook Giant is a classic, although it tends to get large. Bright Lights and Rainbow add color.
Care: Stay on top of weeds. There are no particular pest problems.
Harvest: After a couple of months, you can pick mature leaves individually from the outside. Start harvesting tender, young leaves as small as several inches.

See how to grow chard


Strawberry

Not a vegetable, of course, but often found in vegetable gardens, strawberries are just plain fun to grow. One taste of a deep red, fully ripe berry will tell you why. My all-time favorite variety is ‘Sequoia’, which bears a crop in June and July; it was developed for California but can be grown in USDA zones 5 to 8. Check locally for the best varieties for your climate; buy resistant plants if diseases are a problem where you live.

When and how to plant: In cold-winter climates, plant when the ground can be worked in early spring; in mild-winter climates, plant in winter or early spring; in warm-winter climates, plant in fall. Set out plants in rows or hills, or tuck a few into borders or containers.
Light requirement: Full sun or partial shade.
Water requirement: Water regularly. Don’t let the soil dry out.
Care: Watch for signs of disease and pests. You may need netting to protect the plants from marauding critters.
Harvest. Be patient if you want full flavor. Wait for a deep red color to develop, and then pick.

See how to grow strawberries


Armenian Cucumber

My all-time favorite vegetable to grow for the fun of it, this heirloom cuke is supersize (up to 2 or 3 feet), often looks weirdly bent or even coiled, and has a crispness and mild flavor. You may have to shop around for seeds and seedlings.

When and how to plant: Wait until frosts are well past and the weather is warming. Treat it like any other cucumber. Bury the seeds ½ to 1 inch deep in a little hill-shaped mound; thin to keep two or three seedlings per hill.
Days to maturity: 65
Light requirement: Full sun
Care: Be prepared to stake or trellis the clambering, crawling vines.
Harvest: For best flavor pick when the cukes are about 15 inches long. Let them grow longer if you want a conversation piece.

See how to grow cucumbers


Corn

Yes, growing corn takes space, but it’s such a great backyard lesson in botany (the tassels pollinate the kernels via the silks) and how dramatically better just-picked ears taste — let kids sample the sugary uncooked ears.

When and how to plant: To ensure pollination, plant the seeds in blocks, rows or a series of hills. Sow seeds 1 inch to 2 inches deep, 4 to 6 inches apart. When the seedlings are 6 inches tall, thin them to stand a foot apart. Make sure you prepare watering trenches or other irrigation methods in advance — corn is a water hog, and creating a watering system later is tough when the stalks have grown tall and dense.
Days to maturity: 55 and much longer, depending on variety
Light requirement: Full sun
Water requirement: Water regularly. Don’t let the soil dry out.
Favorite varieties: To save space look for compact varieties, especially those that are good in containers, such as Blue Jade and On Deck. Hint, hint: The word “midget” in a variety name is a pretty good clue that the variety is compact.
Care: Earworms are notorious destroyers. Check locally to see if they’re a problem in your area and for controls.
Harvest: About three weeks after the silks appear, the ears should be ready to harvest. Harvest them right before you plan to eat them.

See how to grow corn

Tell us: What’s your favorite fruit, herb or vegetable to grow?

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