Balancing Corporate & Homesteading Lifestyles
What to Plant in a Small Space
🌿 What to Plant in a Small Space: High-Yield Crops for Homesteaders
Even with just a few raised beds, containers, or tucked-away corners, you can grow a surprising amount of food — if you choose your crops wisely. The key is picking plants that are:
- Productive over time
- Grow vertically or compactly
- Quick to mature
- And/or can be harvested multiple times
Here’s what to plant if you want maximum harvest from minimal space:
🥬 1. Leafy Greens (Cut-and-Come-Again)
These are your MVPs — fast-growing, don’t take much room, and you can harvest them again and again.
Best picks:
- Lettuce (looseleaf types like Black Seeded Simpson, Red Sails)
- Spinach
- Swiss chard
- Kale
- Mustard greens
- Arugula
✅ Why they're great:
- Ready in 30–45 days
- Can be grown in tight rows or containers
- Perfect for succession planting (plant every 2–3 weeks for a continuous harvest)
🥒 2. Cucumbers (Trellised)
Cucumbers thrive when grown vertically, which saves ground space and boosts airflow to reduce disease.
Best picks:
- Pickling types (like Boston Pickling or National)
- Bush varieties for containers
✅ Why they're great:
- One plant can produce dozens of cucumbers
- Continuous harvest over many weeks
- Perfect for pickling, fresh eating, or sharing
🫑 3. Peppers (Sweet or Hot)
Peppers are compact and productive — especially in warm climates or greenhouses.
Best picks:
- Bell peppers
- Jalapeños
- Banana peppers
- Shishitos (very high-yield!)
✅ Why they're great:
- High yield per plant
- Can be grown in pots or tight rows
- Preserve well by freezing, fermenting, or drying
🫘 4. Pole Beans (Vertical Powerhouses)
Pole beans climb — which means they take up virtually no ground space and keep producing for weeks.
Best picks:
- Kentucky Wonder
- Blue Lake
- Rattlesnake beans
✅ Why they're great:
- Produce more than bush beans in the same footprint
- Just 4–6 plants can give you bowl after bowl of beans
- Nitrogen-fixing bonus: enriches your soil
🧅 5. Green Onions / Scallions
Scallions grow fast and don’t require full bulb development, so you can plant them close together.
✅ Why they're great:
- Harvest in 30–60 days
- Easy to regrow from kitchen scraps
- Great use of vertical planters or narrow garden edges
🥕 6. Root Veggies (Tight Spacing = Big Payoff)
Great for containers or deep raised beds. Use succession planting to keep roots coming.
Best picks:
- Carrots (Nantes or Chantenay types)
- Radishes (super fast: 20–30 days)
- Beets (plus, you get the greens!)
✅ Why they're great:
- Don’t take up much surface area
- Radishes can grow between slower crops like carrots or beets
- Beets give you a double harvest (roots + leaves)
🍅 7. Cherry or Grape Tomatoes (Trellised)
If you only grow one tomato in a small space — make it a cherry or grape variety. They produce like crazy and ripen faster than big slicers.
Best picks:
- Sungold
- Sweet 100
- Black Cherry
✅ Why they're great:
- Tons of fruit per plant
- Grow vertically in cages or on trellises
- Perfect for salads, roasting, or snacking
🌿 Bonus Picks:
- Zucchini (Bush type): Just one plant can feed your family — go with compact varieties like Bush Baby
- Herbs: Basil, parsley, thyme, cilantro — grow well in containers and keep producing
- Malabar spinach or New Zealand spinach: Heat-tolerant and grows vertically
👩🌾 Tips for Small-Space Success
- Use vertical space: Trellises, cages, or fences = more food, less sprawl
- Interplant strategically: Pair tall plants with low growers (e.g., lettuce under tomatoes)
- Succession plant: As soon as you harvest, replant with something else
- Grow in containers: Perfect for herbs, greens, or peppers — even on a patio or porch
