This is a guest post by Clair Scwhan, a regular reader and commenter.  He has guest posted here before on Guest Post: Spending Our Money (Part III)-- Excuses of a Spendthrift and Guest Post: Ways to Get More MPG (Part IV) (These posts will get you into the individual series).  Two of his sites would be of great interest to the readers of DivorcedDadFrugalDad.com, the first is Frugal-Living-Freedom.com (Blog Review: Frugal Living Freedom) and the other is Vegetable-Gardening-and-Greenhouses.com, a site I will be reviewing and in an upcoming post.

When I think of vegetable gardening, I think of three things in this order: 

1. growing food that I enjoy eating; 
2. growing food that provides a bountiful harvest for the space used; and, 
3. growing vegetables that are easy to grow.

In this way, I enjoy the harvest, have plenty of it, and it’s not a chore.

Here are a few suggestions for vegetables that meet the above criteria.

• Butterstick squash, a yellow zucchini type squash that has a bush habit, is sure to fit the bill.  The squash has a good flavor and produces well all throughout the season.  If you plant 2 or 3 of them, you’ll have all the squash that a family can consume.

• Another vegetable that meets the criteria is Swiss chard.  It’s a green that continues to produce nice broad and tall leaves on a “cut and come again” basis.  Cut around the base of the plant, selecting outside leaves, and it will continue to produce more stalks and leaves from the central plant.  You keep it watered, and it will keep you fed.  It has green leaves, but comes in white, red and yellow stems.
  

• Romaine type lettuces like Crisp Mint and Valmaine also meet the criteria.  They put on the lettuce leaves quickly and a few plants will keep a couple of people in salads all season long.  Again, cut the leaves off, one at a time from outside the central stalk, and it will grow taller while producing more leaves in the center of the plant for you to harvest later on.

                        

If you’re going to grow vegetables, you might as well grow those that provide a good healthy return on investment.  It makes it worth your time and effort, and it provides a good way to shave off the grocery bill during the growing season.  For a detailed look at how vegetable gardening can be done, take a look at http://www.vegetable-gardening-and-greenhouses.com and learn how one guy keeps himself fed through a wide range of spring, summer, fall and winter vegetables.

Clair Schwan of Vegetable Gardening and Greenhouses is an experienced vegetable gardener who grows many varieties of vegetables all year long to meet his interest in fresh, organic, whole foods.  He gardens in open sun raised beds and unheated greenhouses of his own design and construction.

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Related posts:
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My 2009 Gardening Plan
Do You Really Want to Eat Organic?
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Spring is Here: A Gardening Recap (Part II)
DIY: Start an Herb Container Garden
DIY: Green and Frugal "Pesticide"
Vegetable Garden Update