Highest Return Gardening

[Kitsune]

Also, some of us are lucky enough to not pay for water (in Quebec, there's no water tax at all. In our specific case, our house is hooked up to a spring - bathing in spring water sounds so luxurious... ;)) So, assuming you compost and/or (in some cases) have some chickens or livestock so there's fertilizer, and the water is free... all you're really buying is seeds and time. Kinda lowers the investment.

Berries and fruit trees basically need to be bought, so the investment is higher, but the ROI is still pretty great.

[NoraLenderbee]

It also depends on how you define "return." The return on my vegetable garden includes the vast difference in quality and flavor between store produce and home-grown. Sure, I could buy conventionally produced tomatoes at Safeway for less, but they taste like crap. Better quality tomatoes cost considerably more, and they still aren't as good as I can grow. "Farmer's markets" around here are quite expensive (it might be different in other areas). Fresh tomatoes and cucumbers, fresh tarragon, properly ripened fruit, homemade jam are all things we really enjoy. 

[rocketpj]

Berry bushes - self sustaining and productive.  Especially raspberries - controlling them is more of an issue than maintaining them.

Kale is a constant winner.  We grow a few varieties and they go forever in our area. 

Green beans. 

Peas of all varieties.

Fennel (easy, grows well).

[Cranky]

Raspberries are frighteningly easy. I'm not exactly sure why people aren't sneaking around leaving them on their neighbors porches. I bought 3 canes a few years ago, and I have enough raspberries for the year, by way of the freezer, plus a couple of batches of jam, plus I give them away.

Herbs, especially basil, because fresh herbs are quite expensive here.

Grapes, which have proven to be extremely easy to grow.

Asparagus, if you've got the room.

And don't compare potatoes to bags of grocery store potatoes - what do little new potatoes cost at your local market?

I grow tomatoes because they are easy and I can can/freeze/dry enough for the year in a suburban yard.

[big_slacker]

Awesome thread. We just started this year and learned:

Kale is ALWAYS gonna be a part of our rotation. So easy, and we do greens shakes every day. At $2.50 a bunch for organic at the grocery store this is a good one.

Carrots. Suck ass. Take forever, don't yield much.

Peas. Need a lattice of some type to grow on and don't yield a super large amount.

Blackberries. We have a bush along one side of our fence in the backyard. Do not water it, do not fertilize it, trim it or do a damn thing to it. But it keeps us in blackberries all summer, haha!

Next year I'll be doing peppers since the organic ones are stupid expensive ($5 pepper? Fuck off!) and tomatoes for the same reason. I think it'll look like:

Kale
Peppers
Tomatoes
Peas

Which answers the OP from my POV.

[deborah]

I am sad. I bought 30 raspberry canes last year. They all died. I tried to grow kale. It didn't like me. Okra? Well, I've tried it several times, but it just doesn't do anything (I think I got one pod once - and I always plant at least 6 plants of anything except zucchinis). However, zucchinis, tomatoes, beans, carrots (sometimes - they either all come up, or none) - now you're talking! I guess it depends on where you are, but even here, some people seem to do well with things I only dream about, whereas I can do well with things they have trouble with.