I was momentarily proud of myself the year I grew peas: I tended them for weeks, harvested a big basket full of pods, sat down to shell them…and only ended up with enough for a small side dish. As much as I loved the peas, that was a lot of work for very little payoff.

If your time is limited, or if you’re a beginner gardener and not sure which plants are worth the effort, there’s a way to stack the deck in favor of having lots of harvests to enjoy: Plant “high impact” crops. That’s a tip from a book called the Twenty Minute Vegetable Gardener, and it’s kept me a happy gardener for years.

more at Source: Grow “High Impact” Plants If Your Gardening Time Is Limited