What are the Best Fruits & Vegetables You Can Grow in a Small Garden?
Finding the best fruits and vegetables to grow in a small garden was not as easy as I thought. Some require extensive care, others are prone to pests, and lots are just not simple & quick enough to grow.
That’s why I created a list of the 10 BEST Fruits & Vegetables You Can Grow in a Small Garden!
This ultimate guide will give you the best fruits and vegetables to grow, why you should grow them, and even how to grow them.
Read THIS Before Growing Fruits & Vegetables in a Small Garden
Knowing what hardiness zone you live in is critical to understanding the best fruits and vegetables that can be grown.
It can be the difference between your fruit and vegetables thriving and providing a bountiful yield or producing nothing and maybe even dying.
If you want to know what hardiness zone you live in review the map below:
10 Best Fruits & Vegetables to Grow in a Small Garden
#1. Apple Tree
Popular Varieties: Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, Granny
Why Grow Apple Trees in a Small Garden?
Cold Hardy:
- Apple Trees thrive in cold spring and cooler fall months. Unlike other fruits, flowers and fruit can grow even when there is snow or frost late into the spring.
Easy to Grow:
- Apple trees may be the easiest fruit to grow. You do not need to fertilize it, don’t need to water it, can be planted in any soil, and needs very little pruning if any.
Perfect for ANY Property:
- Apple Trees are perfect for any gardener’s yard meaning it’s perfect for a small garden.
Heavy Harvest:
- Out of all the fruit trees on this list, apple trees have one of the heaviest harvests. Between late August through November, you can pick more apples than you’ll be able to eat.
THESE Could Harm Your Apple Trees
Pests:
- Deer, Rabbits, & Squirrels LOVE Apple Trees. If left unprotected these pests will eat your fruit before it can even fully grow.
Insects:
- Out of all the fruit trees on this list, insects are most likely to attack apple trees. Whether it’s Japanese Beetles or Aphids, you will constantly have to spray and care for your apple tree to prevent insect infestation
Disease:
- Again, out of all the fruit trees on this list, Apple Trees are the most prone to disease. Blight & mold are just two of the diseases that can attack, harm, and sometimes kill your fruit trees in the spring or summer.
Additional Resources
Learn How To Grow Apple Trees HERE
#2. Lettuce
Popular Varieties: Butterhead, Boston, Loose Leaf
Why Grow Lettuce in a Small Garden?
Cold Hardy:
- Lettuce thrives in the cold spring and cooler fall months. Unlike other vegetables, this plant can grow even when there is snow or frost on the ground.
Low-Maintenance:
- Lettuce may be the easiest vegetable to grow. You do not need to fertilize it, only need to water it once a week, and it can be planted in any soil.
Harvested All Year:
- Lettuce can be harvested all year. The more you harvest lettuce the more it will grow.
THESE Could Harm Your Lettuce
Pests
- Deer, Rabbits, & Squirrels LOVE Lettuce. If left unprotected these pests will eat your vegetable before it can even grow.
Extreme Heat
- While rare, this can cause your lettuce to flower and become inedible. Make sure to plant your lettuce in partial shade to avoid this.
Additional Resources
Learn How To Grow Lettuce HERE
#3. Kale
Popular Varieties: Curly, Lacinato, Red Russian, Ornamental
Why Grow Kale in a Small Garden?
Cold Hardy:
- Kale is the hardiest vegetable when it comes to cold. Unlike any other vegetable on this list, Kale can be grown throughout the entire year.
Ornamental:
- Kale is the only vegetable on this list that can also be considered an ornamental plant. This means it can add color, features, and beauty to any type of garden.
Perfect for Pots:
- If there is any vegetable that can be grown in gardening pots, it’s Kale. This is one of the most adaptive vegetables, making it perfect for beginner gardeners.
THESE Could Harm Your Tomatoes
Aphids:
- Like many other vegetables, aphids are one insect you don’t want. Aphids are especially prevalent and can stunt or kill your kale.
Extreme Heat:
- Like lettuce Kale does not tolerate extreme heat. After just a week in temperatures over 90 degrees, Fahrenheit and direct sunlight Kale can flower and become inedible.
Additional Resources
Learn How To Grow Kale HERE
#4. Raspberries
Popular Varieties: Anne, Caroline, Tulameen
Why Grow Raspberries in a Small Garden?
Thrives in the heat:
- Raspberries love the heat. The hotter the beat. This makes this berry plant perfect for anywhere. And even better is that it requires little water, which means more time to spend on your other plants.
Large Yields:
- If you want a large yield of berries for a small plant then look no further than raspberries. One plant can yield an entire summer’s worth of edible raspberries. This makes raspberries the perfect berry plant for gardeners to grow.
Perfect for Small Spaces:
- Blackberries and blueberries can grow quite large. If you don’t have a big backyard this can pose a problem. But you don’t have to worry about this with raspberries and some types only grow 2 feet tall and 2 feet wide making them perfect for gardening pots.
THESE Could Harm Your Strawberries
Insects:
- Raspberries are the most insect-prone type of berry plant you can grow. Many insects can attack them, but the most dangerous are aphids and caterpillars. Make sure to apply the proper pesticide to protect your raspberries or they will die, as quickly as a day.
Wet Conditions:
- Like the other berries on this list, raspberries don’t do well in wet conditions. It is recommended to plant this type of tree in an area of your yard with well-draining soil and long periods of direct sunlight.
Additional Resources
If you want to have the most likelihood of success growing Raspberries it is recommended to prune, apply pesticide, and plant your raspberry plant with peat moss!
#5. Fig
Popular Varieties: Chicago, Turkey, Brown
Why Grow Figs in a Small Garden?
Pest-Resistant:
- The fig tree is the only fruit tree on this list that is truly pest-resistant. Deers hate fig trees, rabbits can’t reach the fruit, and squirrels and chipmunks find easier food elsewhere.
Perfect for Indoors & Outdoors:
- No other fruit on this list can be grown indoors and outdoors. Fig Trees can thrive outside, but most gardeners will grow them in a pot where they leave them outside during the summer months and bring them inside after the first frost of the year.
Easy to Grow:
- Once you plant your fig tree in a gardening pot there is nothing else you need to do. You don’t have to worry about insects or disease, only need to water it once a week, and you even don’t have to worry about pruning it for figs to grow.
THESE Could Harm Your Figs
Cold:
- While some types of fig trees can survive and do well in winter, most will become stunted and not produce fruit or may even die.
Drought:
- If you keep your fig trees in pots droughts will stunt and kill your tree. This is because fig trees in pots will dry out quicker than in the ground.
Additional Resources
Learn How to Prune Fig Trees HERE.
#6. Cherry
Popular Varieties: Bing, Van, Montmorency
Why Grow Cherry Trees in a Small Garden?
Thrives in the heat & cold:
- Cherries are another hardy fruit. Some varieties can be grown in cold weather and some can be grown in warmer weather.
Lots & Lots of Harvest:
- Cherries produce the largest harvest out of all the fruit trees on this list. While cherry trees don’t grow as tall as other trees they can sometimes yield up to 50 pounds of fruit in a season.
Amazing Cross-Pollinator:
- If you want a fruit tree that acts as a cross-pollinator then look no further than the cherry tree. It does great with crabapples and apple trees to name a few.
THESE Could Harm Your Cherry Trees
Birds:
- These pests will generally not harm your actual cherry tree. What they will do though is immediately eat cherries if you do not protect them with netting.
Cold & Wet Conditions:
- Cherry Trees also will quickly die if conditions are too wet or if the winters get too cold, making this one of the most difficult trees to care for every year.
Additional Resources
To have the most success growing cherry trees you should constantly prune, mulch, spray for disease and insects, and protect them against garden pests.
#7. Strawberries
Popular Varieties: Royal Sovereign, Albion, Rosie
Why Grow Strawberries in a Small Garden?
Thrives in the heat:
Great for Vertical Gardening & Gardening Pots:
Quick Growing:
THESE Could Harm Your Strawberries
Cold:
- Strawberries do not tolerate cold weather well. While some varieties can survive cold weather, most will die if the winter temperatures drop consistently below 10 degrees Fahrenheit. You should always layer hay, leaves, or burlap over them in the winter.
Diseases:
Additional Resources
When planting strawberries you should always protect them with fencing or bird net to protect the flowers and berries from birds, chipmunks, and squirrels.
#8. Peppers
Popular Varieties: Bell, Jalapeno, Habanero
Why Grow Peppers in a Small Garden?
Loves Heat:
- These low-maintenance vegetables love the heat. The hotter the summer the better they do. And the longer summer goes on the more peppers you will have.
Vertical Gardening:
- Peppers are one of the vegetables you may not think of when it comes to vertical gardening, but they do just as great as others. This makes it perfect for small spaces and even in pots.
THESE Could Harm Your Pepper Plants
Cold:
- Pepper plants are like most plants on this list and cannot tolerate cold weather. If temperatures drop below 50 degrees Fahrenheit then your tree won’t grow or produce peppers. If temperatures drop below freezing your pepper plant will die.
Diseases:
- Peppers can be prone to diseases in late summer. Expect blight, fungus, and rot to affect your plant later in the season near the time you will harvest your peppers.
Additional Resources
Learn How to Grow Peppers HERE
#9. Green Beans
Popular Varieties: Popular Varieties: Bush & Pole
Why Grow Green Beans in a Small Garden?
Thrives in Droughts:
- Unlike other vegetables, Green Beans do not require a lot of water to grow, flower, and bloom into a crop that can be harvested more than once. This is great for the unusual dry summers.
Great for Vertical Gardening:
- If you want a vegetable that grows up a pole then no look further than the pole green beans. This green bean was created specifically for vertical gardening.
THESE Could Harm Your Green Beans
Insects:
- Green Beans are one of the few vegetables that require constant insect control. Insects can quickly destroy your green beans’ leaves before flowers grow and can destroy the vegetable itself if not properly cared for.
Additional Resources
Learn How to Grow Green Beans HERE
#10. Lemon Tree
Popular Varieties: Meyer, Lisbon, Ponderosa
Why Grow Lemon Trees in a Small Garden?
Loves Heat:
- Out of all the fruit trees on this list, lemons will thrive the most with heat. This is because they naturally have been grown in warmer weather climates. And best of all is that you need to water or care for them very little to have success.
Perfect for Pots:
- Lemon Trees can only grow in pots. If you want a fruit tree that can easily be moved from indoors to outdoors, kept indoors all year, or even just as an ornamental tree then look no further.
THESE Could Harm Your Lemon Tree
Cold:
Lemon trees are the most sensitive fruit tree on this list to cold weather. If temperatures drop below 50 degrees Fahrenheit then your tree won’t grow or produce fruit. If temperatures drop below freezing your lemon tree will die.
Additional Resources
Learn How to Grow Lemon Trees in Pots HERE
Common Growing Factors of Fruits & Vegetables in a Small Garden
As a reminder, the below factors are common for the Best Fruits & Vegetables in a Small Garden:
- Thrives in Heat & Drought
- Thrives in Cold
- Can Grow Anywhere in your yard
- Hardy against Pests & Insects
- Require little maintenance
- Bear heavy fruit
