Yellow Squash, green beans, pole beans take up less space, butternut squash, tomatoes, okra and all kinds of of peppers are OK. Peanuts are low yield crop that takes up a lot of space as does corn, and potatoes. I like pickles so I plant cucumbers.
I buy my corn from the local Amish community, $4 for a dozen ears, I can't grow it for that. Potatoes are cheap in bulk as well.
Think about what you can can or freeze and you will know what to plant. In a small plot think vertical crops.
I put up a trellis for my beans and cucumbers to climb, my tomatoes are in cages
This is the easiest way, 3 T posts and a 16 foot cattle fence panel from the co-op. I cut the panel in half so it is easier to handle.
This is two rows of beans with a row of cucumbers in the middle, these are planted north/south so they don't shade out any other plants. I am big fan of planting though black plastic, a pain to put down but NO WEEDING! Peppers and okra in the foreground.
I got 5 pickings off of each row of beans, I could have picked more but I had enough canned to last for several years.
First picking;
Almost ready for the 5th picking.
Here is a naked trellis with climbing butternut squash planted under it as an experiment, the squash didn't climb very well like the beans or cucumbers would. This type of trellis is one and done, it will last a lifetime unlike the river cane and string varieties that need to be replaced every year. I used 4 T posts on this one.
Think summer of vegies and a winter garden of greens, turnips, daikon radishes, spinach and such.
Winter greens;
