VSR - Value for Space Rating

[veggiechicken]

Pardon me if you know all about the VSR but I thought it worth mentioning for those of you (like Lumpy) who want to maximise return from a small growing space.

Joy Larkcom devised the "Value for Space Rating (VSR)" as an attempt to evaluate which vegetables would give the best return in a small garden.

In calculating the VSR she used 2 principal factors :-
The length of time the veg is in the soil before it can be eaten or harvested

The approximate number of helpings yielded per sq. metre/yard under average conditions.

So quick growing, high-yielding veg score most points and slower growing, lower-yielding veg fewer points.

Additional points are given for:-
Veg that are available fresh in winter and in times of scarcity
veg that are of far better quality when homegrown
veg that are difficult or expensive to buy.

She then rates every veg on a 1*-4* scale, with **** giving exceptionally high returns.

4* - Oriental saladini and Rocket on a Cut and Come again basis (CCA). Bean sprouts, mustard, rape and cress are available year round.

3* veg -
Amaranth
Beans, French & Runner
Beetroot, salad
Broccoli raab
Carrots, early & maincrop
Chicory - Sugar loaf
Corn salad
Komatsuna
Lettuce - summer/outdoor
Mizuna
Mustard - green in the snow type
Pak choi
Peppers,sweet
Potatoes, early
Purslane, winter
Radish, summer
Senposai
Spinach beet (CCA)
Swiss chard
Texsel greens (CCA)
Turnip, roots

Interestingly, most of the traditional veg like onions & leeks, cabbage and squashes don't make it.

What do you think? Has she overlooked any quick and easy veggies?

[Jay-ell]

Very Interesting VC.

I'm assuming the beans are green beans not dried beans. Useful for everyone I think as a lot of my beds end up having long term crops (main crop potato, oca, squash, sweetcorn, onions, sprouts, kale, etc) which don't make it onto the list. I'll probably have one or two beds that aren’t locked long term with a crop to be used for stuff out of one of the main rotations which I wanted to do a lot of this type of crop in (plus some in the brassica bed).

No Spinach?

It looks like quite a few of these can be grown undercover into late Autumn and winter to extend the season which is good (although they'd probably drop a star in this period) so that list is handy for the space in the green house/polytunnel as well.

Although not one of the usual veg sweet potato could be a 3* - not as a root (or not ONLY as a root) but once going the leaves will give a lot of greens.

[casejones]

VSR is fine but you should also use the cost of buying veg to the calculation.

[Yasai]

Thanks, VC. This is really interesting. I’m kicking myself for putting courgettes in the ground and not just in containers because, now they have been pulled up, I have some free ground space and the red kales I have are so attractive that I wish they covered the whole space with them. Next year. As it is, I have some mustard seeds (Green in the snow, even ), rocket and some Giant Winter spinach, which I’m hoping is not as prone to bolting as all the other spinach I’ve tried to grow...so that’ll all get sown in the morning. Maybe a fondness for bolting is why spinach didn’t make it on to the list.

[Yasai]

I’m surprised that kale’s not there, actually. Especially perennial kale, which I haven’t grown yet but hear is very resilient.

[kitty12345]

Really interesting, and something I was pondering yesterday after a discussion with my plot neighbour. We both grow strawberries, and I have been potting up runners to create a new empire (planning for when the current crop starts to wither). Her plan was to keep it where it is (two rows) and not expand. We talked about how much time they require such as putting straw down, and then netting, and then taking care of runners (mine are everywhere now) for what is relatively a short harvesting period.

It gave me food for thought.

Another interesting observation someone made years ago to me was on growing onion sets... you get an onion back in return and it doesn't multiply (unlike garlic).

[Small pumpkin]

She missed chillies!
Yes slow growing but very high yield.

[Bren In Pots]

Very Interesting VC.

No Spinach?

I wonder if they left spinach out because you need rather a lot of it to produce a meal. I know a whole washing up bowl soon steams down to hardly anything.

[Lumpy]

Sugar snaps in a wall basket. In the last few years I've learnt to put half of the amount in so when the first lot are fully ready the second wave of seeds can go in to extend the picking time.

[Penellype]

Hmm, very very interesting. I beg to differ on quite a lot of it though.

To the 4* list I'd have to add alfalfa sprouts and any quick growing cut and come again greens eg pea shoots.

I'd take komatsuna, pak choi and radishes off the list as they are devilishly difficult to grow nicely.

I'd definitely add spinach. Its very quick to grow in spring and if you sow a large leaf bolt-resistant variety such as Amazon you can get a lot of leaves out of a small space.

Tomatoes would be on my list. You can buy tomato plants so you don't have to have the greenhouse space early in the year, and grown as cordons they don't take up much room. They can be grown in pots on a patio and if you choose the right varieties they can give huge crops of fruit that is much nicer than you can buy in the shops. Much more fruit per sq foot of garden than sweet peppers (which in my experience don't ripen outdoors).

[Snadger]

The problem is, I'm not a great lover of any of the four star vegetables listed.

I don't see any mention of the most important element TASTE!

For a farmer trying to maximise the available space to reap the biggest profit this may be a good formulae. As an allotmenteer my main growth criteria is taste and what grows well in my area.
I shall still grow one or two plants of PSB which take space and time to mature, because I like it.
There is nothing there that will convince me to change my growing habits!

[Penellype]

The problem is, I'm not a great lover of any of the four star vegetables listed.

I don't see any mention of the most important element TASTE!

For a farmer trying to maximise the available space to reap the biggest profit this may be a good formulae. As an allotmenteer my main growth criteria is taste and what grows well in my area.
I shall still grow one or two plants of PSB which take space and time to mature, because I like it.
There is nothing there that will convince me to change my growing habits!

Same here, Snadger. I will always devote most of my veg growing space to carrots, tomatoes, peas, spinach, potatoes, onions and broccoli because those are the staples and things I like to eat (in order of importance). Everything else has to fit in around them or wait until space is available after early crops have been harvested.

[Snoop Puss]

Totally agree too, Snadger.

Otherwise, I'd never grow sweetcorn.

[Thelma Sanders]

I'd add peas to the list, sown early in Spring, harvested in June leaves the bed ready for the next crop.
Maybe not a huge yield but the taste certainly makes them worth it IMO

[Jay-ell]

VSR is fine but you should also use the cost of buying veg to the calculation.

All of these scales are purely indicative. There's other factors you COULD look at but I think the idea is to say if you want a lot from a spot here's some things to try.

You could come create your own scales with different factors, e.g.

• Shopability - common veg low value, uncommon and weird veg high value
• Price - what are the most expensive veg to buy
• Work Time - less work needed gives a higher value
• Food Value - which have the highest calories or most nutrients
• Speed - which are fastest to get to cropping stage, faster the better
• Length - which have the longest cropping periods
• Storability - which crops last longest once harvested (without freezing)
• Crop Space - how big an area do you need for a reasonable harvest, lower area equals higher rating
• Yield - how much you'll harvest for a given area
• Money input - cost of seeds

Of course the more you include the more complicated the math becomes - but who wants to solve an algebra equation to find out if it's worth sowing the oriental mustard you got on a magazine. It's like having to use trigonometry to work out to plant a bed of carrots - you could work out the optimal spacing to get the most roots in a bed with 3" spacing from each other using Pythagorean maths but in the end you settle for doing rows of veg.

If I went for, lets say, (Yield * shopability * work) I might decide to cover the plot with Armenian Cucumbers but if I wanted to harvest a lot of food at the end of the year with the crops covering the bed for most the year and didn't want to do much work through the year I might choose (Yield * Work Time *(4- Speed)) and end up planting pumpkins and Jerusalem Artichokes.

And of course there's the Would I eat it factor which is, of course. the most highly weighted factor in the lot of them so is either a 1 (always giving the result from the other factors) or a 0 (which will always give a zero no matter what the other factors work out as)