I rent a large community garden plot and due to some seedling loss and a recent decision to add my annual flowers to my home garden rather than grow at the community plot I have a lot of extra space available (approx 200 sq ft. of prepped beds). I'd rather not use it to grow weeds, and would like to plant it with items that I can preserve in some way to extend our food into the off season.

The catch is that I have to grow things that I can still direct seed at this stage of the growing season (our unusually extended season of cool temps should hopefully help me a bit here) because I don't want to invest much $ in buying plants at this point and I have a lot of seeds on hand.

I'm already growing tomatoes, cuces, peppers, various summer and winter squash, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, spinach, lettuce/greens, beets, watermelon radish, eggplant, onions, herbs, and some shell beans.

Any suggestions for fast growing, versatile to preserve foods (and suggestions for ways to preserve them) appreciated!