We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

There’s nothing like DIY-ing the ol’ garden to bring out your inner creative. From using jar lids as plant labels to repurposing old bathtubs as vegetable planters, there are so many ways to have fun digging in the dirt. But not everything pays off, and nowhere is that truer than with the fruit and vegetable species you choose for your yard. Indeed, one of the best beginner vegetable tips is to know which species you’ll regret planting in your garden.

“If you calculate the water, labor, space, and time costs of a garden, some crops are just not worth the effort at home,” says Tammy Sons, founder and CEO of TN Nursery. “I love gardening, but I’m not going to sweat for crops that are a few cents per pound at the store, or that just don’t perform well in my backyard. Gardening is supposed to be a joyful and rewarding experience, not another chore.”

Lindsay Springer, director of plants, nutrition, and digital agriculture at Gardyn, agrees that many fruits and veggies can be more trouble than they’re worth. “While I’d never discourage adventurous, tenacious, or passionate gardeners from taking on a challenge, some might not realize the intensity of care or needs for fruit tree or vine establishment that can take many years — and can be decimated by the wrong weather pattern,” she says.

Add in space limitations, time constraints, financial considerations, and climate, and there are some real no-thank-yous on the list. Here are 10 of the most common, according to gardening experts.

If you’re like this gardener, then you likely find yourself every fall with a batch of potatoes that just don’t look that appealing, but aren’t bad enough to throw away. Peering surreptitiously over your shoulder, you bury them in the garden, knowing you could easily buy them at the store for less money and hassle, but nevertheless unable to give up the $1.89 you paid for all nine of them.

If you don’t have a big garden like me, though, you likely want to avoid these, because they can cause serious problems. They leach soil nutrients, attract wireworms and blight, and take up tons of space, Tammy Sons says. Plus, they’re just so cheap. “I weigh how a homegrown harvest compares to what I can buy,” says James Mastaler, plant educator and founder of Pistils & Pollen. “For example, a tomato sun-warmed off the vine is a transcendent experience — whereas a potato? Not so much.”

They are fun, he allows. While they aren’t a great veggie for pots, you can grow them in bags (such as Gardzen 10-Gallon Grow Bags) if you’re up for a project and have the space, but they’re still labor-intensive. “Plus, I’ve found that the taste difference between a homegrown potato and one from the market pretty much disappears once they’re cooked and seasoned,” Mastaler adds, making them a candidate for foods you’ll regret planting.

On the other hand, says Adam Weiss, founder and certified master gardener at Pike Lane Gardens, if you stay on top of the pests, you can get some lovely produce. “I just harvested an amazing selection of potatoes and was so pleased,” he says.

Everyone loves summer corn, so it’s easy to see why you might want to get that goodness from your own backyard. However, because it requires so much TLC, it’s not an easy one to leave in the garden when you vacation, and that’s not corn’s only downside.

“Sweet corn doesn’t yield a lot per plant — usually only a couple of ears,” says Lindsey Chastain, homesteader and avid gardener at The Waddle and Cluck. “It also requires a ton of water, making that bill very expensive.” As if that’s not enough, you need a good number of plants for it to cross-pollinate: about four rows, says Chastain, or 50 plants, says Adam Weiss. In his garden, corn grows in two rows of 25, spaced 3 feet apart, so unless you have lots of room, corn is out on that factor alone.

“In addition, they grow 5-6 feet tall, and will limit other vegetables close by that require strong sun,” Weiss says. This is especially true of other summer veggies, such as tomatoes, peppers, squash, and cucumbers. Then there are the pests. Every expert agreed that predation was a huge problem. You’ll fight with the squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons, crows, and earworms all summer long.

If growing corn is really on your bucket list, though, you can take a very specific approach, like Weiss did. “I created a low tunnel over the entire length of the bed and secured with row cover without any room for animals,” he says. “I left it in place for 5 weeks until the stalks began to grow and the diameter of the stalk was no longer easy for those critters.”

When it comes to vegetables you’ll regret planting in your garden, sunchokes (aka Jerusalem artichokes) are a gimme. “Sunchokes are a silly invasive crop that are almost impossible to get rid of from a garden,” Tammy Sons says. “Just one root left in the soil, and you’ll never get them out.” Instead of a lovely and tidy garden plot, she says, you will have a weedy jungle. Yes, the fields of yellow flowers can be beautiful, all growing profusely in the summer months, but it’s simply not worth it for the starchy, mediocre-tasting tubers, she says. “Not in my garden.”

Adam Weiss agrees. “You need to have very specific tastes to have this vegetable in the garden,” he says. “The actual taste doesn’t resonate with me, so that is a big pass.” If you really do like them, though, you can grow them in containers on a patio, where they can’t get into the ground.

Many folks love rhubarb, considering the red stems a seasonal treat with a time-honored place in jam and pie. I am one of those people, and so is my aunt, who makes a mean, tangy rhubarb pie. Indeed, she has made this pie so often that my mother once told her — and this line is a true family classic — “You know, Robin, not everyone likes rhubarb pie.” To which I say, but some of us do, mother. If that’s you, it might be worth messing with this plant. If not, chances are you’ll regret planting in your garden.

“While I could grow rhubarb, I only use it in relatively small amounts during certain times of the year, making farmers market rhubarb more attractive than growing my own,” Lindsay Springer says. Tammy Soms adds that it is difficult to grow. “It can take years to establish and can be very slow to mature,” she says, adding that it needs a serious winter chill to establish. We’re talking 500 hours between 28 and 40 degrees Fahrenheit, which means it’s just straight out for many climates. “And did I mention it’s toxic when eaten raw, from the wrong part of the plant?” she asks. “I’d rather purchase fresh stalks once a year than tend an out-of-control plant with limited use.” 

Luckily, this is pretty easy to do in the springtime, when rhubarb is widely available. “Check to see if there is a local farm that specializes in that specific plant and buy there,” Lindsey Chastain advises. “You support a local farmer and don’t have to deal with the headache of more challenging grows.”

On the opposite end of the spectrum, passionfruit is a species you may regret planting in your garden because its climate needs are more Southern-tending. “Passionfruit needs hot summers and frost-free winters,” Lindsey Chastain says. It is genuinely very cold-sensitive and can be totally pointless in colder or even cooler climates. “If you don’t have a more tropical climate, it’s best to just buy at the store.”

Unfortunately, that’s not its only negative trait. “Passionfruit vines can get huge!” Lindsay Springer says. “Their 15- to 30-foot vines need trellising or fencing to grow well.” Plus, she says, they need ideal light, temperatures, and humidity to thrive, something that many growers simply can’t give them. Oh, and then there’s the establishing period: between 12 and 24 months before they even flower and produce their first harvest. Even for many of the experts, this simply isn’t worth it.

If you really do want to give it a try, just make sure to check your USDA plant hardiness zone map and take it seriously. This isn’t a species that will take kindly to fudging: You’ll just end up wasting your time and money with a dead plant.

If you’ve never heard of fish mint, then it’s likely because you’re not of Asian heritage or haven’t spent a lot of time in Asian kitchens. Used in Vietnamese cooking and Chinese medicine, it is so named because while it smells like seafood rather than mint, it takes to the garden easily — or more accurately, voraciously. If you love it and grew up eating it, then regular harvests may help you control it.

“But, and this is a big but, it spreads by rhizomes underground and can be quite invasive,” Tammy Sons says. “I always suggest planting it in containers or with strong root barriers if you add it to a garden bed.” Not only does it spread quickly, but once you eradicate it, it will continue to pop up where you don’t want it to be for years, Lindsey Chastain says. “It also has a very strong odor,” she adds. “If you have an Asian market nearby, that’s your best option.”

However, if you really love it and want to grow it, Sons says, you can. Find a spot with damp soils and partial shade, and place your containers there, sunken into the ground if you want that low-growing effect. Just know that even the drainage holes can let it loose in your garden, so contained pots above ground are probably a safer bet if you don’t want to regret planting in your garden.

“In a small-space garden — especially on a rooftop or balcony — every plant has to earn its keep,” James Mastaler says. In Chicago, where he lives, this is often the math that gardeners must do. His approach? “I tend to avoid crops that take up a lot of space, require long seasons to mature, or are easily and inexpensively available at my local farmers market.” These usually end up being the crops you’ll regret planting in your garden.

Melons and squash are prime among these for many enthusiasts, even those who have a lot of on-the-ground space with which to work. “Cantaloupe is a challenge to grow,” offers Lindsey Chastain as an example. “The vines need 6-8 feet of space to spread out and split very easily if watering isn’t timed just right.” Watermelon and honeydew are delicious, Lindsay Springer says, but because of their plant size, they just don’t make the cut either. “You can buy container-sized plants that yield mini melons, but it’s just not the same eating experience as a giant watermelon,” she adds. Moreover, they need lots of fertilizer and water to grow those big, juicy fruits, which often isn’t time- or cost-effective.

Containers bring other disadvantages for squash and melons, too. “They’re productive in the right conditions, but they’re prone to mildew and sprawl all over the place,” Mastaler says about summer squash. “Plus, I can buy them cheaply and in perfect condition at my neighborhood market.” He prefers to save container space for unique species or those he can grow more delectably at home.

In terms of fruit trees that you’ll regret planting in your garden, this is one of the biggest. With the right approach, you can be successful, but you need to take as much care as an expert would, or there’s no point. First, though, what does it mean to buy a fruit tree on rootstock?

Here’s the science. Fruit trees with specific traits must be grown from cuttings of other trees that have those traits: large or sweet fruit, thin skin, or certain beloved species (think a Bartlett or Bosc pear). These cuttings with desired traits are called scions. Growers harvest them, notch them at the base, take a rooted plant of the same species (the rootstock), chop off the top, notch it, and then slide the two together at the notches. It is the rootstock that then dictates how large the tree gets, which climates it can withstand, and which pests the tree is prone to.

In short, it is much easier to take a cutting, notch it, and stick it onto a hardy bottom than it is to try and get that cutting to grow on its own, and you get major downstream benefits. “Rootstocks are a great tool for conferring disease resistance, temperature hardiness, and different plant statures (dwarf, semi-dwarf, full height) to perennials, like apple trees,” Lindsay Springer explains. However, they bring issues to the table as well. These include reduced lifespan in some cases, instability that requires staking, more frequent watering, suckers from the base, and a potential splitting point at the graft, leaving you with a suckering stump that you have to remove.

Strawberries, like blueberries, are among the easiest fruits to grow at home, but are they worth it? Not necessarily. Here’s the thing about them: They put out tons of runners, clutter up the garden, and attract critters. If you plant them in containers instead, most of them aren’t productive enough for it to be worth it, says James Mastaler. “That said, I do grow a few alpine clumping varieties on my roof deck because the berries are incredibly sweet and delicate — something you’d never find in a store because they don’t hold up to transport.” If you want, you can also grow them indoors hydroponically, says Lindsay Springer.

If you’re going for outdoors, however, you’ll need to mind the critters. “Chipmunks love them, and many years I see a beautiful crop growing in my gardens and once they begin to blush, a chipmunk has done his damage,” Adam Weiss says. “I cover the entire bed with row cover and secure tightly and then periodically check.” This chipmunk-proofs his system pretty well. FARAER Garden Netting is one way to go.

There are other pros in the strawberry column, to be fair. They’re a good fruit for intercropping in the garden, i.e., growing them in close proximity to amenable plants. Companion plant pairings for strawberries include lettuce, marigolds, onions, or peas. (In general, intercropping can be a beneficial way to grow more species in less space.) But unless you stay on top of those runners and protect your fruit from critters, the juice isn’t worth the squeeze, and you may regret planting in your garden.

Although blueberries are among the easiest fruits to grow in your garden, that doesn’t mean they’re necessarily worth it. If you’re looking for the high of growing something yummy yourself, go for it. However, blueberries are available at the store, and while expensive, if you factor in your time and water expenses, they may be cheaper than growing at home. And again, if you don’t take the right approach to critters, you may simply regret planting them in your garden.

“Blueberries attract birds, but if ½ inch netting is applied to each of the plants, you can get a nice harvest,” Adam Weiss says. “You would want to place these bushes around the perimeter of your garden so as to prevent sunlight shining through to your other vegetables because of their height.” You’ll also need to check their water requirements and water diligently, especially when they’re getting established.

Here’s the takeaway: “Some crops are super high-maintenance, pest- or disease-prone, and the harvest so meager, you question why you planted it in the first place,” Tammy Sons says. “Factor in irrigation and mulch costs, hours of pruning and soil prep, and it becomes obvious: Not every plant that grows is a good candidate for your garden.” You should also account for how much fun it is to grow them, says James Mastaler, because many species have big downsides. Leaf lettuce goes to pot in hot conditions, raspberries are sprawling spreaders, and so on. If you’re having a terrible time with a plant, make like Elsa and let it go.