The main factor (in my considered opinion) is the life of the soil. The "secret" of getting the best taste and (I assume but have not measured) nutrition is to

The main factor (in my considered opinion) is the life of the soil. The "secret" of getting the best taste and (I assume but have not measured) nutrition is to treat the soil itself as a kind of organism, feed it things like diluted milk, oatmeal, wood chips, kitchen scraps, etc. and it becomes "inwardly alive ... akin to the vegetative": > Then the earth itself will have the tendency to come inwardly alive and become akin to the vegetative. ~ Herrman Andrä, 1962, in re: Hügelkultur; (ah, he's quoting Rudolf Steiner from a "1924 lecture on biodynamics" but it's still evocative and descriptive prose despite biodynamics being pretty "woo-woo".) https://web.archive.org/web/20190715152357/http://pubs.cahnrs.wsu.edu/publications/pubs/fs283e/ https://web.archive.org/web/20190715152357/http://pubs.cahnr... When soil is healthy plants grow vigorously with minimal pest problems and no fertilizers nor pesticides, and yield and quality go up. E.g. I have lots of slugs in my garden, but almost no slug damage. You also do things to encourage the local mini-ecosystem. For example I have these plastic panels that serve as flagstones but also function as habitat for centipedes. Every couple of weeks I lift them up and throw some cuttings under there to keep it from getting too compacted. Centipedes are apex predators at their scale, like wolves or lions, so having a healthy population of them is both a indicator of ecosystem health and a crucial factor keeping other bugs from growing out of control. They cannot regulate their own moisture levels so they need a perpetually moist environment to survive. By providing that in my otherwise pretty dry micro-climate I get free pest control.