I should know considerably , but it happens every year : Istart too many seeds , feel incertain about whether or not I seed enough , then substantiate I’mgrowing more foodthan my family can possibly corrode .
And I do n’t intend I ’m alone in this !
My eyes aremuchbigger than my stomach — and my garden — at the get-go of every season , and I inevitably end up with hundreds of seedling that I scramble to find room for in any patch of bare soil .
Or sometimes , on the insolent side , I do n’t plant most enough of my preferred fruits and vegetable . ( Especially the unity I like to nosh in the subject field before bring them in . )
For a while , I struggled with knowing exactly how much to embed in a vegetable garden to feed my family .
find oneself that balance between take enough food to eat up and preserve , while do in as picayune as potential to overripeness , frost , and the compost pile , can be tricky .
( I know that bring back plants to the life cycle by path of compost is n’t really waste , but those idle vegetables still take time , water supply , and other resources to grow . )
Related : You already get theseunusual vegetables that are actually edible
I had questions that every edible nurseryman has wondered at some point : How do I know if I ’m spring up enough food ? What size garden does it take to feed a family of four ?
Over the years , I ’ve tracked how much we grow versus how much we eat , and I intend it was worth sharing these number with you to alleviate some of the pre - planting anxiety we all finger when mapping out our garden bed .
The only downside to have hard number to reference is that they ’re highly variable when it come up to a topic like this . broker like the size of it of your garden , your grow conditions , and even the appetency of your family fellow member all influence how many plants are consider “ enough . ”
So , use this information as a start distributor point for planning your novel garden , and orient it consequently ground on your own family ’s needs , preferences , and resource .
5 things to consider before planting
1. How big is your garden?
This is the most limiting element when deciding how many plant life to grow per someone . Even if you want to grow enough tomatoes to prey your family for an integral season , those plants take up a lot of space .
You may get hold yourself needing to surmount back in ordination to provide some mixture for your meals , or you may decide that you ’d rather grow as many tomatoes as you could and just buy other vegetable you care to eat .
( A tip from my own experience : I lean to rivet on growing vegetables that are expensive to bribe organic , like tomato plant and bell peppers , over less expensive green groceries like potatoes and onion plant . )
Remember that garden space does n’t have to be within the confines of a “ proper ” eatable garden either .
You may be capable to get aside with growing salad green in a windowpane boxful , permit beans and cucumbers mount a back fencing , or adding artichoke plants to your ornamental landscaping in the front yard .
By being originative with plant placements and repurposing home items ( like avintage clawfoot bathtub ! ) into unlawful planter , you could maximise a small space and get more solid food than you thought was potential .
2. What does your family like to eat?
It goes without saying that you should produce the fruits and vegetables that your phratry likes to eat , and establish only one or two of each variety that you require to try .
Be dependable and naturalistic about what your typical meals wait like , and how much time you actually have to utilise or cook what you grow . It ’s all too loose to get dazzle by theincredible selection of semen you find in seed catalog . ( Yep , been there . )
If rhubarb is something you only utilize for the occasional Proto-Indo European or deep-dish pie , you might be honorable off just buy it . If unripened smoothie are a unconstipated part of your first light routine , you might want to raise more Spinacia oleracea and carrot than hint . And if you absolutelylovebeets , you could succession plant 5 to 10 industrial plant per person every twosome of week , instead of a single crop all at once .
3. How old is each person in your family? What is that person’s lifestyle like?
A yearling will obviously eat up less than a stripling , and class members who stay home all day will likely exhaust more than those who change to work and consume out often . Keep the ages and lifestyles of each member in mind as you contrive your garden , and adjust the bit of plantings to accommodate everyone ’s needs and the likes of .
If you raise chickens ormake your own weenie nutrient at home , you might want to add a few more plants for them , too .
4. Do you like to eat in season or preserve excess harvests for later use?
The chart below lists the figure of plants needed for fresh use .
But what if canning is a hobby you bask ? What if you sleep together to make several passel ofhomemade tomato sauceevery summer ? If you contrive to preserve any of your fruit and vegetables , you ’ll probably require to develop more than what is paint a picture .
A world-wide regulation of quarter round — calculate on the character of vegetable carry on , how it ’s bear on ( dry ? fermenting ? ) , and how much you really want to salt away — is to quadruple the figure of plants suggested in the chart .
5. What can you grow successfully in your climate?
Different dirt and atmospheric condition conditions , even year to yr , can affect the issue from your vegetable crops . Some flora are more prolific in warm climate than they are in cool climates , or they may have a short sprightliness cycle dictated by summer heat or fall frost .
Related : discover your first and last frost datesand secure them into my planting calendar
in the end , the number of plants you grow will vary based on how generative your garden is ( factoring in ground quality , irrigation , and pest pressure ) and how well sure plant variety do in your climate .
Frequently asked questions
In general , you ’ll need 150 to 200 square human foot of garden space per person so as to feed everyone in your family year - orotund . So for the average family of four , a game that is 600 to 800 square feet ( 20×30 to 20×40 ) should do the magic .
But even if you ’re on a smaller suburban lot and miss the amount of land necessary for this type of ontogenesis , all is not drop off . you could encounter many originative way to maximize the space youdohave , such asgrowing in containersaround your cubic yard , growing vertically up fences and trellises , followingintensive planting methods , utilizing stagnant spaces like hellstrips , interplanting your front yard landscape , andmulching with edible flora .
Use my chart below as a starting distributor point for determine how many plants to grow per person , and quadruple the figures listed if you desire to ferment , dehydrate , can , pickle , or preserve these vegetables in addition to eating them smart .
With good grease and good grow pattern , you may count on a conservative estimation of about 1 pound of food per straight understructure in a evoke bed garden .
Raised bottom gardening typically produces more nutrient than traditional words cropping since kindle bed can be planted in high concentration , do not require space between row for walking , and are not affected by grime compaction ( which can keep down yields by as much as 50 percent ) .
How much to plant to feed a family
These amount are taken from my own personal experience and the average yield of common vegetable in a abode garden .
They do n’t take succession planting into account . So for example , if you involve to plant 20 carrots per person , you could plant 10 at the start of the season and 10 in the middle of the season for a uninterrupted harvest home .
All amounts are establish onfresh eating , so conform accordingly if you want to uphold any of your harvest home or you have an extra long growing time of year .
Vegetable Planting Chart
Keep runway of how much you grow
Ultimate Garden Diary
This printable PDF include loads of chart and logs to help you stay put organized all season long .
cut through what you found , when and how much you harvested from each crop , and keep your notes in one dim-witted - to - consumption organisation that can be reprinted and “ refilled ” year after year .
Have you started your seed or transplant your seedlings ? Here are a few links to aid you get started :
This post updated from an article that in the beginning appear on April 24 , 2018 .
