I am doing my first big veggie garden this year and I'm not sure how much I should plant. We are growing
Silver Queen corn
Tomatoes ( 2 types)
Califlower( self-blanche)
Onion (sweet spanish yellow)
Brussels Sprouts (catskill)
Brussels (diablo)
Broccoli (lucky)
Broccoli (de cicco)
Peas (green arrow)
Peas (sugar snap)
Lima Beans (fordhork)
Carrots (short and sweet)
Beans ( tendergreen improved bush)
Potatoes and of course strawberries
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Dott
How many plants for a family of 3?
It is always better to plant more than you need because of weather, insects, etc. How much also depends on what you are planning to do with it. Eating fresh is best accomplished by spacing out some plantings. Canning and freezing is easier if you have a bunch to finish at the same time. Quantities are hard to plan for because most people find that their own produce is so much improved that they go wild for certain things over and above expectations. For a first year, I'd just plant as much as I had room for and that experience will guide you in years to come. Many of those on your list have short maturities and you can get two crops in. Corn is a space hog but worth it.
With crops like carrots and beans, that produce all season, you should space out your plantings to keep fresh produce coming all year.
In my opinion, you just can't have enough corn, peas, brussels sprouts, and lima beans in the freezer, or too many cans of tomatoes and green beans! If you grow storage onions and late, good-keeping potatoes and carrots, a couple of bushels are good for a start.
I have sat down and tried to list all the vegetables we eat - about how much per serving and about how often. Then multiply it out for the whole year. For example, we eat potatoes every week - probably at least 1 pound (for two people) - 1 lb. x 56 weeks = 56 lbs potatoes minimum. Below is a chart which gives yields.
If you're just going to eat fresh, just figure out how much your family would eat for a few weeks. You can also do more than one planting of beans to increase the fresh harvest.
This chart gives yields per 10’ row:
Planting a Home Vegetable Garden – Iowa State (page 4):
http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/PM819.pdf
There are lots of charts around to suggest amounts needed for different family sizes and per person, but it's such an individual thing, I think the best you can do is try to calcualte it for your particular situation. For us, we use a lot more tomatoes than is usually suggested and a lot less okra!
Great information. I am still learning but hadn't thought I could get a second crop or about session planting. I figured my growing season was to short for 2 crops. We will eat fresh and lots will be frozen for the rest of the year. I'm not comfortable with the canning process yet.
My neighbor is coming over to till up another area as soon as I can get rid of the grass so I will have plenty of room for the corn since the potatoes take such a big area.
Compost that is a great chart and will use it to refer to all summer.
Thank you all . I'm loooking forward to this growing season so much.
Canned stuff is fine, as is frozen, but fresh is incomparable!
LT, I am looking forward to fresh as well as saving $'s during the winter.
I sometimes have a conflict about "fresh" vs "frozen or canned." In general, I totally agree, fresh is better! But, when the only fresh corn available off-season is pretty awful stuff shipped in from far away, I'll take my frozen. Something like beets, though, are just fine fresh from the supermarket any time, so I feel pretty ambivalent about canning them.
Still, some good reasons for canning would be the "eat local" argument, or canning a favorite variety, pickle, or recipe, and knowing your produce is organic (if it is).
I have also heard some fresh vegetables are grown, harvested and shipped in such a way as to reduce their nutritional content and that some canned and especially frozen foods which are processed quickly after harvesting retain more nutrition.
Just some things to think about I guess.
Even if I'm going to can or freeze some of the crop, I prefer to keep fresh stuff coming as along as possible.
Yes, we have a plastic "bubble" greenhouse full of kale and parsley all winter. Good stuff!