We all know that planning our own garden is not as simple as we think, it takes lots patience and time. If you are someone who is struggling to know how much food you need to plant every year, look no further. Here is everything you need to know, let’s start with planning out your garden.
Planning Your Garden:
Planning is the first step in the gardening process. If you’ve gardened before and kept track of how much you grow and how much you eat, then planning would be easy! If you are just a beginner, no worries you will slowly get to know everything.
Planning your garden depends on the size of it and most people don’t have same backyard or garden, growing conditions and even what you might like would be also different. Below are some vegetables that grow easily in any growing conditions. Well, all those plants can be switched up like if you don’t like cabbage, sub in more green cabbage. Before knowing about the vegetables, look at the steps you need to follow for successive harvesting.
The first step in planning is the size of garden.
Let’s start here!
What Is The Size Of Your Garden?
Before figuring out how much you can plant per person in the garden, look at the size of garden first. If you have small backyard, then you might not be able to sustain you or your family the entire year. That doesn’t mean you should stop growing your favorite vegetables in your space entirely.
You can grow your favorite vegetables, if you have a chain-link fence consider growing some green peas along the side of it so that it uses them like a trellis to grow. If you have extra large planters lying around, turn them in to beautiful vegetable garden. Getting crafty and creative with how you use your space mean all the difference in how much food you can produce.
How Many Vegetables You Should Plant Per Person?
Secondly, how many vegetables you should plant per person depends on what you like to eat and type of vegetables and other plants store in long term. I know it feel hard, but with perfect planning it is possible, also keep in mind that people who are younger might need less than someone who is older and requires more calories intake.
Which Vegetables Your Family Like To Eat?
Knowing what your family likes to eat is another thing to remember while planning your garden. Just focus on vegetables and crops that your family would love to eat.
Have a discussion with your family about what they like and what they don’t and prefer planting the ones that can eaten by your family. If you don’t like kale, then don’t grow it, don’t waste the space in your garden by choosing the wrong one.
Conditions Of Your Climate:
Know about the zone you live in, so that you can grow accordingly. If you know your planting zone and your options might relate to region specific especially when it comes to successive planting. So, the productivity of your garden and number of plants you can grow may vary based on soil differences and climate conditions.
How Do You Store Vegetables?
If you are planning to store vegetables that you produce over winter, it completely depends on 4 variables which are temperature, air circulation, humidity and darkness.
Most vegetables store well at temperatures between 32 and 50 degrees Fahrenheit or 0 to 10 degrees Celsius. Generally, humidity levels also depend on how fresh your produce stays.
Proper circulation helps the plants to grow healthy vegetable or fruit. Whereas stale air will increase the growth of mold and other pathogens we don’t want. You can go for any of methods like canning, dehydrating and freezing.
How Much To Plant Per Person In The Garden For Successive Harvest?
By considering everything that shown above, plan out your garden accordingly. You can also try companion planting for mutual benefits. For example, certain plants might be grown together to help each other meet their nutrient requirements, growth habits and to repel all infestations and pests.
Some of the most vegetables grown together are melons and strawberries, climbing beans and winter squash, etc.
Check out list of vegetables you need to plant for each person in your family to have healthy and successive harvest.
Bush Beans: 4-8 plants per person. Plant them 3-6 inches apart in rows and 25 inches apart.
Pole Beans: 2-3 plants per person and make sure to plant them 3-6 inches apart in rows and 25 inches apart.
Broccoli: 2-4 plants per each person and space them 20 inches apart in rows and 3 feet apart.
Cabbage: 4-6 plants for each person and space them 24-30 inches apart
Cauliflower: 2-3 plants for each person and space them 20 inches apart in rows and 3 feet apart.
Brussels Sprouts: 2-3 plants for each person and space 20 inches apart in rows 3 feet apart.
Arugula: 10 plants for each person and space them 2 inches apart in rows.
Celery: 5 plants for each person and space them 5 inches apart in rows and 2 feet apart.
Cucumber: 3-5 plants for each person and space them 1-3 feet apart in rows 3-6 feet apart.
Kale: 5 plants for each person and space them 1 foot apart in rows and 1 foot apart.
Leeks: 13-15 plants for each person and space them 3 inches apart in rows and 8 inches apart.
Garlic: 12-16 plants for each person and space them 3-6 inches apart in rows 1 foor apart.
Melon: 2-4 plants for each person and space them 3-4 feet apart in rows 3 feet wide.
Onions: 10-15 plants for each person and space them 4-5 inches apart in rows 18 inches apart.
Peppers: 3-5 plants for each person and space them 1 foot apart in rows 2 feet apart.
Radish: 20 plants per each person and space them 1 inch apart in rows 6 inches apart.
Squash: 1-2 plants for each person and space them 2-4 feet apart in rows and 5 feet apart.
Sunflower: 10 plants for each person and space them 12 inches apart in rows 3 feet apart.
Swiss Chord: 2-3 plants for each person and space them 1 foot apart in rows 1 foot apart.
Turnip: 5-10 plants for each person and space them 5-8 inches apart in rows 1 foot apart.
Watermelon: 1-2 plants for each person and space them 4 feet apart in rows 4 feet wide and 6 feet apart.
Sweet Potato: 10 plants for each person and space them 1 foot apart in rows 2 feet apart.
Peas: 20-30 plants for each person and space them 2-4 inches apart in rows 2 feet apart for push or pole.
By understanding how much you can grow in your space, what climate you live in, what food you like or dislike, weather conditions you live in and whether you’ll be storing or harvesting, you can easily plan a successful garden.
Happy Planting!