First off, I should probably say that it is almost impossible to COMPLETELY grow all your household’s vegetable needs for the year. There are a lot of variables that affect how much you can grow; the size of the area you have for growing, the length of your growing season, the time you have to put into your garden, and then preserving the harvest; and of course the type of vegetables your family likes to eat – are they all suited to your region. However, hopefully this article will help you to plan for your year of growing vegetables and assist you to grow far more than you have ever grown before!
Estimate what your family eats
If you have never planned for a year’s worth of vegetables the first place to start is to estimate what your household actually eats in a year. You can do this in a couple of different ways – you could keep your supermarket receipts for a month, and see what veggies you have bought, or alternatively, you could keep a log for a month or so, and tally up what is actually being eaten in your family. Keep in mind that the type of vegetables you eat throughout the year will vary with the seasons. For example, if your family is like mine, you will eat a lot more in stews and casseroles in winter, so potatoes, carrots, swedes, etc, and more salads in summer, so tomatoes, lettuce, etc. So, you may like to do your log at a couple of different times throughout the year. I have a free worksheet HERE called “What Should I Grow” to help with this planning
Don’t forget to include vegetables you might use in school lunches, or baking, etc – not just your evening meals. Your tally won’t be exact, and you will be continually adjusting it as you go, but it is definitely the best place to start.
What is Suited to my Area
Now that you have your list of what your family eats in a year, run your eye down it and put a tick beside the vegetables that you know can be grown in your area. For example, some vegetables need a tropical climate and don’t grow terribly well in colder climates. Saying that though, there are often simple things you can do to alter the growing micro climates for your plants, so they can be adapted to your area. But that’s a post for another day.
How Much Land?The next variable to look at is how much land you have that can be dedicated to vegetable growing. If you are on a farm, you may be able to have unlimited space, and be able to keep spreading out as your family grows. However, if you are in an apartment in the city, obviously your space will be limited to what you can grow in containers. HERE I have a chart called Vegetable Planting Spacing that shows the approximate amount of room that common vegetables take up in the garden.
Storage
Some vegetables can only be grown during the warmer months, and some prefer the cooler months. So even though you might like to eat fresh tomatoes all year round – you will not be able to grow them year-round, without some serious help from heated glass houses! However, there are lots of ways you can process tomatoes to make your harvest last throughout the year. Similarly, with a lot of other vegetables. So, you need to have a think about how much space you have to store jars of bottled vegetables, or frozen vegetables, or other vegetables which store well when they are unprocessed, such as potatoes, carrots, and pumpkins.
Okay – so you have your list with the vegetables that your family eats the most of, and you know whether they are able to be grown in your area, how much space they will take up and whether you can store them. Now that you have all this information, run your eye down the list and prioritise it. The vegetables that your family eat the most of, and also comply with the other criteria will be highest on the list.
Time
One of the biggest considerations when planning how much you can grow is how much time you will have to put into your vegetable garden? Providing year-round vegetables for your family does take time. From preparing the ground, sowing seeds, watering, weeding, fending off pests and diseases – the jobs add up. In saying that though, there are lots of things you can do to save time in the garden, to make the time you spend out their more efficient. Perhaps I should do a post soon, with all the little tricks that I do to save myself time in the garden…
Adjust Each Year
Of course, you won’t get it right the first year – you will be continually changing and adjusting your plan. Your family will grow and be eating more and more each year, you will discover that some veggies just don’t work in your area, no matter how badly you want them too. A lot of trial and error goes on, but each year you get better at judging how much to plant. You will also get a lot better and dealing with the bust and boom cycles. You will be amazed at how many recipes you come up with to utilise the 45,000 tonnes of zucchini that your one plant provides you with, hehe!
However, providing food for your family, fresh from the garden, or from preserves in your pantry, and not off a grocery store shelf, is SO rewarding. Give it a go!
No responses yet