How much food can you grow...

[Freeholder]

on a 1/10 acre lot in a small town in SW Ohio?

I was having a discussion with my oldest DD the other day about growing our own food -- she and her BF live on said small lot, and she doesn't think that they could grow most of their food on that lot (barring things like grains and sugar, although they COULD keep bees, and since her dad is a beekeeper, she knows enough about them to do it). I think they could, with raised beds, intensive gardening, perhaps a small greenhouse or hoop house or high tunnel with cold frames in it to seriously extend the season. They could possibly (depending on town regulations) keep a few chickens for eggs, and I'm sure they could have some rabbits for meat (and she knows how to raise chickens and rabbits, too -- she was raised homesteading). Of course the house takes up part of the lot, but it's a small house. She just moved there this last May, and first thing got a small garden going, just needs some encouragement to expand.

So, if you were living in town on a small lot like that, do you think you could grow most of your diet?

Kathleen

[unregistered358895]

I live on 1/10 acre presently (including house footprint) and we are able to supplement our food from Spring through fall, but don't grow enough for canning / freezing. My problem is our neighborhood has houses so packed together that I don't get much light.

If she has decent light on at least a portion of her lot, she'll be able to do quite a bit. Our space is awful, but we are able to harvest berries, potatoes, tomatoes, lettuce and this year are going to try some beans. Best of luck to her!

[GunMonkeyIntl]

Search Amazon for a book called "Backyard Homestead". My team at work are mostly like-minded individuals and one of the guys that works for me bought all of us copies for Christmas a few years ago. The subtitle is "Grow all your family's food on 1/4 acre", or something like that. Even though you're talking about an even smaller plot than it's premise, it will be the best $20 you can spend getting started on a small-plot homestead. It is not just a bunch of theory and fantasy, rather the nuts and bolts of squeezing the most food out of a small space. We're now on a much bigger piece of land than we had when our copy was given to us, and it is still wearing a groove in our bookshelf. I'd recommend it just as highly if you had 50 acres or an apartment balcony- the info in it is just that practical.

[dizzy]

I have about half an acre, but there's only one spot that's really good for a garden, and that's about 32x 54. In that plot, by combining square foot gardening, companion planting, and traditional gardening (can't stand raised beds, etc), I was able to grow much of our food while my kids were little. Now that they're older and out of the house, I'll be putting in some fruit trees that I didn't have room for B4.

[TheMartianChick]

We have about 3/4 of an acre in a mid-sized city. We have several garden plots/raised beds, permaculture (strawberries,grapes, raspberries, asparagus, etc) and quail for eggs/meat. Though we have 3/4 of an acre, the majority of it is still grass.

On a small lot, I would focus on veggies that give a big bang for the buck. For us, that means climbing beans, tomatoes, the cabbage family, etc... For a hoophouse/greenhouse, I'd focus on the vegetables that thrive in cooler temperatures.

[K.B.]

Light restrictions due to orientation of the buildings, existing trees and fences are some of the biggest challenges to gardening in urban/suburban settings, in my experience. There is very little you can do to affect the shadow of buildings and fences. It is also hard to convince yourself and neighbors that cutting down mature yard trees like oaks and maples is a good thing to do. In some cases the oaks and maples may offer more food than can be grown in their place through gardening.

If I were looking to try and raise as much food as possible on that amount of space, I would focus on fish, rabbits, a few fruit/nut trees (with diverse plantings beneath them) and square foot gardening/aquaponics.

[Grandmotherbear]

Containers/raised beds/vertical gardens- first stop is the bookstore or library to read up.
I have 2 gardens going.Mostly containerized due to root knot namatodes and nutrient loss in hot weather. Check www.kuffelcreek.com for information about city backyard apple orchards.

[Freeholder]

Thank you all for the advice. I'm going to pass this thread on to my daughter. I believe I've seen the Backyard Homestead book at the library, and was just looking at their on-line books, and I think it may have been on there, also, so I'll take a look at it.

It's possible that they do have a shade issue in their back yard -- she put her little garden by the front door. That would definitely be limiting. She's going to college right now but when she's done they plan to move, and hope to get more land, but in the meantime cutting expenses (and eating right) are high priorities, so hopefully they'll be able to figure out a way to grow more there.

Kathleen

[Terri]

Here in Kansas, a garden that is 50' by 50' can produce all of the fresh vegetables that a family of 4 can eat fresh. There was a little to be preserved for the winter but not much. Instead I donated it to the food pantry and it saved 7? off my taxes that year.

Assuming that we got all of our veggies for 3 months (before that it was just salad greens, which I do not regard as a sufficient variety) then a space 4 times that could produce all of our vegetable needs year round: I would just need to preserve it.

But, we do not eat only vegetables we also eat meat. And, it costs more to feed a chicken than what it would cost you to buy the chicken in the store, as you cannot have chickens in the garden and so that limits their foraging ability. They would eat the greens and scratch up the seedlings as they hunted for bugs. Rabbits are expensive to feed also, though a daily feeding of weeds will help some.

YES! on the beehive! And, a great many communities allow them! I am allowed 2, which is quite sufficient for a family!

I figured out that my family eats about $20 worth of veggies a week. The rest of the shopping basket, which will cost me about $125, is meat, noodles, spices, milk, butter, rice, and so forth. *IF* I ate more beans and less meat I might be able to, but we do enjoy our meat and cheese.

Could I grow enough veggies? Yeah. Could I grow enough food? Not unless we changed our diet, and we do not wish to!

[Rustaholic]

Originally Posted by Freeholder

Thank you all for the advice. I'm going to pass this thread on to my daughter. I believe I've seen the Backyard Homestead book at the library, and was just looking at their on-line books, and I think it may have been on there, also, so I'll take a look at it.

It's possible that they do have a shade issue in their back yard -- she put her little garden by the front door. That would definitely be limiting. She's going to college right now but when she's done they plan to move, and hope to get more land, but in the meantime cutting expenses (and eating right) are high priorities, so hopefully they'll be able to figure out a way to grow more there.

Kathleen

I was just looking at that book on Amazon and it is there for just over ten bucks new. There also is the $3.99 shipping.
Amazon was so nice to tell me that I already bought that book on September 02, 2011
It would make a great gift.

[DryHeat]

With present shade issues plus it sounding likely they'd move before very long, I'd think in terms of building infrastructure, including knowledge, for a couple years into the future. Having a few types of containerized veggies could be part of the experiment, trying to learn what yield can be depending on sunlight, climate, fertilizer, and such. Could a small in-ground plot be found from a neighbor or with a community garden? I'd suggest one or both of the couple trying to find some very part-time employment like baby-sitting, typing, house-cleaning, helping someone's elderly parent, and so on, with a resolution to set most of such income aside to purchase mutually-agreed "targets of opportunity." Such targets at this stage might be gardening books as mentioned, used pots for container gardening, closeouts on canning jars, rent for a nearby land plot, and *especially* minor travel expenses plus purchase budget for bargain hunting. Yard sales, church rummages, flea markets, thrift stores, farm and estate auctions, Craigslist, even eBay. Plus, don't miss that standard supermarkets (if several competing in a city, especially) will often have one or two loss-leaders every week, particularly veggies at the height of their seasons, that WILL cost less than you could possibly grow them for at that moment. Research various preserving strategies for various produce (consider buying a used freezer, and/or dehydrator and extra trays, and/or pressure canner plus jars and lids) and invest buying gobs of the *best* bargains you can spot. One small chain locally very often has Roma tomatoes at 3 or 4 lbs for a buck, avocados 4/$1, mangoes 3-4/$1, 5lb bags of potatoes for a $1, and so on. The bigger chains often have "gimmick" sales combining sale prices with another 50c an item off if you mix and match buying 5 or 10 items, plus there are those coupons, too. Canned chili with meat, 80c a can, etc. It takes TIME and mental focus, plus some travel, to pick up on that stuff, but doing so can reduce what you might think is fully worth spending your time growing.

I'd say they should debate an overall strategy, draw up a list of supplies for a serious future project, then budget time and money and cooperate on implementing it all.

[oregon woodsmok]

1/10 acre is small.

I've got twice that with a very small house on it and if I imagine 1/2 the land removed, there isn't much empty space left.

I would guess that if the growing season is good, you could raise all of your salads, and maybe have a dwarf fruit tree, some strawberries and raspberries in pots.

One zucchini plant produces a lot. A small asparagus bed doesn't produce a lot of food, but asparagus is expensive and fresh asparagus is a treat, even if it only lasts a couple of weeks in the spring.

Some of the root veggies don't take up much space: turnips, radishes, rutabagas. The climbing veggies don;t take much space: peas and green beans.

Hey, every little bit helps and a good salad is expensive if you have to buy everything that goes into one.

I've got nice raised beds and I will die from old age before I get enough produce out of those beds to pay for the materials to build them and fill them. Well worth it to my sore knees, but not the way to go if saving money is the goal.

[sdnapier]

Take a look at You Tube videos of "Path to Freedom". They do a phenomenal job in their yard and it is small also.

[Danaus29]

My personal choice for a space that small would be salad greens (which are really terrible from the store) and strawberries. When we lived in an apartment I grew enough tomatoes for all our fresh eating in a 10 x 2 foot strip.

Potted herbs and container gardens would be the way to go. Buy the biggest pots you can and fill with good potting soil and composted manure. The pots don't have to be dumped each year, just top off with more composted manure and mix in. Line the bottom with a couple layers of weed barrier fabric before filling. There are cultivars for container growing for almost every vegetable and fruit you an imagine. In fact I just saw a container variety of pumpkin a couple days ago.

One thing I wouldn't try in such a small space is sweet corn. Too much work for too little output and too much risk of loss to raccoons and squirrel.

[SimplerTimez]

Originally Posted by Freeholder

on a 1/10 acre lot in a small town in SW Ohio?

I was having a discussion with my oldest DD the other day about growing our own food -- she and her BF live on said small lot, and she doesn't think that they could grow most of their food on that lot (barring things like grains and sugar, although they COULD keep bees, and since her dad is a beekeeper, she knows enough about them to do it). I think they could, with raised beds, intensive gardening, perhaps a small greenhouse or hoop house or high tunnel with cold frames in it to seriously extend the season. They could possibly (depending on town regulations) keep a few chickens for eggs, and I'm sure they could have some rabbits for meat (and she knows how to raise chickens and rabbits, too -- she was raised homesteading). Of course the house takes up part of the lot, but it's a small house. She just moved there this last May, and first thing got a small garden going, just needs some encouragement to expand.

So, if you were living in town on a small lot like that, do you think you could grow most of your diet?

Kathleen

Have her start here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGEtuh9PdnI

Takes a lot of work and ingenuity, plus time.

~ST

[Freeholder]

I had already suggested earthbox gardening to her. I've got one in my living room window growing fresh greens for us (actually I have two, but one is bare until I get it replanted, hopefully have time tomorrow). We live an hour from town and don't make unnecessary trips, so I figured fresh greens, mostly for stir-fries and salads, was our priority for winter gardening. That's something they could take with them if and when they do move.

He's working full-time; she has a small business doing children's entertainment (face-painting and balloon twisting, mostly) plus she's a writer with several things published, and does some consulting work for authors wanting to publish independently -- on top of being in school full-time, studying microbiology! So she's a busy lady.

My original thought was that square-foot gardening would probably be ideal for where they are right now. They could set the boxes wherever there was a good spot with enough light; buying the soil (as they could afford it) would mean little to no time spent weeding. The earthboxes are also a good option as they are pretty much care-free once they are built. Where I am, the soil is very rocky (volcanic) and difficult to dig, so I think I'll use a few earthboxes on the deck for some of our garden this year.

We used to grow much of our own food when my daughter was growing up, but we always had a lot more land available. Our garden was usually bigger than the lot she's living on right now, and we always had at least chickens and dairy goats, usually some rabbits, and had sheep for a while, too. I've seen the information on the Dervaes family in California (I think that's where they are, anyway -- been a while since I looked at anything about them), and think what they are doing on a small lot is fantastic. I've read of others doing similarly well in colder climates. Hope to be able to accomplish half as much here, but water is our limiting factor.

Kathleen

[haypoint]

http://www.michigan.gov/corrections/...0370--,00.html

The main garden was under an acre. The donated garden was about 50 feet by 100 feet, but intensely managed. Sandy soil, short growing season.

[Grandmotherbear]

Actually I did grow sweet corn in containers- 25 to 40 gallon tree pots- golden bantam with 4 to 5 ft stalks- had such bad pest problems I gave up on sweet corn. Now I grow baby corn in those pots (3 to 4 ft stalks) Since they're harvested as soon as they silk I usually beat the pests to them.

[Kasota]

I no longer have a farm and the big farm garden but live in the city. Thankfully, I have a huge yard.

I use raised beds and containers. What I concentrate on are things that I would not be able to afford in the grocery store on a regular basis, such as raspberries and blueberries. I have everbearing raspberries that give me berries every night all summer and fall. They don't stop until the snow flies. My blueberries took longer to get established but they are doing well now. I also concentrate on things that are just so good fresh that I can't resist. Carrots, for one. The stuff in the grocery store tastes like cardboard, even if they are relatively inexpensive for what you get. Tomatoes, for sure. Nothing quite like a vine ripened tomato still warm from the sunshine. I also do a lot of fresh herbs. You can tuck some things in between about anything. Radishes you can plant next to something that will grow big and harvest them before the other plant gets big enough to shade them out.

Every raised bed has a trellis on the end. Beans, peas, cucumbers - anything that vines can be grown vertically on a trellis.

If she has flowers planted here or there she can pop other things among them. I've done onions that way and leaf lettuce. I've raised chard as a backdrop with smaller flowers in front. Greens can also be grown easily in pots.

I also make good use of shepherd's hooks and hanging baskets. Hanging baskets will dry out more quickly so you have to keep up on the watering or make an automatic waterer out of a pop bottle (hold a nail with some pliers and heat it up and melt a few holes in a pop bottle and fill it with water). You can also mix Soil Moist in the pot to help it hold moisture if that is an issue.

I have also gotten rid of most of the trees that did not produce something edible. I now have plums, dwarf cherries, pears, apple and apricot. I even put hanging baskets in the lower apple tree branches and grow leaf lettuce there when it gets hot because they like the bit of shade and don't bolt so easily.

It's amazing what you CAN grow in your own back yard!

[ronbre]

please read Gaia's Garden by Toby Hemenway..he'll show you how to pack it in there properly..and get er done..