How much to plant to feed my family...

cabingrl11 · #1 03/22/14, 07:10 PM

The vicious March wind has me cooped up inside. Again. We at least got our pea varieties, green onions and carrots in yesterday. (woo-hoo!) But planting all those peas had got me thinking...how much would I have to plant in order to have enough harvest to put up for an entire year for my family? We are a family of 5; my husband and I, our 9 and 6 year old sons, and my 3 year old daughter.

It seems like the time of year this question always pops into my head is August or September when I have all my canning supplies hauled out and I'm trying to figure out how much I would need to last my through the winter. Well I realized that the time to ask that question is NOW. In order to have enough food to put up I have to plant enough in the first place!

I stink at math. So I wouldn't even begin to try to figure it out on my own. So sitting inside on this very windy day I started flipping through my Ball Blue Canning book and I discovered there is a chart in the appendix that lists all this information! My edition is from the late 90's, it was a gift from my grandmother. So if you have a Ball blue book and you've ever asked yourself this question it's worth a look.

Just thought I would share.

rags57078 · #2 03/22/14, 08:51 PM

it all depends on how much your crew eats , how many times a week or month you eat it , so if you eat a quart peas once a week and you need 8 months worth which = 32 quarts , add a few extra quarts . The same will work for other items you want to put up

Wendy · #3 03/22/14, 10:07 PM

I try to can enough for 2 years just in case we get a year with a bad harvest. Always can more than you think you'll need. It's better to have too much than not enough.

jwal10 · #4 03/22/14, 10:35 PM

Does it show how many feet of row for a set amount of pints or quarts, pounds, foot of row per person?

....James

BigHenTinyBrain · #5 03/23/14, 08:36 AM

Just plant more!

cabingrl11 · #6 03/23/14, 10:02 AM

James, the chart was based on feeding a family of 6. Sort of abstract if you ask me because are we talking 6 adults? Mom and dad and little kids? Teenagers? I think it was just meant to be a jumping off point.

So in order to can more than I need I guess I need to PLANT more than I need, huh? Guess I need to get my ol' man back on that tiller! lol

jwal10 · #7 03/23/14, 12:20 PM

I was just wondering if it said a 100' row would make 60 quarts. OR if it just said to plant a total of X for a family of 6. Everywhere is different, just like cattle, some places can handle 2 head/acre some places it takes 30 acres/head. Plant what you like and more than you think, then harvest and preserve it all. Next year adjust as needed. Some years we have a great harvest and may not plant for 2 years, other years the crop was slight and we eat other things, maybe even a lot more of that abundant crop. We store what we eat and eat what we store, eat in season as much as possible. Extend the seasons and eat the abundance....James

Callieslamb · #8 03/23/14, 01:02 PM

You know what you eat. Figure backwards. You need how many pints or quarts of veggies a day? How many of fruit? X 7 is how many you need a week and X 52 is how many you need for a year. I don't worry about WHAT fruit or veggie it is - just that it's something that we will eat. There are 3 of us so I figure on 3-4 pints a day. As long as times are good, I will still run to the store for the odd jar of hominy or mandarin oranges. If times are bad, we'll eat more applesauce than we'd prefer but we'll still eat well.

To know how much to plant, google "average vegetable garden yields" There are several good sites out there that tell you the average yield for a certain length of row. Or better yet, check with your Extension Service. They might even have a webpage that will tell you what to expect for your area. Then plant 25-50% more.

Fire-Man · #9 03/23/14, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jwal10

I was just wondering if it said a 100' row would make 60 quarts. OR if it just said to plant a total of X for a family of 6. Everywhere is different, just like cattle, some places can handle 2 head/acre some places it takes 30 acres/head. Plant what you like and more than you think, then harvest and preserve it all. Next year adjust as needed. Some years we have a great harvest and may not plant for 2 years, other years the crop was slight and we eat other things, maybe even a lot more of that abundant crop. We store what we eat and eat what we store, eat in season as much as possible. Extend the seasons and eat the abundance....James

James, there is no way to give "numbers" like you want. What if you have a drout? What if you do not fertilize good enough----or put to much out.
Here is what I did. I planted as big of a garden as I felt I could work. I planted 200 yards of cucumbers because I wanted to put up alot of sweet pickles, etc. I did not want to go into the garden and pick 10 cucumbers of 6 plants say, wait 2 days and pick a few more. I wanted to pick 2 5 gal buckets full so I could can a batch, pick 2 5 gal buckets full tomorrow and can another load etc. Once I got all I wanted canned. I put them on "Free Cycle". Offering free cucumbers---then when I got a few to come and pick them---they seen all the other vegetables, beans, peas and asked about them. I told them I let people pick them on half's. I got All my beans and pea's picked that year for free. All I done was shell, can/freeze. I would be canning while the free cycle pickers were picking.

Oh the cucumbers---I had one lady that wanted to pick them all after they got to producing "Real Good"----42 5 gallon buckets full in one picking----LOL. I eventually tilled all of them in(helps the garden soil) except for a few plants.

I canned hundreds and hundreds of jars that summer and filled 3 freezers. Then I did not have to plant as much the next year.

I learned about how much I needed to plant for my family---we kept a accurate count on the freezer/shelf contents and how much we eat of it through the non-garden season. I learned my soil, how many bushels a row of beans would produce, how many pints/quarts of beans I got from each bushel etc. Keep Good Notes!!

So my advise again is plant extra----so you can have enough each picking to fill a canner etc. If you plant to much---offer some to friends/family---let them pick one time, you pick the next etc(if family thats able can Not/to lazy to come pick what they want--Don't pick it for them).

Sell some if you want---I took a little of my extra produce every friday night to the Auction this past gardening season---we were going to the Auction any way. I sold a little over $1000 of my extra vegetables------that helps!! Have fun!!

PrettyPaisley · #10 03/23/14, 08:18 PM

IDK- we slap ran out of peas and tomatoes a lot earlier than I expected this year. I've got enough dill pickles to get us through TEOTW but I'm planting many more tomato plants and 100# of peas this year. Of course I'm sharing the peas with the goats come fall but I sure don't plan to run out again!

haypoint · #11 03/23/14, 09:56 PM

There would be a sizable difference from family to family just figuring out how much to harvest to last a year. But no real way to figure how much to plant to get a specific amount of harvest. Depends on how well you weed it, water it, the type of summer we have, soil fertility, amount of insect trouble and the kinds of vegetables your family eats.

siletz · #12 03/23/14, 10:22 PM

I think the most important thing to do is to start keeping records of what you plant. Keep a garden notebook that shows how many green bean plants you planted for example. Then, keep track of how many quarts of beans you were able to can and what month you ran out of them. Then, next year you would know whether you needed to plant more or less. No year ends up the same as another, but this would give you a great starting point.

haypoint · #13 03/23/14, 10:31 PM

This is a good example that to live the simple life isn't simple, far from it.

PasturedPork · #14 03/23/14, 10:49 PM

Yep, figuring based on what YOUR family consumes is the way to go.

A lot of people can tons of things they never end up eating because it doesn't fit into their diet.

We do more root cellar storage then canning.

375 onions
30 heads garlic
10 pumpkins
Etc

Good luck

jwal10 · #15 03/24/14, 02:10 PM

[QUOTE=Fire-Man;7014501]James, there is no way to give "numbers" like you want.

I was just wondering what the OPs book said. Like I said, it is different for everyone. So many variables but I am not planting a huge garden that I cannot/will not use. We have done it so many years that we have an idea what to do. Sure bad years we might not have as much as we could eat but that happens when you plant a bunch and none of it grew. We just eat what we do have. I have never had a complete failure, we plant what does well here. We don't plant a lot of things, only what we like. We eat only what we grow and gleann. Canned, frozen, crocked, smoked, dehydrated, extended season and what we put up and away...James

Callieslamb · #16 03/24/14, 06:23 PM

I think the most important thing is that you get started. Give it a try. You might end up with too many dill pickles and not enough green beans, but it's all edible. You might find somethings that you never considered eating before too. Get started, give it a try, see how it turns out. I always error on the side of WAY TOO MUCH. I can always give it away if needed.

Twobottom · #17 03/24/14, 06:37 PM

Depends on a lot of factors, but a half acre feeds my wife and me so I'd say start with a full acre and see how that goes.

Marthas_minis · #18 03/24/14, 07:41 PM

I agree, it does depend a lot on what you eat. I found we eat a ton of lettuce & greens so weekly I plant a new crop and am learning to grow lettuce & greens indoor for the hot summer days.

I also planted 6 Brussels Sprouts plants under advice of a list I found somewhere. Totally inaccurate. We love Brussels Sprouts so I'll be planting at least 20 plants in the fall.
Same with asparagus. 16 crowns planted last year and this spring I am realizing I should have planted 3x as much.
We want to be able to eat & freeze our crops so take that into account too. Also, with onions; account for how much you will use as spring green onions. I favor green onions so next year, we'll probably plant 2x as many. I think we planted approx 350 onions this year. We have been eating approx 10-20 green onions a week and on average I use 4-6 onions a week. We may be ok with the 350 but I'd like to have some extra for family & friends and maybe to eventually sell.

ronbre · #19 03/26/14, 11:35 AM

it really all depends on your particular family and what they eat and how much of each..peas as you mentioned have a super small harvest, unless they are snow or snap peas where you can eat the pods too. Always plant more than you'll really NEED as you can put up or give away any extras, or sell, so better to have too much than not enough.

Also always figure there could be some crop failures...and if you use heirloom or OP seeds plan for leaving some to go for seed for next year's plantings.

I am really into trying to get as much in my property of perennials as possible..that way I don't have to plant it all every year..I put in a few new fruit or nut trees or berry bushes every year, and a always looking for perennial vegetables..or things i can keep alive in my greenhouse or on a shelf in the house that is edible..this year I'm actually planting a few things in containers (which I hate to do) as I am not a good plant waterer.