How Much to Plant Per Person in the Garden for a Year’s Worth of Food
Every year I always end up planting too little or too much, and for some reason, I just don’t learn from my mistakes.
Category: EnvironmentHow Much to Plant Per Person in the Garden for a Year’s Worth of Food
How Much to Plant Per Person in the Garden for a Year’s Worth of Food
Apr 19, 2020 Carly Fraser Save For Later Print
548.7Kshares
Every year I always end up planting too little or too much, and for some reason, I just don’t learn from my mistakes.
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As I sit here, writing this, looking at my 30+ kale sprouts that I started indoors, and 5+ watermelon sprouts. Yes, I’m laughing at myself.
I do have a feeling, however, that I’m not the only person who doesn’t properly plan out their garden before starting a billion seeds indoors to transplant in summer.
If you are someone who plans out their garden properly before planting – props to you! It takes a lot of time and patience. It took me nearly a week to research and come out with this chart that I’ll reveal to you soon.
On the other hand, if you’re someone who struggles with determining how much to plant in the garden per person for a year’s worth of food, look no further.
Let’s start with how to plan out your garden.
Planning Out Your Garden
Planning out your garden is an essential first step in the gardening process. If you’ve gardened before and kept track of how much you grow versus how much you eat, then planning out a garden is easy!
If you have never done this before, then no need to worry. That’s why I created this post and graphic.
But when it comes to planning out a garden, all of the determining factors are highly variable. That is, most people don’t have the same sized garden or back yard, growing conditions and location of the garden may be different, and even what you like might be different.
I created the graphic below trying to keep everyone in mind. I added some of the most popular vegetables (and fruit like tomatoes, strawberries, etc.) as part of the graphic, and tried to keep everything as close as possible keeping space in mind.
548.7Kshares
Every year I always end up planting too little or too much, and for some reason, I just don’t learn from my mistakes.
As I sit here, writing this, looking at my 30+ kale sprouts that I started indoors, and 5+ watermelon sprouts. Yes, I’m laughing at myself.
I do have a feeling, however, that I’m not the only person who doesn’t properly plan out their garden before starting a billion seeds indoors to transplant in summer.
If you are someone who plans out their garden properly before planting – props to you! It takes a lot of time and patience. It took me nearly a week to research and come out with this chart that I’ll reveal to you soon.
On the other hand, if you’re someone who struggles with determining how much to plant in the garden per person for a year’s worth of food, look no further.
Let’s start with how to plan out your garden.
Planning Out Your Garden
Planning out your garden is an essential first step in the gardening process. If you’ve gardened before and kept track of how much you grow versus how much you eat, then planning out a garden is easy!
If you have never done this before, then no need to worry. That’s why I created this post and graphic.
But when it comes to planning out a garden, all of the determining factors are highly variable. That is, most people don’t have the same sized garden or back yard, growing conditions and location of the garden may be different, and even what you like might be different.
I created the graphic below trying to keep everyone in mind. I added some of the most popular vegetables (and fruit like tomatoes, strawberries, etc.) as part of the graphic, and tried to keep everything as close as possible keeping space in mind.
With that being said, all of these plants can be switched up. If you don’t like red cabbage, sub in more green cabbage. If you don’t like rutabaga, sub in more carrots.
The first step in planning out any garden, of course, depends on its size. So let’s start there.
1. How Big is Your Garden?
When figuring out how much you can plant per person in the garden, you need to look at the size of your garden first.
548.7Kshares
Every year I always end up planting too little or too much, and for some reason, I just don’t learn from my mistakes.
As I sit here, writing this, looking at my 30+ kale sprouts that I started indoors, and 5+ watermelon sprouts. Yes, I’m laughing at myself.
I do have a feeling, however, that I’m not the only person who doesn’t properly plan out their garden before starting a billion seeds indoors to transplant in summer.
If you are someone who plans out their garden properly before planting – props to you! It takes a lot of time and patience. It took me nearly a week to research and come out with this chart that I’ll reveal to you soon.
On the other hand, if you’re someone who struggles with determining how much to plant in the garden per person for a year’s worth of food, look no further.
Let’s start with how to plan out your garden.
Planning Out Your Garden
Planning out your garden is an essential first step in the gardening process. If you’ve gardened before and kept track of how much you grow versus how much you eat, then planning out a garden is easy!
If you have never done this before, then no need to worry. That’s why I created this post and graphic.
But when it comes to planning out a garden, all of the determining factors are highly variable. That is, most people don’t have the same sized garden or back yard, growing conditions and location of the garden may be different, and even what you like might be different.
I created the graphic below trying to keep everyone in mind. I added some of the most popular vegetables (and fruit like tomatoes, strawberries, etc.) as part of the graphic, and tried to keep everything as close as possible keeping space in mind.
With that being said, all of these plants can be switched up. If you don’t like red cabbage, sub in more green cabbage. If you don’t like rutabaga, sub in more carrots.
The first step in planning out any garden, of course, depends on its size. So let’s start there.
1. How Big is Your Garden?
When figuring out how much you can plant per person in the garden, you need to look at the size of your garden first.
If you only have a small back yard, then you might not be able to plant enough to sustain you or your family for an entire year.
But that doesn’t mean you should not grow anything entirely!
Sometimes thinking outside the box is the best thing anyone with a small garden can do. If you have a chain-link fence, consider growing some green peas along the side of it so they can use it as a trellis to grow.
If you can, utilize the space in your front yard if your municipality allows it. Some people turn their entire front yards into gardens and manage to be self-sustainable year-round on what they grow.
If you have any extra large planters laying around, turn them into part of your vegetable garden. I personally have at least 6-7 planters on the concrete pad in our backyard, in addition to my lawn-converted garden.
Getting crafty and creative with how you use your space may mean all the difference in how much food you can produce.
2. How Many Vegetables Should You Plant Per Person?
Deciding how many vegetables you should plant per person in the garden depends on what you like to eat, which vegetables and other plants store well long-term and how many people you have in your family.
The graphic and chart below demonstrates how many vegetables (and fruit) you should plant for a single person. If you’re a family of four, then you would have to multiply this number by four!
I know it seems like a lot. If you plan to store these vegetables (or at least the ones that can store) long-term to use for the entire year, then these are the amounts you would need.
You should also keep in mind that people who are younger might need less than someone who is older and requires more caloric intake.