What did you do in the garden today?

[FortCluck]

Sorry if you took my post the wrong way. I was just making suggestions to maximize the garden space you currently have.

We have 2 4x4 gardens and a ton of pots planted. We rent so we can't take over the whole lawn right now, but if we owned it I would. We are working with what we can. Last year on the two gardens I ate most off of those. I definitely was happy with what I had. I do sq ft gardening. We also have some grapes and nannyberries we have to plant. We also have a peach tree that had a ton of peaches this year.

We plan on growing through the entire year not just in the warm months. I've got a list of what I can grow in my area during the cooler months.

 

[NewBoots]

We plan on growing through the entire year not just in the warm months. I've got a list of what I can grow in my area during the cooler months.

We grew dragon tongue mustard greens this last winter and they produced fantastically. We'd planted several other winter greens but those mustard greens only quit producing when I had to remove them to rework the bed they were in. In fact, I think I'll order some seed and plant more now, this spring is has been a bit chilly.

 

[FortCluck]

We grew dragon tongue mustard greens this last winter and they produced fantastically. We'd planted several other winter greens but those mustard greens only quit producing when I had to remove them to rework the bed they were in. In fact, I think I'll order some seed and plant more now, this spring is has been a bit chilly.

I'm looking to try new vegetables and greens to expand my horizons with food. I have never tried a beet or a turnip so I planted those. I've never tried mustard greens before and I've never tried collards either.

 

[NewBoots]

I trim the stems to the top of the leaves for the big leaves and to the tender point of the smaller leaves, then rough chop the leaves. I pan cook them with a little bacon fat or chopped bacon if I have some and add a little water (or other tasty liquid) and steam them to tender. When I'm being fancy I add sliced mushrooms and fine diced onions. The bigger leaves are actually sweet tasting when cooked.

 

[ShrekDawg]

I don’t think you necessarily need acres and acres of land to grow a good amount of food. Even if it’s not 100%. You can grow a lot on even just an acre, or even less, especially if you utilize things like square foot gardening, raised beds, pots, even those vertical growers, etc. it might not be 100% but it will still be a lot.

I think it also depends on how much you eat too because like for example, our family are really not big vegetable eaters. Last year we had a pretty big garden and lots of different vegetables and we really didn’t even eat most of it.

Partially because we don’t eat vegetables much but also just because we had soooo many cause it was producing like crazy.

And like for example, one of the articles says you need like 40 tomato plants (another says 5-8 which seems more accurate) and one says like 10 cucumbers, etc. but we usually always grow at least 10 or 15 tomatoes and end up with waaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy more tomatoes than we even know what to do with.

If we had 40, we would be drowning in them and they would never get eaten. Unless maybe we canned or made salsa or pasta sauce or something with them but even then probably still not.

And we only had 3 cucumber plants and had more cucumbers than we know what to do with. And was actually mostly just one plant providing most of them.

So I think a lot depends on how much you eat and also how productive your garden is. Ours was on the old chicken run plus composted some so very fertile and produced tons. If your plants or soil or whatever isn’t very productive then maybe you’d need more or maybe good to plant extra anyway in case some get diseased but even then I don’t think you necessarily need a ton of room.

And year the garden is even bigger and we’re growing even more vegetables than last year, lots of new kinds. And we’re actually making a second garden to be able to fit it all haha growing a lot in containers too.

I thought these articles were interesting. They give lots of number and footage and stuff for various plants. The first one seems more reasonable to me but it all depends. I guess if you ate a lot, the second one would be more necessary. I should also note we only have 3 people here (though do sometimes give some to DB) and if you were providing for an individual you’d probably need even less space. I also think that even if it’s just for the summer and you have to buy in winter, that’s still pretty good.

https://www.bestpickreports.com/blog/post/gardening-to-feed-your-family-year-round/

https://morningchores.com/vegetable-garden-size/

https://www.finegardening.com/article/how-much-space-do-you-need-for-a-vegetable-garden

 

[FortCluck]

I trim the stems to the top of the leaves for the big leaves and to the tender point of the smaller leaves, then rough chop the leaves. I pan cook them with a little bacon fat or chopped bacon if I have some and add a little water (or other tasty liquid) and steam them to tender. When I'm being fancy I add sliced mushrooms and fine diced onions. The bigger leaves are actually sweet tasting when cooked.

That sounds really good thank you for sharing!

Right now I am making homemade spaghetti sauce, but I have to use canned tomatoes because I don't have any right now I can't wait until my garden starts growing.

 

[FortCluck]

I don’t think you necessarily need acres and acres of land to grow a good amount of food. Even if it’s not 100%. You can grow a lot on even just an acre, or even less, especially if you utilize things like square foot gardening, raised beds, pots, even those vertical growers, etc. it might not be 100% but it will still be a lot.

I think it also depends on how much you eat too because like for example, our family are really not big vegetable eaters. Last year we had a pretty big garden and lots of different vegetables and we really didn’t even eat most of it.

Partially because we don’t eat vegetables much but also just because we had soooo many cause it was producing like crazy.

And like for example, one of the articles says you need like 40 tomato plants (another says 5-8 which seems more accurate) and one says like 10 cucumbers, etc. but we usually always grow at least 10 or 15 tomatoes and end up with waaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy more tomatoes than we even know what to do with.

If we had 40, we would be drowning in them and they would never get eaten. Unless maybe we canned or made salsa or pasta sauce or something with them but even then probably still not.

And we only had 3 cucumber plants and had more cucumbers than we know what to do with. And was actually mostly just one plant providing most of them.

So I think a lot depends on how much you eat and also how productive your garden is. Ours was on the old chicken run plus composted some so very fertile and produced tons. If your plants or soil or whatever isn’t very productive then maybe you’d need more or maybe good to plant extra anyway in case some get diseased but even then I don’t think you necessarily need a ton of room.

And year the garden is even bigger and we’re growing even more vegetables than last year, lots of new kinds. And we’re actually making a second garden to be able to fit it all haha growing a lot in containers too.

I thought these articles were interesting. They give lots of number and footage and stuff for various plants. The first one seems more reasonable to me but it all depends. I guess if you ate a lot, the second one would be more necessary. I should also note we only have 3 people here (though do sometimes give some to DB) and if you were providing for an individual you’d probably need even less space. I also think that even if it’s just for the summer and you have to buy in winter, that’s still pretty good.

https://www.bestpickreports.com/blog/post/gardening-to-feed-your-family-year-round/

https://morningchores.com/vegetable-garden-size/

https://www.finegardening.com/article/how-much-space-do-you-need-for-a-vegetable-garden

My family eat vegetables, but more is sides. I'm the only one that eats vegetables and fruit consistently throughout the day.

I'm not even sure how many tomato plants we have at this point, but I think we are at 20

I do plan on canning a lot of them and making a lot of sauce to can

 

[ShrekDawg]

My family eat vegetables, but more is sides. I'm the only one that eats vegetables and fruit consistently throughout the day.

I'm not even sure how many tomato plants we have at this point, but I think we are at 20

I do plan on canning a lot of them and making a lot of sauce to can

Yeah, like we definitely don’t eat only vegetables. We eat a lot of meat and bread and stuff too haha

I’m gonna try to actually eat the vegetables this year, as is my family, as opposed to wasting them again but even then we don’t eat that many haha

And oh wow that’s a lot!!! Haha we probably have like 30-40 or more in the trays right now but I’m not going to be keeping them all I just planted like 5 kinds, rows of 6, 2 seeds in each pod and not all of them are up either haha

We will probably can and make sauces too as well as eat them with salads etc.

 

[igorsMistress]

I don’t think you necessarily need acres and acres of land to grow a good amount of food. Even if it’s not 100%. You can grow a lot on even just an acre, or even less, especially if you utilize things like square foot gardening, raised beds, pots, even those vertical growers, etc. it might not be 100% but it will still be a lot.

I think it also depends on how much you eat too because like for example, our family are really not big vegetable eaters. Last year we had a pretty big garden and lots of different vegetables and we really didn’t even eat most of it.

Partially because we don’t eat vegetables much but also just because we had soooo many cause it was producing like crazy.

And like for example, one of the articles says you need like 40 tomato plants (another says 5-8 which seems more accurate) and one says like 10 cucumbers, etc. but we usually always grow at least 10 or 15 tomatoes and end up with waaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy more tomatoes than we even know what to do with.

If we had 40, we would be drowning in them and they would never get eaten. Unless maybe we canned or made salsa or pasta sauce or something with them but even then probably still not.

And we only had 3 cucumber plants and had more cucumbers than we know what to do with. And was actually mostly just one plant providing most of them.

So I think a lot depends on how much you eat and also how productive your garden is. Ours was on the old chicken run plus composted some so very fertile and produced tons. If your plants or soil or whatever isn’t very productive then maybe you’d need more or maybe good to plant extra anyway in case some get diseased but even then I don’t think you necessarily need a ton of room.

And year the garden is even bigger and we’re growing even more vegetables than last year, lots of new kinds. And we’re actually making a second garden to be able to fit it all haha growing a lot in containers too.

I thought these articles were interesting. They give lots of number and footage and stuff for various plants. The first one seems more reasonable to me but it all depends. I guess if you ate a lot, the second one would be more necessary. I should also note we only have 3 people here (though do sometimes give some to DB) and if you were providing for an individual you’d probably need even less space. I also think that even if it’s just for the summer and you have to buy in winter, that’s still pretty good.

https://www.bestpickreports.com/blog/post/gardening-to-feed-your-family-year-round/

https://morningchores.com/vegetable-garden-size/

https://www.finegardening.com/article/how-much-space-do-you-need-for-a-vegetable-garden

Consider spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, tomato paste, ketchup, however you like them for chili, raw in salads, etc.
That being said there is a family in I think Pasadena, CA who uses their entire property for growing food. I believe they claim to be able to feed their family entirely from what they grow there. It has been quite a while since I read an article about it though.

 

[FortCluck]

Consider spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, tomato paste, ketchup, however you like them for chili, raw in salads, etc.
That being said there is a family in I think Pasadena, CA who uses their entire property for growing food. I believe they claim to be able to feed their family entirely from what they grow there. It has been quite a while since I read an article about it though.

That's what I want to do some day... You can do so much with tomatoes. I haven't ever liked the raw so someone told me to eat the ones I grow because they taste way better.