My overall mission not only involves this garden but also the raising of egg laying hens and poultry for the freezer. We will do so organically and with healthful living conditions for a higher quality product raised by us for us. We will be mindful of cost effectiveness but that in itself is not our primary objective.
If I am trying to provide the majority of my family’s vegetable, egg and chicken needs for a year I must first define what those needs are. I am going to have to break this down into what we will eat in-season and what’s to be stored, canned, froze, or dehydrated. I have learned the hard way that taking up valuable garden space with produce that no one eats is pretty dumb, once while marveling at 2 bushels of beautiful beets only to remember as an afterthought “I hate beets” and my husband only likes them marginally. I did pickle some for my Grandma and made some pretty dye for my wool, though.
Although we are multi-cultural foodies and enjoy cuisines from all over the world there is a practical side. As far as the vegetables we eat and have the means to store I’ll have to go with potatoes, green beans, corn, carrots, cabbage, tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini (dried) and brussel sprouts. I usually root cellar potatoes, cabbage and carrots; freeze broccoli, cauliflower and corn; can corn and beans; and make sauce, paste, and dehydrate the tomatoes. Breaking that down further into how much we would eat weekly and multiplying that by approximately 50 weeks. My staples look something like this:
· Potatoes......................4lbs weekly.........................200 lbs harvested
· Tomatoes....................1 qt sauce/ 5lbs .................250 lbs harvested
· Broccoli .......................1 lb weekly .......................... 50 lbs harvested
· Cauliflower..................1 lb 2 weeks ......................... 25 lbs harvested
· Cabbage ......................1 head ................................... 30 heads
· Green Beans................1 lb ........................................ 50 lbs harvested
· Peas .............................½ lb ...................................... 25 lbs shelled
· Carrots .......................10 lbs eat/juice....................500 lbs harvested
· Corn.............................. 3 ears..................................150 ears
· Onions ......................... 7 bulbs................................360 bulbs
Off the bat that may seem like an awful lot, but remember we are going for a year’s supply. I’m cheating a bit to tell you we live adjacent to a very large dairy farm (800 acres) and have access to all the organic corn and poop we need, so I will be taking that off my list, but for future reference; 150 ears or plants of corn would require about 300 sq ft or a 15 x 15 foot area. Now, to determine how much space I need for everything else.
I grow potatoes vertically in cages. In a welded wire 3-4 ft diameter enclosure I start with some fairly rotted compost and seed potatoes. As the plants grow vertically I add straw, dirt, compost up the stems and force a really tall root system. One potato cage yields up to 30 lbs of potatoes in just a few sq feet. I’ve done this many times over the years and am never disappointed, plus you can stick your hand through the wire and steal some new potatoes just when the pea’s start ripening. Yummy! 8 cages should more than take care of our potato needs.
We like pole beans, they seem “beanier”, are space saving by going vertical, they are so much easier to harvest and you don’t have to harvest all at once. However bush types are less trellis hassle, I may try some for comparisons. A 15 foot single row yields approximately 12 lbs so I’ll need about 60 ft of beans.
Tomatoes are a hard one to plan for. I do Roma types for sauce and they work well as slicers and for dehydrating as well. Plus they are not as big as beefsteak types which take longer to ripen in the maritime NW. Weather is such a factor and never predictable. In the past I’ve had as much as 10lbs per plant and other times as little as 5lbs per plant. I’ll plant 60 plants and see how we do. You can never have too many, plus I always seem to have more friends around harvest time. I should be able to get all of these into two 3 x 20 ft beds with room for companioning, carrots, basil, peppers, and marigolds.
I will plant 30 plants each of cauliflower, broccoli, and cabbage which should yield approximately 120lb of cauliflower and broccoli for freezing along with broccoli side shoots for eating fresh and 30 or less 3-4 lb cabbage heads which will root store. I should be able to tightly pack all this into one and ½ 3 x 20 ft beds.
Shelling peas yield aprox. 20lb per 100 ft single row. I double row mine on one trellis, with extra side dressing and should get at least 15 lbs in a 45 ft double row. Two of those should do.
Onions are a must for almost anything savory I cook. I must have onions. I’ll plan on planting 400 sets @ 4” apart, I should be able to get that all in about 45 sq feet or 2/3rds of a 3 x 20 bed or less if I companion them between other plants. Onions companion great with any of the brassica.
Carrots are my daughter’s single most favorite vegetable; I kid her about being part rabbit. We also love carrot juice. I think I’m selling us short by saying we use only 10 lbs a week. Fortunately carrots are quick and easy to grow. You can typically grow 100 lbs of carrots in a 10” by 100’ row. By fronting bean and pea beds, and companioning tomatoes I can get 250 lbs taken care of; if I add one 3 x 20 bed packed to the max with a spring and fall harvest I'm hoping that will give me another 250lbs. Right now we are paying $10.99 for a 15 lb bag of non-certified organic that’s $366.00 a year just for carrots. I figure $8.00 in seed and a bit of elbow grease this will be a huge savings. I usually leave carrots in the ground for perfect storage. I’ve been seen butt in air, hand digging 3 feet down through snow for frost sweetened carrots.
Now for the less than stable seasonal vegetables:
· Lettuce, daily while in season
· Cucumbers, daily while in season and enough for 30 pints of pickle slicers
· Melons, for fresh, dribbling down your chin, pure summer
· Summer Squash, daily and also for dehydrating
· Sweet Peppers, fresh and for dehydrating
· Basil, fresh and frozen pesto
· Egg Plant, for summer grilled baba ganoush
· Cilantro, fresh
· Spinach, fresh for salad, a bit for freezing
· Butternut squash, great keeper, not a huge family favorite so I’m only going to grow a minimal amount depending on space available.
· I’d like to try one or two plants of artichoke depending on the source and if they were able to be forced.
· Celery and Celeriac root; possible fall crop; space and nutrient dependent. I use these lots for soups in winter; however it can be rather testy, takes up a lot of space, and needs the most nutrients of all vegetables. We’ll see.
So this is what I’ve come up with in order to get all the above into a garden. The overall garden size will be approximately 45 x 30.
I’ve got more to plan, more later….
