How much to grow in your edible garden

Sunday, February 11, 2024

If you have decided you want to start your first edible garden, it can be a black box on what to plant and how much of it to plant.  There are a few ways to figure out how much to plant.  One way is to look on line for what folks recommend.  Another way is to track what you are eating and scale it up.  A third way is to plant a small garden and scale up next year based on what you like and how much you eat of each type of vegetable.     

Here is just one article with a chart for how much to plant per person.  Chart for how many to plant  I know for many of the recommendations, we would not eat all of what is recommended for most varieties.  If you love to eat that particular vegetable, plant what the chart says.  If you are just getting started, I would only plant what you love to eat.  It's a way to narrow down the list.  The first year is a learning year so being able to focus on a few types is helpful to not become overwhelmed.

For the second way of deciding what to plant, you can keep track of how much of each type of vegetable you are eating over at least two weeks.  This will tell you what you really are eating as well as how much you eat.  Then, multiply that amount you ate over the 2 weeks by 26 to get an idea of how much you would eat over a year.  Then you can look up how much a person typically gets from a plant to see how many of each you will need.  How many to plant

If you just want to get started with a basic garden, here is what I plant every year for two adults:

Herbs (1 each)-chives, rosemary, sage, oregano, and parsley

3 basil plants for making pesto and using fresh

4 tomato plants for fresh eating, freezing and canning-1 cherry, 2 slicers, and one paste

3 pepper plants in pots-1 sweet pepper for fresh eating, 1 hot pepper for salsa and hot sauce, and 1 for chili powder

1 zucchini type squash (I grow Trombetta, but it has a long vine, because it is resistant to powdery mildew and squash bugs.  Plus, it can also be used as a winter squash)

1 bush or vining cucumber for fresh eating and making pickles

2 eggplants in pots for grilling

6 snap pole beans on one trellis

Lettuce in pots (6 is plenty to get started)

I think this is a good place to start.  Pick the herbs/vegetables you love to eat the most and just plant them this season.  The biggest mistake those starting out make is to start too big.  

Here is an overview of when to plant different crops based on the season they grow well in.  You can garden year round in small space

WWII victory garden poster