In these times of increasing food costs, political unrest in various areas of the world, and concern about how all of this will eventually affect us, there is a growing interest in home gardening.
Learning to grow your own food is good for other reasons as well. It can contribute to healthier eating habits and provide time with your family away from the technology that infiltrates our everyday lives. There is nothing better than fresh tomatoes or other vegetables from your own garden. It has been shown that by growing even a small percentage of their own food, people can significantly cut their food bill by up to 25% a year.
Growing your own food also cuts down on energy costs and environmental concerns, as less energy is used in the processing, packaging, and transportation of the food.
Food gardening is becoming the number one hobby in the United States of America now, and with the increasingly busy lifestyle, people enjoy foods, flowers, and other vegetables that are direct from the farm to the table. There are very few things that are more satisfying than a meal that has come entirely from the fruits of your own labor.
To accomplish this, it is important that you know how much of a garden you will need to grow enough vegetables and fruits to feed your family. A home garden designed to provide a family of four with all the fruits and vegetables that they need for the year is an economic and desirable way to improve family health and lower your food costs.
There are some factors at play here, though, and each situation is distinctly different. The factors on how big a garden to have include, for example, the amount of space you have to allot to your new garden; the amount of money you will be able to invest in your garden over the season; and your individual tastes, aversions, and recipes.
This article aims to provide some practical guidance to those who are interested in moving toward self-sufficiency by growing as much of their own food as possible. Swift and positive results are realized by many in this hobby. Very little experience is needed to begin with, and a little imagination can possibly make your garden available year-round if you persevere a little.
Importance of Home Gardening
In our fast-paced and technology-driven society, this great American tradition, based on the highest principles of redeeming man’s natural resources for the service of man, is rapidly being lost. Engaging in home gardening offers numerous advantages. It provides physical activity, exposure to sunlight and soil, and promotes mental and emotional well-being. Furthermore, it serves as an enjoyable pastime.
In the past, our predecessors maintained a stronger connection to their food origins. Farming, vegetable growing, hunting, and fishing were the main sources of food supply. Today, most of us are so far removed from the production of food that we are not aware of exactly what we eat and drink. We are unaware of where our food comes from and the nutrition it provides.
An advantage to vegetable gardening is that families can grow their produce organically. In our busy lifestyles, we have little time to garden, but it becomes a family event to enjoy together. What a great opportunity to teach children where their food comes from and the nutritional benefit. Many children think peas, carrots, corn, and other vegetables come from a freezer bag because the families have never seen the live plant.
A home garden can supplement meals and pinch off most grocery items during the summer. Moreover, there are times in our society when gardening becomes an important resource for fresh foods. Often, we may hear reports of various natural disasters and utilities being shut off. Many families in urban areas had no food until the shelves were restocked in twenty-four to forty-eight hours. Bountiful home gardens even helped to feed American families during World War II..
Factors to Consider
Several factors help determine the size of a garden needed for a family to rely on it for some or all of their food. A proper assessment should consider the family’s size and structure, dietary needs, preferred foods and growing seasons, and any dietary restrictions. Families may also wish to store food, so space for growing, harvesting, and storing should be calculated.
The quantity and quality of food required will also be influenced by the family’s dietary choices, and larger families may require a variety of foods to ensure everyone gets the necessary nutrients.
Answering the question, “How much land do I need to grow my own food?” depends on each individual’s food requirements, so considerations should be made for current and projected needs.
Family Size and Composition
For most families, the primary factor determining the size of the garden required to produce a portion of the family’s food is family size. Family size for this chapter is based not only on the total number of people who have to be fed, but also on their needs and eating habits. The larger the family, the more food is needed to feed that family.
Children, especially young ones from about age 2 to teenagers in their early twenties, need larger portions or greater quantities of food compared with adults. This is partly due to higher nutrient needs as they grow, and as a result of higher food expenditure.
Larger households with four or more persons are often more interested in growing at least some of their food. People living alone may share the interest but are more often interested in having and caring for flowers, collecting, and doing small projects with limited space for enjoyment.
For other purposes, such as large-scale farming that might supplement employment and possibly become a business through eco-tourism, we address some aspects in the chapter at the end of this section.
Household composition may also include extended families, for example, grandparents living with younger generations. Provided you know the numbers and know the land, it is possible to estimate household size and basic food needs. People of different ages have different needs for energy and other nutrients in their diet.
In addition to different nutrients and vitamins that one gets from food for general health and well-being, the amount to be eaten and the requirements for storage and preservation for the family have to be estimated.
A little bit of everything: these people may be kitchen grazers. All eaters: general family need. These are people who will eat what comes and will eat anything presented. Their food choice is more relaxed. Mixed diet: generally, the male members of the household.
In the above, the type of diets may influence the type of crops and sizes of gardens to cultivate.
Dietary Preferences and Restrictions when determining the size of a garden
It is just as important to understand dietary preferences and dietary restrictions as it is to know how many calories people require. It does not matter if 100 apple trees produce 60,000 pounds of apples if no one in your family particularly likes apples or if all of the apple trees also have a peanut-producing component and someone is allergic to peanuts.
Among the dietary groups to be considered are vegetarians and vegans. This information can help you decide whether to include animals and/or animal products. For vegans, the obvious choice would be no animals and no animal products.
Other considerations would include if anyone in the family has food allergies and/or food intolerances, if people follow specific cultural dietary practices, and whether anyone in the family dislikes certain foods.
I have received numerous emails from people who have no interest in eating certain types of fruit and/or vegetables. Obviously, these people do not grow their own fruits and vegetables. Growing fruits and vegetables that no one in the family likes or will eat is a waste of garden space, money, and time.
Part of the gardening endeavor should include a discussion about likes and dislikes, and if someone dislikes particular food items, that person should be prepared to try them at least once a year every year until their taste buds decide to change their mind. There is no excuse for an entire garden plot to go to waste simply because one person refuses to eat, for instance, carrots. It may be best to set aside a separate part of the garden for experimental foods to be grown in small amounts and that aren’t to every man, woman, or child’s taste.
Calculating Garden Size
The first step in how to find out the size of a garden to feed a family is to determine how many calories a person would eat in one day. The amount of calories can vary slightly from person to person, as men usually need more calories than women.
As a rough estimate, multiply the number of people in the family by 1,000 for the number of calories per person every day. Divide this number by the percentage of fruits and vegetables that your family uses, and this will give the number of calories from fruits and vegetables that you would need. Those numbers will help you figure out what to grow and how much of each crop to plant.
There are many things to factor in when calculating your garden size, such as the type of plants that you select to grow. Are you planting plants up and tall, or do you plant your plants in long rows? Both ways to plant have an upside as well as a downside.
When one grows plants for the second and third year, they will know the amount of space needed. However, at first, they may not know the exact amount, so it could be a good guess.
Someone who has been planting a garden for two or three years can look back at their records to see what they have planted and the yield that they have gathered. That person will also be able to figure out the weight of what was harvested off of each plant.
Estimating Daily Caloric Needs
Food is our primary source of energy, and the first step to planning a sustainable food supply is to estimate how much energy your family needs each day. Children, women, men, and elders all have different calorie requirements, and young men who engage in heavy physical work require the most calories of any population segment.
To approach food production from a systems perspective, all of these caloric needs should be considered and balanced against the land’s energy budget. If a family is unable to produce a sufficient quantity of food to meet their caloric needs, they may either need to increase the land base under cultivation or reduce their energy expenditures.
In addition to calories, a healthy diet should also contain adequate amounts of protein and vitamins. Complete proteins can be formed from a variety of complementary amino acid profiles, so it is not essential to raise animals for protein. However, since vitamins and minerals are mostly found in plant foods, diets that are largely or exclusively composed of animal products can be quite low in vitamins and minerals.
A diverse, plant-based diet is one of the best ways to ensure an adequate intake of vitamins and minerals, and a garden can help. Even within a specific age and gender category, a family should consider planning for an average intake, as well as boosted intakes during rapid growth (such as during infancy, adolescence, and pregnancy).
In addition to different needs for children and family planning, a local, seasonal diet will vary greatly throughout the year. In traditional agricultural systems, communities often practice seasonal hunger or periodic fasting. Different times of the year can see significant variations in energy needs based on climate.
For example, farmers may require significantly more energy during the hot growing season than during the off-season, and they may need to store extra food for times when they are unable to work.
As the summer growing season approaches, it may also be necessary to temporarily build up food stores to feed the farmers while they are planting, given the low yields of newly harvested crops. Families need to carefully consider these energy peaks and valleys, as well as house projects and other tasks that require extra energy, when planning and planting a garden.
Also critical to consider in estimating energy needs are changes in lifestyle and correlates to health and wellness. A human being will have a different metabolic set point or need for energy if they engage in heavy physical labor, day in and day out as compared with someone whose lifestyle is mostly seated.
Energy requirements for fuel will be an important factor in planning a diet that supports active and heavy labor. As a rule of thumb, a body requires 0.4 to 1.8 kilograms of body weight per day to perform low to high work. If aiming to maintain health and lean body mass without extreme work, approximately 1.76 kilograms per day is a sufficient calculation. In order to calculate this in pounds, take 1.76 times the number of pounds.
The average non-pregnant woman will require 1600 to 2400 calories daily; mothers, 1800 to 3200 calories; infants 0 to 6 months, 400 to 600 calories; infants 6 to 12 months, 750 to 950 calories; children 1 to 7 years, 1000 to 1700 calories; boys and girls age 7 to 10, 1300 to 2000; males 11 to 12 years, 1800 to 2600 calories; females 11 to 12 years, 1600 to 2200 calories; males 13 to 14 years, 2200 to 3200 calories depending on many variables and amount of physical work daily; females 13 to 14 years, 1800 to 2400 calories; males 15 to 18 years, 2800 to 4200 calories daily; females 15 to 18 years, 2200 to 3400 calories daily; men, 2700 to 5000 calories annually depending on daily physical work; and non-laboring elderly, 1800 to 2600.
Crop Yield and Space Requirements
Some garden vegetables need more space than others. And some will feed a bigger family than others. It makes sense to learn how much space a crop will take in the garden and how much it can contribute in the end before you decide what to plant. There are six different habits that growing crops have, and you will want to know these to help plan your garden space use.
Crops grow in these habits:
Leaf lettuce – these don’t take much space, and you can pick the outside leaves only instead of taking out the whole plant if there isn’t much growing room.
Round bulb – this includes cabbage, cauliflower, beets, and leeks. They take up more space, and the whole plant must be pulled or cut for eating.
Root – carrots, onions, potatoes, and turnips are examples of root plants. They can also be bunched closer together, planted according to instructions, or thinned out for bigger crops.
Runner/spreader – many herbs and such plants as bush beans spread across the ground.
Tall and thin – corn, cucumber, and tomatoes planted on trellises, brussels sprouts, staked peas, and pole beans belong in this category.
Mixed 1 and 2 – tomatoes grown against a fence or cage can be helped that way, towards the sun, but they eat some space along with the 1 spacers, too.
Most gardeners will mix up crops in a plot, choosing what to plant depending on space issues, sun and water availability, and the time of year. You can triple your space with multiple plantings in some cases. That is often ruled by the days to maturity.
Soil and water aspects of a plot make for a healthy place for any garden on any scale. Crops with plenty of good soil and rich levels of organic matter are less likely to be attacked by bugs that bother weakened plants. You can grow good crops in small spaces, but you have to baby them more if you need the yields. It is possible to figure out what space is worth most to you even in a small plot.
Experiment with the use of space and crops to find what suits you and your family’s diet needs, cooking, storing, and trade goals. Since you consume the food, it is your right to choose the crops and plan the use of space in your garden.
Maximizing Garden Productivity
As we consider gardening and go through the process, there is much food for thought. A key part of gardening is how efficiently our gardens are able to produce. To gardeners familiar with methods aimed at increasing productivity, companion planting could give gardens that extra productivity boost.
This method of gardening involves growing specific plants together because of their mutually beneficial relationships. Good compatibility results in additional vitamins and minerals for those who consume the bountiful harvest produced on a steady basis.
Take this a step further and consider adding these elements to the ecosystems that are developed through our gardening efforts. The key is to stick to the plants that will provide these features and still be able to reach an abundant harvest.
Reduced infestation and pests, or the ability to treat infestations with the use of less or no chemicals, are added elements to consider as we turn our thoughts to our families.
Another important detail is being familiar with the types of relationships plants are known to have; spreading the word to youngsters and allowing these relationships to thrive also gives gardens the capability of abundant production.
As plants grow, they interact with their location and the organisms surrounding them. Sadly, this is more than what you’d think, as there are also a number of diseases that may come into play, affecting them and others growing in the same general area.
The same logic applies to nutrient vitality within the soil. To get the maximum yield from your garden, consider rotating plants as a 7-10 year plan connects all garden vegetables. This strategy is known as crop rotation, and it’s something that everyone should know concerning pest and disease control.
Nutrient depletion and the increased chance for disease spreading are the driving forces behind rotating crops. Applying these various topics can further the learning and productivity that gardens provide. The end goal is a host of the most effective plants and combinations that will come together to yield the most sustainable and healthy type of harvest a family could hope for.
Companion Planting
Many gardeners find that certain combinations of plants can greatly increase garden productivity. Plants may benefit each other through repelling pests, discouraging disease, increasing growth, or contributing a needed product such as nitrogen. There are many examples, but some possibilities are:
Asparagus and tomatoes: the asparagus repels a common nematode of the tomato.
Basil with tomatoes: the basil repels flies and defends the tomato by increasing its oil production, which discourages pests like whiteflies and mites.
Two things to look for when considering companion plants are that the plants have similar growth habits and decomposing times so that they will have similar nutrient needs, and that their ranges of nutrients are not too similar so they don’t have to compete for growth.
Generally, companion planting can reduce the need for chemical pesticides in the garden because many pest control plants can be grown. Even if they may not have the qualities of improved harvests, planting some flowers can enhance the garden’s beauty and health.
The goal is to create a balanced energy in the garden. Your goal is to touch all the bases by understanding what the needs of the creatures and the plants are, and working toward a complete and harmonious ecosystem.
Crop Rotation
For sustainability and high yields in a small garden year after year, one of the most important practices is crop rotation. The components of crop rotation are planting family groups of plants in different areas of the garden from one year to the next so soil depletion of nutrients will not occur. It also interrupts the pest life cycles, making your job easier.
Many vegetables are heavy feeders, while others are light feeders, and a third group are soil builders. If the heavy feeders follow a light feeder, then a soil builder follows the heavy feeder, it is possible that there will be a natural restoration of nutrients in the soil. This is the old idea of crop rotation.
A word of warning: Nature will not restore nutrients to the soil if there is not the proper combination of following crops. Some of the family groups definitely do not get along. You cannot grow onions, then a soil-building legume, and follow with garlic, leeks, or any other allium in the same space year after year.
These plants require too many soil nutrients used by other family groups and will weaken and could eventually sicken and die if they are grown in the same garden bed space one year after the other.
There are substitutions that can be made so this rotation can be followed properly. For now, please just let it be known that alliums require one full year of no other alliums or onions in their required area.
Rotation also means rotating the warm season and cool season groupings in their different garden beds to prevent disease carryover as well as nematodes and insect communities that thrive on the same plant groups. Squash and related plants had difficulty in the garden with powdery mildew. By planting them in September, it eliminated the problem and the plants thrived.
Conclusion
In this article, I aimed to explore how we can determine the size of a garden required to feed a family. The main conclusion I have arrived at is that a gardener needs to consider their own situation and the needs of their family. Determining what a family needs in terms of groceries or food will guide a gardener in their efforts. Growing a garden requires more work and effort than other things, so it is necessary to be confident that the gardener and their family are set up for success.
In addition, a gardener needs to consider other factors, such as which practices they prefer to garden and how much work they are willing to do. Other practices that are important are being flexible and learning about gardening, so as to be able to continue gardening even if those needs change.
Additional resources:
A few compost recipes for all your gardening needs
If you see this plant in your backyard, don’t touch it!